She began her workshop in 1992 and sought to modernize traditional Mandjaque weaving with contemporary colours, patterns and locally-sourced raw materials. Her efforts resulted in sophisticated designs that have been commissioned by well known discerning designers and fashion houses.

Aissa Dione Tissus | Impressions

Representing the culture of West Africa

West Africa consists of the countries located to the south of the Sahara Desert. It has been a flourishing center of trade for gold and salt since ancient times. One of the first kingdoms built here was in 1000 B.C along the Guinea coast by Nok culture. From the 1st century AC to the 3rd century AC, the Ghanaian kingdom flourished in the southeastern region of current Mauritania and western parts of Mali. Until the 16th century, many kingdoms such as the Mali kingdom and Songhai kingdom were founded, flourished, and deceased in the history of West Africa.

The woven textile culture has existed in West Africa from ancient times. It has its roots in the hand-woven textiles of ancient Egypt. The few available records show that there was a tradition of weaving in the Kante culture from around the middle of the 15th century. Hand-woven textiles have been used for ceremonies and are considered a spiritual object. These textiles were woven by only a select group of people hence, they were precious as such, and were used as money, and as a representation of wealth.

In Senegal, there has been hand-woven textile tradition in Manjack people who emigrated from Guinea-Bissau. 27 years ago, a French and Senegalese artist and designer, Aissa Dione, who exists at the crossroad of two cultures, started a workshop with one of the last remaining groups of these craftsmen and a single hand-weaving machine of Manjack weaving; thereby creating Aissa Dione Tissus.

Fabrics

She has applied the technical knowledge she acquired through her study in fine art to the traditional hand weaving. Working along with these craftsmen, she widened the width of the textile, which was traditionally only 15cm – 20cm, to 90cm -140cm to make it commercially viable.

In addition, she adopted a sophisticated color palette and developed newer patterns for the textile, while improving the quality of the traditional raw materials such as cotton and raffia. All of this, mixed with her innate artistic sense and design knowledge now gave the Manjack weaving an added nobility, brightness, and opulence. This propelled Manjack weaving to new heights of success as a textile for decoration and furniture upholstery.

Impressions II

Aissa Dione Tissus has today grown to be a largely successful atelier, with about 40 machines, 80 people on staff, and has received orders from the likes of Hermès, Fendi Casa, and other renowned designers like Jacques Grange, Christian Liaigre, Peter Marino. Nowadays in Africa, where these fabrics were imported, it shows that the continent is rich in materials, the know-how of textiles. Aissa Dione Tissus utilizes the best materials, the skills, and knowledge that is originally from West Africa, while at the same time being to adapt to the industrialized nature of the Western world. Aissa Dione’s vast knowledge of the local textile industry and her ability to collaborate with a large number of notable artists from around the world have created new designs that have led Aissa Dione Tissus to be one of the few real success stories from Senegal.

That said, the hand-weaving tradition has been steadily decreasing for a number of years. Aissa Dione has been actively working with the government of Burkina Faso and Togo to develop and save the existing weaving cultures by creating sophisticated designs, improving quality, and training the weavers in order to propel those traditional weaving arts to the heights of textile for the commercial use while maintaining the uniqueness which each culture has.

Saving an ancient craft

Aissa Dione | TEDx Sandaga

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afrolifestyle: These beautiful and unique pieces of jewellery that you design using collectible African trade and tribal beads have had a long history and have travelled long ways. Your own personal history has been shaped by extensive travelling and living in many countries in Europe and Africa. You have changed continents and swapped careers. Your cultural and professional background is eclectic and multifaceted. Could you tell us more about it?

DS: Yes, I have lived a life of a modern nomad, on a permanent move and immersing myself in different geopolitical realities and cultures. I was born in ex-Yugoslavia, in a multicultural environment of the town of Sarajevo, today’s capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a student, I moved to Paris where I got a Ph.D. in comparative literature and then started working as a university teacher. The first career change happened when I joined an international press network to become a deputy editor-in-chief.
Later on I lived in The Hague and Berlin, and then in Brussels, where I attended a film school because I wanted to make documentary films. After that, I spent seven years living in Rwanda and in Senegal, extensively travelling in many countries of the region, writing and making documentary films. And also collecting trade beads and designing jewellery! Which I continue doing today, in Berlin.

How did you first discover African trade beads?

