Add a Touch of African Craft to Your Home With Studio Badge and IBKKI
African-made objects and artefacts are a representation of the various, diverse aesthetic and technical achievements of many Africans from all corners of the vast continent. Simple, everyday objects such as bowls, baskets, plates, textiles and jewelry are all imbued with an innate ornamentalism thanks to the man hours of handcraft and centuries of traditional techniques that go into each one, employing local materials skilfully fashioned into objects for daily life.
Many of those skills are still in use today, and they can be seen in a few of the products we have available on The Folklore. Below, then, are a couple of accessories that can bring a touch of African arts and craft straight from the continent and into your home.
Shop the Afriyie Concrete Platter in Moondust White by Studio Badge
Accra-based lifestyle brand Studio Badge was founded out of a desire to see basic building materials and local construction methods in a different light and to use Ghanaian minds and hands to make world-class design products with alternative materials.
Studio Badge fuses the expertise and artisanal skills of Ghanaian craftspeople with a modern design aesthetic, resulting in refined tableware that celebrates African creativity.
Work in progress at the Studio Badge workshop
The brand’s food boards and platters are carved from locally sourced kiln-dried hardwood into smooth geometric rectangular or spherical shapes.
The food platters are available in an array of sizes for diverse purposes – the boards are great for prepping, cutting and serving your meals and can even be deployed as a decorative accent on the dinner table when not in use.
Create your own brunch spread at home with the circular Afriyie Concrete Platter. Its textures and muted colors of white concrete and natural wood will have a soothing effect on your table setting while being the perfect base to show off an array of dishes from cheese selections and fruit salads to celebration cakes and more.
Shop the GZEM Vase by IBKKI
Specializing in sculptural earthenware vases, IBBKI is a design studio founded by friends and travel enthusiasts Azel Ait-Mokhtar and Youri Asantcheeff. Although based in Paris, the brand’s inspiration comes from the north of Africa, in particular the mountains of Kablyia, an ancient kingdom belonging to the Berber people.
IBKKI’s ceramic vessels are crafted by local artisans from the Djurdjura region of Algeria, using ancestral processes and techniques to make them as authentic as possible. The vases are then finished with firings and glazes that give the artefacts their unique colors and shades.
The GZEM Vase has been fired and enamelled several times in order to obtain its different effects of color and depth perception. Bridging the gap between culture and craft, the vase is the perfect show-stopping piece for any living space.
An artisan attaching handles on ceramic wares in a workshop
The duo behind the brand believes in a sustainable approach to design, which means all their wares and crafted by hand, a process that requires less energy than industrial mass production. The designers personally handpick the independent artisans they work with, making sure to support the traditional craft they work in as well as the local arts community.