Story of SOLOLA
I met African traditional textile when I visited Nigeria, Niger,
and Mali for the first time at the age of 21.
I found them simple but powerful like the lives of people living there.
Old woman spins thread with her hands in the mud house.
Old man weaves cotton cloth on the dry sandy land.
Indigo cloth shines when the dyer pulls it up from the dye pit under the sun.
The scene has been unchanged for generations and textile has always been with people.
My interest in African textile has grown and it extended to arts and crafts.
As I spent more time in Africa, I realized that most of the local products can be improved in quality with better design and management.
My passion is to create such beautiful and traditional products with African producers
and introduce the beauty of modern-classical Africa.
This is SOLOLA.
Our Vision
“SOLOLA” means “to discuss” in Lingala language spoken in the Congo river basin.
SOLOLA discusses with local producers to create new products based on our own design and excellent works from the old time.
Respect to the history and tradition and creativity with new idea are merged in SOLOLA.
SOLOLA believes that crafts are useful only if they are used in the daily lives of people.
If the lifestyle changes, the way crafts are made and used will also change.
Crafts that adapted to such changes but still being used by people for generations
have essential and practical qualities in which we find perpetual beauty.
Solola endeavors to share such view with its producers and customers through its activity and quality of the products.
Since most of the African producers are struggling with poverty, income from handicrafts are very important.
However, it is not easy for them to meet our requirement such as deadline and quality
as their lives are set in the slower pace of society.
Solola is confident that our continuous effort to improve the production management
and product quality with our African producers is the most valuable way to make their lives better.
Please feel the power and creative imagination of African arts&crafts through Solola.
Enjoy our world !