DS: Oh, it’s a long story! Twenty years ago I was on a business trip in Morocco and took a day off to explore the legendary souk of Marrakesh. And there, in its Ali Baba’s Cave ambience, at the end of the enchanted labyrinth of crowded pathways, I suddenly spotted a discrete shop window with the most exquisite jewellery. It was made of beads whose beauty was beyond anything I had seen before. To enter the tiny shop one had to ring a bell, like in the most exclusive jewellery shops of Place Vendôme. The door opened, I walked in and got initiated into the fascinating world of African trade beads.
I will never forget the shop owners, fairy-tale like figures: two lean old men with long white beards, wearing djellabas and fezzes. With an almost religious zeal, they showed me their magnificent collection of antique jewellery pieces. When I admitted being astonished by their exorbitant prices, so unusual for the souk standards, the two bead “wizards” just shook their heads in bewilderment and grasped for some big, heavy books from the dusty shelves. They turned out to be African Trade Beads Encyclopaedias and Atlases with beautiful photos of these marvellous tiny artefacts they had in their shop. They showed me one bead after the other and explained their origin and value they had as currency used all over the African continent.

Can you tell us more about the history of African trade beads and their role in Africa?

DS: In the 15th century, Portuguese traders introduced glass beads as currency to purchase valuable goods on the West African coast. Other European traders followed and this currency was used until the early 20^th century. Consequently, trade beads continued to be produced throughout Europe. Although Venetians dominated the production, Czech, Dutch and German beads were also very much in demand.  An infinite variety of African trade beads, often designed to satisfy the local taste, continue to astonish and seduce us today due to their beauty, artistic quality and degree of sophistication and finesse. 

Apart from their decorative value, the beads have a deep symbolic meaning, which can explain their great success as currency on the African continent.  They were worn by men and women to indicate their social status and proudly exhibited at many celebrations and rituals. They defined the cultural identity of different ethnic groups and accompanied crucial life events, such as childbirth, marriage, coming of age, and passing away.  

When did you start collecting the beads? How did you find them?

DS: I started looking for the beads and collecting them when I moved to Africa and it was not an easy endeavour. At the same time, I was collecting specialised literature to study the beads in order to be able to recognise them and estimate their age and value. African trade beads have been carefully preserved as family treasures transmitted from generation to generation. Nowadays, they are getting more and more rare and difficult to find. I got to know some passionate collectors who put me in touch with bead merchants. I was also systematically scrutinising many African markets and every now and then I was lucky enough to come upon an unexpected treasure hidden among trifles.

But how did a bead collector turn into a jewellery designer?

DS: The timeless beauty and mystery of these ancestral beads irresistibly inspired me to use them as precious raw material for my creations. Each genuine hand-made bead used in Déesse by DS pieces is a unique miniature work of art with its own story and its secrets. For me it was like answering the calling of the beads themselves to be assembled together in a very particular and unique way in order to give them a new life. Centuries old and still young, these beads have travelled between lands and continents. They have been admired, desired, purchased, exchanged and worn by hundreds of women and men. And now they have become something entirely new in the hands of a contemporary designer.  

What is the philosophy behind your brand?

DS: More than an exclusive fashion object, every Déesse by DS piece is a symbolic journey through time and space, a tribute to all never-to-be-known artists who produced the beads and all never-to-be-met persons who enjoyed their beauty and meaning. I juxtapose antique and ancient with vintage and modern elements in playful compositions with the intention to create audacious fusion pieces of jewellery, which are at the same time fashion and collectors’ items.

afrolifestyle: Thank you for the interview.

Déesse by DS jewellery combines ethnic spirit and urban sophistication, old-fashioned glamour and ultramodern chic, into highly symbolic wearable art objects. 

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The brainchild behind Fashion Africa 254 and the Mtindo Book is former Top Model Waridi Wardah.

FA254

Fashion Africa 254 created the first international scouting contest targeting emerging African fashion designers titled “African Designers for Tomorrow “(ADFT).  The contest’s objective is to discover new talent, support their development and production process, and prepare and present them to the European fashion market.

@ FA254

afrolifestyle: Hello Waridi, great to have you at afrolifetsyle. Could you please briefly introduce yourself. 

Waridi: Hello, my name is Waridi-Wardah. Waridi is my Swahili name and Wardah is Arabic. I was born in Kenya, but my roots originate in the Arabic part of South Yemen and the Nandi tribe. My whole family still lives in Kenya, and I have been based in Berlin since 1993. At the age of twenty-one, I left my home in Kenya to become a model. I went straight to London, New York, and ended up in Germany. 

