From Runway to Hallway: ethniciti Sketches

Always looking to advance the notion of the connection of apparel to home fashion, we have created a series of ethniciti Sketches that form the basis of our online interior design service.

We are interested in how you might approach the design of of African-inspired interior spaces. Send us your ideas:  ethniciti@aol.com.

Let ethniciti inspire your room makeovers in our unique, African-inspired style.

Sultry Silks

Originally introduced to the West from China and Japan along the romantically named Silk Route, silk has often been the fabric of choice for designers who wish to create a sumptuous elegant setting.

Silk works equally as well in garden room spaces. The vibrant colors and textures connect well with the foliage of any garden, make the scene seamless in its design. These spaces presented in “Textile Style,” by Caroline Clifton-Mogg, are example of how it all came together for a dramatic effect.

The Power of Indigo: Aboubakar Fofana

There are few artisans who can work with a single hue and bring such power and freshness to the creation of African textiles.  Indigo, a color not only with cultural meaning but always in fashion, allows us to only imagine how we can us it as we look to refresh our personal living spaces.

The New York Times article, “From France and Mali, Shades of Indigo,” explores Aboubakar Fofana ‘s design philosophies and how the color indigo inspires him. His works can be seen at ABC Carpet & Home, 888 Broadway.

The Kanga

For women in the humid port city of Dar es Salaam, the kanga is a must-have accessory, functioning as an everyday wraparound dress, bath towel, shawl and baby tote. But for Mustafa Hassanali, a popular local designer who organized the second annual Swahili Fashion Week, the traditional rectangular cloth from east Africa’s Indian Ocean coast means much more.

Kangas, more often seen for sale on the dusty streets of hectic and disheveled Kariakoo market, take on a bright, sensual, and fashionable essence.  In a show covered by People’s Daily, Hassanali sees the beginning of an emerging, modern, east-African fashion trend.

Color Forecast 2011: African Style on Trend

Communal ties – color as unifier
According to Benjamin Moore’s Color Pulse 2011 as reported by Home Accents Today, “Color represents community as the great unifier and hopeful sign of renewal.  Thanks to technology and advancements in communications, we are a much more tight-knit world of ethnic, social and cultural beings. What once might have seemed exotic and foreign is easily familiar. The scale is not tipping in favor of one hemisphere over another; it is finding balance in our acceptance and respect for one another, the animal and plant life around us and our overall environment.”

The human body as design element
Benjamin Moore’s palette titled Tribe reflects a new sense of unity where the mindset of “me'” morphs into “we.” “The human body becomes a design element, highlighting the importance of caring for others,” the Color Pulse States.  “Respect for animals is reflected by the need to preserve and protect.   Ritual symbols and primitive design are translations of tribal ways, as we rebuild cultures and respect nature’s precious creatures.  Global ethnic influences become localized.”

In Tribe, bronze “warms the cultural landscape to continue with the vibrancy of layered and rich hues,” the Color Pulse states.  “African, Eurasian, and Latino borrow nuances from many cultures to commune in a harmonic color space.”

Multi-ethnic looks become world style
Tribe’s color palette includes galaxy, flame, sierra spruce, rosy blush, bronze metallic, juniper, dark burgundy, Sun Valley, butterscotch, and Brazilian blue.  In terms of texture and pattern, handwork, patchwork, pattern-on-pattern, animal prints, maps, and African textures and prints are trend right.

Multi-ethnic looks continue because people now can see how products and clothing really look in other parts of the world, enabling those looks to become part of Western society.

Pantone’s Fragments palette represents a compilation of varying cultures from all over the globe.  “Fragments picks up pieces of diverse places and weaves them into an integrated whole. Carpets, found tables, ornament beads, and even discarded bottle caps destined for the landfill are cleverly joined together to form an electrically colored patchwork of amberglow, grenadine, strawberry pink, baked clay, dark citron, concord grape, cadmium green, and bright gold.”

The Trend Curve’s Tribal Wisdom palette explores the continuation of the global trend, resulting in Mayan, Incan, and Hopi tribal influences.  The art and architecture of ancient cultures comes into play as geometric florals, ikats, trapezoids, and primitive portrayals of the sun arise. Shades in Tribal Wisdom embrace brown, coral, caramelized gold, lush green, and red-cast purple.

Contact Home Accents Today to receive the 2011 Color Forecast.

