What Inspires Us?
Very hard to pin down, to put soul to paper. But let's try.
Sometimes inspiration comes from strain, other times from beauty. There are moments that we don't even remember why they felt the way they did but that they meant something. For me, it's the houses in Edo State, the ancient Benin Kingdom. Growing up, the older houses had this reddish clay finish to them with their verandas . They would have bronze casting finishings to decorate the house facade and often you'd see these beautifully carved bricks that leave a pattern when the sun hits them.
When times were good, you'd have neighbours congregate, laughing, drinking palmwine and listening to the radio. Those were the moments.
As a child, I didn't know why I liked them so much, just that I did. Now that fashion has moved on, I feel nostalgia. That's the inspiration behind, the highlife and palmwine design.
Feature image- Photo by Tope A. Asokere from Pexels