From Vume Village with Love

I have always found road trips more fascinating and somewhat more adventurous than any other form of transportation. Of course putting into consideration the purpose of travel and length of time, they may not always be ideal. Albeit having no experience of sea travel- I find that choosing between air, rail and road- the road most certainly leaves me on a permanent high. From experience, my road sojourns have afforded me first class introductions and welcomes to cities, villages and settlements I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered.



 My fascination however isn’t so much with the cities, after all, most major cities of the world have certain things in common- the sky scrapers, traffic, posh restaurants, technological advancement to mention a few. On the other hand, villages and settlements retain the culture, history and tradition that is otherwise lost to the urban dweller. Not forgetting their key but often overlooked contribution to economic development either through local farming, crafts or other forms of trade and production.

The most memorable sight travelling by road in this part of the world is the sheer assortment of local road side delicacies, they certainly do play tricks on the salivary glands. For those brief moments when access to emails and mobile phone signals dare to be unavailable, you do realize that life actually goes on.

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When I had an impromptu offer to travel from Nigeria to Ghana by road, I knew there was no way I was passing this opportunity. A first time visitor to the west coast, I had no expectations but looked forward to the trip especially the notorious border immigration. With the sole purpose of escaping "Eko Wenjele" for a few days, I was good to go! The trip on the other hand for my co traveler was an opportunity to visit family and buy decorative clay pots for re sale.  Being an art enthusiast and interior decorator with a bias for tribal and ethnic influences, I knew this trip would present more inspiration for my design work.

Vume is a small village near Sogakope, some 163km from Accra. Large tracts of clay in the village have encouraged the commercial production of ceramic vases and pots which have helped the pottery industry in the area to develop. The drive from the Togo-Ghana border of Aflao into Accra gave us the opportunity to pass through Vume. On the road side were colourful display of hand crafted vases and pots, all in different sizes and shapes. I like to think of them as elegant, each with it's own distinct personality. A closer inspection of the pots highlights an intricate and delicate design scheme- some made with shells and cowries. It certainly did remind me of the pot making video during my British museum trip.

Not content with mere admiration, I wanted to see a live display of the actual pot making process. John, the owner's son who is still in secondary school was kind enough to explain and show the steps involved. One thing came to mind, identifying one's creative streak is empowering, getting through formal education or vocational training to improve these skills is a foot in the door, displaying your finished product/service is certainly an achievement.

With pride, John finished making the mini pot in less than 15mins, I was certainly impressed. John may only be a teenager and is yet to fully understand the gifts of education and creative awakening his parents have handed him early in life- this very brief and profound experience reminds that creativity is not a chance occurrence, it is inherent in everyone in varying doses. You only need dig a little bit to identify and embrace your true gift.

Local Love: Nigeria at It's Best

With over 250 ethnic tribes, picturesque hills and mountains, mangrove forests, waterfalls, rivers Niger and Benue, and even the Atlantic Ocean, there are endless and untapped inspiration and ideas in Nigeria for your home design/makeover projects. From simple accent pieces, to the more exquisite paintings and crafts, your choices are endless. Back from our 'Arabian bliss', get back on board as we explore some of the most fabulous and stunning prints, patterns, paintings, and crafts that will transform your space into your ‘luxury land’.

Local and versatile fabrics such as ankara, adire(batik), aso oke, akwete and kura fabrics can be introduced into your design scheme in imaginative and unusual ways. These ubiquitous fabrics come in a range of tones, patterns, textures and best of all, you can even choose your own prints designed or hand woven to specification. Depending on your design approach, start with a base colour e.g. brown or whatever you have on ground as furniture, pick out the most elaborate of prints as shown in the images. You can use the fabrics as throw pillow covers, lamp shades, and curtains. These fabrics instantly transform the dullest of spaces, injecting energy and life into it. Try it! you’ll be transfixed beyond measures.

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Leather carpets, poufs and decorative hides add an extra dimension to your design. Usually made out of cow, goat or sheep skin or a combination of all, the various shades of the animal skin introduce a delicate but sleek texture into the scheme. Visit your local art and craft markets for a variety of leather works with fantastic deals.

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If you'd rather not go the animal way, the alternatives are these detailed and intricately hand woven raffia and cane products. Rafia, a very versatile material can also be used to produce other items and home accessories like living room furniture, laundry and storage baskets,  place mats and even baby cribs. All these items can be made to desired shapes and sizes. Check out ‘underbridge’ in Maryland, Lagos for an array of designs.

With a natural landscape that captivates the senses whilst stretching into the horizon, the ever fast paced cities and towns, and the more laid back and serene villages with ‘mother earth gradients of soil’, local paintings and photography gives your attempt at design a seal of approval. Although original paintings can be quite pricey, don’t be discouraged- look for a street artist, and negotiate a good deal -they are everywhere. You can get professional photographs of your best spots, have them boarded and framed and create a focal point by grouping them and creating a larger frame.