What is it all about?

afrolifestyle: You are the CEO of the Berlin-based Fashion Office FA254. What is it all about?

Waridi:  FA245 stands for Fashion Africa, and 2 is the code that connects the 54 countries on the continent; although, I was notified that the continent now has 55 countries. My purpose is to show the other side of Africa, as the other side of the coin, the vibrancy, the talent, and the creativity with ambition.

We want to be door openers for the African industry and to create awareness of who we are. We work with the gaps in the market that we identify. For example, when we started, there was a gap with African fashion designers; basically, the gap of not being fully trained from A-Z with skills or all about Business of Fashion. A lot of African creatives are self-taught.

There are universities, and Africans are highly educated, but only one or two fashion schools exist in Africa. Often, when one is self-taught there are some skills missing. The first concept of FA254 was how to merge African designers into the German market. Since 2008, I started working and being involved with African designers and different initiatives in Kenya and Germany as a representative of African fashion for both sides.

afrolifestyle: As a successful fashion model, you worked with big names of the global fashion industry. What were your most significant encounters?

Waridi: The models themselves. Watching who they are and understanding what the industry is about. I was fascinated with the materials and textiles the designers were using which defined who they were and for myself to imagine what was behind the glamour.

afrolifestyle: FA254 is working with NGOs and fashion companies connecting fashion executives and experts in Europe and Africa. What does knowledge transfer mean to you?

Waridi: For me, knowledge transfer is the key to understanding each other and understanding different cultures. The designers learned a lot. It’s all about changing minds. And now, after ten years of seeing that the fashion designers have reached so far, the situation has reversed. People in Europe need to learn more about Africa to better understand fashion and lifestyle trends on the continent. Transferring knowledge means opening up your mind to understand the other’s mind.

afrolifestyle: What were your most significant challenges so far?

Waridi: My most significant challenges so far were believing, accepting, and trusting. I think when people work together, they have to understand the relationship. FA254’s strength is that we invest in people, and to be successful, we need to stay humble. As a human being, I realized that we all have a lot to learn, individuals, companies, and institutions. Institutions have their agendas, and nowadays, they see the need to understand the people’s agenda. It’s always a challenge. 

Mtindo Book

afrolifestyle: You are also the author of the Mtindo book “Rebranding Africa“. What was the initial idea?

Waridi: Mtindo in Swahili means style. But then again, style to every individual has its meaning. I wanted to create a movement and to continue making conversations about changing minds. The Mtindo photo book is representing the movement of millions of African style movers. They are rebranding the continent with their creative power. Millions of Africans are making Africa be seen as Africa has always been.

afrolifcestyle: With whom did you work to realize this wonderful book about fashion and lifestyle in Africa?

Waridi: First of all, I had a fantastic team at FA254. For instance, Milan-based Ingrid Tamborin who now has her own scouting agency, Emilia Torres, who has her own brand made in Columbia, and the magical and award-winning Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni. Daniele loved Africa. I chose him, knowing he would transfer the concept into the movement through his artistic photography style.

Besides the statements in the book, photography is what defines this movement and what touches people. The freshness, the rawness, and the vibrancy. I describe Africa as a raw apple ready to be eaten.

The book was never planned to be colourful, Daniele captured the scene by looking around, taking pictures, and being in the flow with the people and the surroundings. There was no convincing him to join our journey. He captured my concept no doubt. He loved the conversation we are putting out. Each personality mentioned in the book chose their location for the shooting to also add their views. The concept was to show Africa, highlight its beauty, and bring awareness to its changes.

Mtindo Exhibition

Mtindo Exhibition | Luisa Catuci Gallery | Berlin Nov. 2021

afrolifestyle: African businesswomen are getting more important for the continent. Is diversity in Africa a topic for FA254?

Waridi: FA245 itself is diverse.

afrolifestyle: What is your vision regarding the African fashion industry?

Waridi: Each African country can be independent in fashion, like how “made in Italy” is independent of Europe; it depends on itself. The Nigerian fashion industry is like that. The Nigerians like to wear clothes designed by Nigerian designers, so this movement should be an example to all African countries. “Think globally and work locally.”

afrolifestyle: As a businesswoman with African roots, what would you like to share with afrolifestyle?

Waridi: I would like to share who I am in order to inspire others.

afrolifestyle: Thank you Waridi for your time. It has been a pleasure having you for the interview.

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