High Fashion Accessories in the African Style

Tanzanian-born Doreen Mashika is one of a growing number or of fresh, free-thinking artisans from that region.  Her modern interpretations based on traditional materials and textures makes for a stunning collection of high fashion, African- inspired accessories.

Doreen is inspired by a deep sense of affection for the immense cultural heritage and wealth of design possibilities that Africa possesses.

Body Art

In the hands of a master –  these stunning images of the works of Angela Plummer offer us a glimpse of how the traditional mores of fashion influences take on interior design. It’s all about attitude.  We are moving beyond skins and masks and presenting modern interpretation of the culture.

African-inspired high fashion crosses over to home fashion

Africa’s Masai influences collide in a mélange of exuberant hues, silhouettes and textures.

Following a triumphal appearance of African-influenced apparel presented by the ARISE Promise Of Africa Collective at New York’s fashion week, many of the world’s front-line designers are recognizing the emerging trend of high fashion African-inspired design.

Fashion spreads in the latest Essence and Ebony magazines beautifully craft a look that is so in keeping with the Afropolitan style, with it’s creative use of traditional wax prints and patterns accompanied by exquisite accessories.

The use of traditional wax prints, while new to some, has always been a mainstay in the creation of home fashion. I am always inspired by the migration of high fashion to our home environments. Moroso proves with the Binta arm chair that modern design can be creative, cultural, and inspiring.

New Wave of African-Influenced Design

ethniciti was created to offer a sensual, African-inspired collection of products and services to connect with, inspire, and indulge the modern African-American consumer.  We were pleased to note in the recent New York Times article, “Designing to an Afro Beat,” that the African-influence is now permeating many forms of expression throughout the arts and design world.

The beat goes on

The Times cites the success of the movie “Avatar,” as an indication of the mainstream appeal of African style, reflected in the clothing, beads, face painting, and hairstyles of the Pandorans.  However, this is only the mass-market expression of the trend.  Fashion design, music, theater, retail collections, and the art world have all been affected by the Afro beat.

The success of the play “Fela,” celebrating the life and music of Fela Kuti, is giving rise to a new appreciation of Kuti’s music, inspiring a new compilation of his music entitled, “Best of a Black President,” and a new film based upon the career of the sometimes controversial musician will be released during 2010.

Kenyan kangas

Perhaps the hippest reflection of the African-style movement is to be found in the fashion design of Max Osterweis, who says that the number of stores selling his Suno collection of women’s wear has tripled in the last year.  The waistline-free dresses, often accessorized with a turban, are made from Kenyan textiles, featuring bold prints and colorful patterns.

ethniciti has created a visual experience of the various manifestations of African style influences for your enjoyment in the video above.

Will you be part of the new wave?  See our catalog.

Self-Expression from an African Perspective

Ethiopia’s Surma and Mursi tribes in the southwest Omo River valley region present a unique perspective on self-expression in the African style.  As a result of their nomadic lifestyle, location near lush vegetation, and inventive nature, tribe members have taken body painting and adornment to a new level of creativity which has inspired the color palette for ethniciti collections.

Sophisticated color palette

Colors taken directly from nature, the various strata of rock in the vast Rift Valley geologic formation, yield subtle shades of ochre, red, pure white, off white, and light gray.  Green is obtained from stone found in the riverbed.  The canvas for this sophisticated mixture of colors is the flesh of the tribe members, a reddish, copper hue, lighter in shade and more reflective of light rays compared to the darker skin of the Ugandans, Kenyans, and Sudanese to the south and west.

Natural accessorization

Flora and fauna found near the river – grass, leaves, stems, flowers, roots, shells, nuts, wild fruit, papyrus, and gourds- are accessories to this creation of natural fashion.

Shapes and forms

The amazing and aesthetically brilliant juxtapositions of color, texture, shape, and form, are not pondered and studied.  Spontaneity is key to the effects achieved with body painting done rapidly to preserve the natural colors.  Pigments created using water and stone fragments dry within a minute’s time. The result is a creative work worthy of any modern artist or fashion designer, but with the natural freedom of childhood.

The design spirit of the Surma and Mursi exemplifies ethniciti’s philosophy of organized eclecticism, freedom of self-expression, and African-inspired design.  We have organized items from our five collections – foundations, décor, bon appétit, boudoir, entre nous, into color groups based upon palettes inspired by the Omo River valley tribes.  What do you think?

Photography by Hans Silvester in his book, Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa.