Sunsum Sessions –
Design & Fashion
Accra, 17th February 2018
The genius of couturier Kofi Ansah, musical style setter Azizaa, young architect Latifah Iddriss, designer Jewel Arthur, and science fiction writer and futurist Jonathan Dotse.
Kofi Ansah
Kofi Ansah was a Ghanaian fashion designer. He was considered a pioneer in promoting modern African styles and design on the international stage. Ansah studied at Chelsea School of Art, graduating in 1979 with a first-class honours degree in fashion design and distinction in design technology. He initially made his name working on the UK fashion scene - he had first made early headlines on his graduation when he made a beaded top for Princess Anne - he then in 1992 returned to Ghana, where he set up and ran the successful design and creative concept company Artdress. He was the founder and past president of the Federation of African Designers. Ansah won the prestigious Ghana Quality Awards Diamond Division October 2003, for clothing and textile with Artdress Ltd and his company was the winner of the Millennium 2000 African Fashion Awards. He also designed the anniversary fabric for the Ghana@50 Golden Jubilee Celebration. He designed the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 African Cup of Nations staged in Ghana.
Jewel Arthur
Jewel Arthur has just set up a design studio in Accra, The New Afropolitan, that specialises in creating original designs that are both timeless and functional. She was the Head of Design at Ashesi University, a lecturer at Instituto Marangoni and Central St Martins, and worked with Magazines, such as Pop and The Face, and designers like Alexander McQueen.
Azizaa
Azizaa calls her unique blend of music "a bridge (for a gap) that brings together the old and the new, the ancient and the modern, the past and the present, the young and the old, even the present and the Future”. In recent years, she has been working to challenge some of Ghana’s modern narratives, to break boundaries and celebrate spirit.In her most recent project, Black Magic Woman, Azizaa powerfully demonstrates her spiritually-driven mission. “If I’m going to sing, I’m going to sing about what I’m passionate about,” Azizaa told PBS in a recent interview. Black Magic Woman is a single testament to that very passion, as it questions Ghanaian social expectations and behaviors with regard to both gender and religion.
Jonathan Dotse
Jonathan Dotse is a science fiction writer, futurist, and technology designer based in Accra, Ghana. Jonathan studied Computer Science and Psychology at the University of Windsor in Canada, and graduated from Ashesi University in Ghana with a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems. Jonathan created the AfroCyberPunk blog in 2010 to explore the creative potential of African science fiction and has since published several articles and short stories in various print and online publications, including Jungle Jim, Sci Dev, Acceler8or, Brave New Now (2014), and African Futures (2016). He is currently working on his first novel, a cyberpunk mystery/thriller set in Accra in the year 2057. Jonathan has also directed a number of virtual reality (VR) productions, including the Elsewhen interactive VR experience for the 2016 Dakar Biennale, and the VR documentary film Spirit Robot, which premiered at the 2017 Sheffield Doc/Fest. In 2018, Jonathan launched AfroCyberPunk Interactive, a digital hypermedia publishing company based in Accra."
Latifah Iddriss
Latifah Iddriss works between the interface of architecture and art. To her, architecture is sculpture that evolves into habitable forms that seek to meet the needs of the environment and the culture it represents. The aim of the designs she creates goes beyond an effort to meet utility; they are a way to envision form that is sensitive to the essence of what they represent. Through design, she hopes to solve the problems that manifest around her. She recently graduated from the architecture school at KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana. She has worked with Mobius Architecture, Archiafrika, and the Ashesi Design School Programmme, and exhibited with ANO, at 1-54, and has been featured by Christie’s Auction House.
