From Nairobi to Cape Town, handmadeAFRICA explores the inspiring stories behind Africa's design innovators

handmadeAFRICA was launched and is co-owned by Lesley Hudson and Garreth van Niekerk, who travel the continent to curate work from designers in Accra, Nairobi, Cape Town, Gaborone, Dakar and Cairo, among other capitals, to source the range. 

“Ask any designer from the continent working at scale across the globe and they will tell you how difficult it is to get their work to South Africa,” says Van Niekerk. 

“A big part of our mission with handmadeAFRICA is to build the platform to a place where we have created the critical mass and purchasing power within our ranks to influence the draconian policies that have been put in place by people who seem completely out of touch with the realities of small businesses. 

“Each place we go to reveals stories about how designers are viewed by their peers, their local customers, and where they see themselves as designers working on the continent. It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into these spaces. Many of the studios are just parts of people’s homes, so it’s really such a unique way to explore Africa and its material culture.

“… Overwhelmingly almost every designer we are meeting and working with has sustainability at the front of their minds. They’re approaching it from a perspective that is unique to each of their contexts and cultural backgrounds, and I think it’s creating one of the most exciting conversations that have ever taken place in design, and most likely will, during our lifetimes.” Here is a selection of Van Niekerk’s favourite designs.

Oumatti, Casablanca, Morocco

Favourite Product: The Kaïd bag 

Two sisters revived their family business after the destruction of Covid-19 and changing tastes. It’s the sort of work that we encountered often on our trip there, where heritage, family, and artisanry come together so exquisitely. They’re really not just bags, they’re a promise that things can be done better, and that objects have meaning. 

Kind Kid, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Favourite product: Honor toys 

An inspiring story by young maker Sanele Qwabe, whose toys demonstrate how technology and handmade aren’t mutually exclusive. An animator by trade, his 3-D printed and then hand-painted, signed and numbered designs prove that when you make industrial technology accessible they become tools to reimagine processes that once excluded small-scale producers. The storytelling is also just breathtaking, and gives such promise. 

Dye Lab, Lagos, Nigeria

Favourite product: Multiprint Agbadas 

Few brands have such a cult following on the continent as Dye Lab. Rather than creating work that responds to the model built by other retailers without an understanding of Nigeria’s design and craft legacy, co-founder Rukky Ladoja set out to build a socially responsible brand that maximises available material and human resources, and the result has been nothing short of spectacular. 

There’s nothing like seeing a brand become so successful by sticking to its guns and believing in something bigger. Made from small batches of hand-dyed textiles using batik wax to achieve their own formulated colours and prints and produced in Nigeria working with local artisans, each piece is a unique example of truly African luxury. 

Glotto, Gaborone, Botswana

Favourite product: Weaponised incompetence

Founded by young designer Mboko Basiame, Glotto is a sort of movement in Botswana. They understand their audience innately, pushing the boundaries of what are considered acceptable themes in their work, creating groundbreaking collections that celebrate equality and honour the makers. 

Basiame is also becoming an ambassador of design from Botswana, and constantly celebrates and collaborates with other young makers from the continent. 

Lrnce, Marrakech, Morocco

Favourite product: I f*****g love you plates

The darlings of design from Africa, a visit to Lrnce is truly a moment to appreciate just how far design has come on the continent. 

From their hand-tufted textiles, to their ceramics, apparel and their furniture, Lrnce is really becoming a lifestyle. For those wanting to truly immerse themselves into their world, a stay at their newly opened hotel Riad Rosemary is a once-in-a-lifetime look into the mind of one of Africa’s truly visionary design minds. 

Reform Studio, Cairo, Egypt

Favourite product: Mini Afro basket 

Stepping into the Reform Studio store in Cairo is one of the most exciting things we experienced on our trip there (aside from a preview of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, of course). 

Established just after the 2011 revolution, the brand founded by Cairo natives Hend Riad and Mariam Hazem wanted to be part of the change they were seeing in their country. Like so many young people at the time, they looked at how they could reimagine materials and how things were done, and set about creating textiles that are handwoven on traditional looms but use rubbish like plastic bags, chip packets and brass tubes into some of the world’s most beloved luxury products. 

A ticker tape moves across the counter at the store letting you know just how many plastic bags have been recycled every hour, and it’s breathtaking to see how a small idea can make such a big change. 

Theresia Kyalo, Nairobi, Kenya

Favourite product: all/any

Kenya is the undisputed home of jewellery design on the continent, reimagining traditional techniques into an exciting design language that is constantly innovating and pushing boundaries. 

The work of young designer Theresia Kyalo continues to challenge ideas of what adornment is supposed to look like, with face jewellery and unusual earpieces and head forms getting the globe’s attention. Definitely one to watch, and one we are watching very closely. 

Noush Dolls, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Favourite product: Noxi Giraffe Girl

Brought back from a brief hiatus by the brilliant minds at Woke Africa, Noush is one of those rare success stories of a product that resonates with customers across every demographic. 

Aside from just marvellous quality, production and design, the dolls have a beautiful story that revives the heritage of southern Africa’s unique Clonette dolls — little angels who look after your loved ones and guide them through life. 

Once mass produced from blow-moulded plastic, they’ve been reimagined from Jacaranda wood and resin, and continue to inspire and delight. DM

The two-day Rosebank handmadeAfFRICA market festival on 29 November and 30 November follows a launch at Nirox in October.  Hosted at the Oxford Park precinct, restaurants including the Pot Luck Club, BGR, Ethos and the QBar will offer ‘street food’ versions of their menu. 

You can buy your tickets here.