 






For the kids area, indulge them in a painting and drawing session. Have the finished works professionally framed just like the ones the kids produced for the United for Kids art auction.

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Locally handcrafted ceramics, glass works and calabashes are delicate and versatile statement pieces that will pull your scheme together and certify you as an authentic ethnic wiz. Although the ceramics are most common in the traditional red-earth tone, they can be designed in various shapes and sizes. These can be used for potted plants, centre pieces or just as a shelve display. In more traditional homes, they are used around the kitchen for cooking, eating and storing water.

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Intricate wood carvings can be used to make statement furniture pieces like a coffee table or bookcase. These select and unique pieces have such detailed carvings that are imposing and distinctive- you can be assured there aren’t many of them out there.

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Art for Charity- The UKF Experience

The United for Kids Foundation, one of my favourite charities organised a fund raising ball for their 2013 project calender. By direct intervention, these projects provide educational and health relief materials to kids from no/low income families through campaigns such as- back to school, summer camp, field trips to multinationals, just to mention a few. More significantly, it has provided 'free access' to  otherwise 'no access'areas for these kids.

Raising money for any cause can be tricky business, literally-your imagination must run wild. When I heard about auctioning the kids art works as part of the fund raising event, I imagined it would be a fun project to organise. However, the realities on ground were (a) we needed funds to get the art materials and frame the drawings, (b) the public schools UKF works with don't offer art classes. While still trying to get donors for the project, two angels came to our rescue, one gave the needed funds, and the other provided the materials. Once the summer break was over, we organised dates for the school visits, only  to be told some days later that the teachers had embarked on a strike-thankfully, that was short lived.

Despite dashing across a motorway and hopping on a bike (2 things I have sworn off), I arrived at Ojodu primary schools in a piece. It was the first day of resumption at Ojodu and there seemed to be a lot of activities going on. Kemi, the UFK officer was familar with the kids and staff- she organised access to the library (built by UKF) and also identified the kids from the library club to take part in the art project. We had no way of knowing which kids were good artistically, so we decided to let the kids draw and paint whatever they felt confident in.

Young artists from Adebule Primary School keeping busy

Rasheedah (both of her drawings were selected) from Adebule Primary

We started the session with 20 kids, and it was quite easy to spot those with raw talents. Some three hours after, we had found our Davincis- believe me, these kids are good. With minimal supervision, no previous art classes, I saw Simba, Zazoo and Nahla from The Lion King come to life,  so did Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs to mention a few. Anthony, a primary 6 boy that was doing great with the map of Africa got a little bit jaded towards the end- he had to paint all the individual countries- the prospects of that task got him crying out- am tired! We somehow managed to get a finished drawing from him. The next day, we replicated the same steps at Adebule Primary School. Although more challenging for the kids was the fact that there was no access to the library (also built and maintained by UKF) this meant that we had couldn't use the colourful and inspirational books like we did at Ojodu. The kids at Adebule made do with text books instead. At the end of another successful session with the kids, we were left to select the best from the pack. With a limited budget for the framing, only the works that exhibited some level of technique made it through. I know it may sound a bit unfair expecting 'techniques' from kids with no formal training, otherwise we would have ended up with the rainbow coalition.

Even though these drawings are from kids aged between 9 - 14 years, we wanted to treat their works like we would that of professionals. We got the drawings off to an art studio for final estimates on the framing. My experienced artist friend was generous enough to give us professional advice on which drawings to drop, and also gave us good deals for the final works. A few tweaks here and there, we finalised on 16 drawings from 11 students. On the day of the ball, I picked up the drawings and was supper impressed with the complete package- if only the kids could see what their works had been transformed into. We set up a display of the drawings complete with description cards and some even displayed on easels- they were beautiful, absolutely proud of these young ones. Before the auction began, the first purchase was made for The Lion King Threesome- that was clearly a collectors item. The auction was great, 8 of the works went to the highest bidders, a further 2 were sold after the auction. In total, we sold 11 out of 16 drawings. The remaining 5 would be auctioned at the US ball organised for 2013.

 

I never at any point thought we would have generated as much as we did for the final sales figure. To those individuals who showed great support by believing in these kids works and paying good money for them, I say thank you- you are amazing. Not only will the sale proceeds provide back to school packs for the kids, it will also instil in them a sense of pride and encourage them to reach higher. After all if Aunty Ameenah could pay 40,000 naira for Promise's drawing, and Aunty Tayo could also pay 30,000 naira for Victor's Pinocchio- the sky certainly is their limit.