If This. Then That: Coffee Tables – Noguchi → Paul Ledron
If you understand why the Noguchi table endures, you’ll recognize Paul Ledron’s work. IF YOU LIKE NOGUCHI Form that sits between sculpture and use. Biomorphic walnut base, glass top, designed 1944. Eighty years in production. The appeal is material restraint and design confidence—nothing unnecessary. Isamu Noguchi designed the IN-50 coffee table in 1944 for Herman […]
If This. Then That: Bags – Hermès → Pierre Laborde
You don’t need us to explain the Birkin. But you might not know Pierre Laborde yet—and you should. IF YOU LIKE HERMÈS You likely value structure, impeccable leather, and the reassurance of heritage and permanence. You’re drawn to bags that feel deliberate, shaped by proportion, finished by hand, and built to hold their presence over […]
“Who Is MOWAA Really For?”: A Critical Commentary on a Museum Caught Between Promise and Power
The Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), founded in 2020 and envisioned as one of the most ambitious
The Sustainability Checklist: African Fashion in the Age of Green Demands
While African fashion practices have long been inherently sustainable, designers are now navigating a global system where sustainability means compliance
How Colonial Morality Still Polices African Fashion
How Colonial Morality Still Polices African Fashion Akamba Warrior (Kenya): Image No. 10768. Courtesy of Penn Museum Archives. Before colonial rule, most communities wore practical, hand-made garments: woven cotton wrappers in West Africa; smocks and robes for traders and farmers; leather and beadwork in parts of the Sahel and southern Africa; wool and barkcloth where […]
What Makes a Brand African? Rethinking Made in Africa Fashion
While African fashion has reached greater heights—the question of what makes a brand “African” resists easy answers. It can’t be answered through surface-level aesthetics or generic motifs, but instead, it demands a deeper interrogation of history, structure, and power. At first glance, one might say an African brand is one founded or designed by an […]
How Influencer Culture Rewrote the Story of African Fashion
Then came the digital shift. Social media offered a gateway to a new kind of visibility, a faster and seemingly easier path to growth. But even with these advances, for many African designers, the fashion business remained a matter of survival. With economic instability across the continent, it became clear that success hinged on capturing […]