KORLEKIE is born at the junction between Ghanaian culture and European life.
We aim to create a bridge between these ancestral techniques and patterns and our busy modern fashion worlds.
First step is always to understand the background and the history of where we come from. These forms have survived centuries thanks to there minimalist line and strong power of meaning within them. These patterns are a reproduction of the Anase web, the giant spider (also known as The Great Designer) in the Akan’s ancestral legend. Reproducing and wearing these forms are a way to connect with Anase’s creation.
To create our own pattern we needed to connect with today’s weaving methods and understand how the ancestral patterns are weaved today and the meaning of this legend in current society. Among projects with association’s like Nubuke in 2016, we were able to get that connection. In exchange this is also a way to valorise there work and increase the revenue of the Kente weavers.
Of course we couldn’t just reproduce the ancestral form and reappropriate Akan people culture. We needed to produce a new form, a new pattern, a new kente, for Korlekie.
And this is where begins our artistic creation of work. Connecting with ‘Ananse’ from Europe…
Today, creating this work has lead us to our newest collection and inspiration, Pure Red and Elan Vital.
These piece are the concretisation of our work and our commitment into this bridge that we are creating.
