Heart 365 Emporium
A string of approximately 365 crystal beads and a silver clasp in the shape of heart jewellery inspired the name for Tanzanian jewellery designer Jacqueline Kibacha's handcrafted fashion jewellery and accessories label. Based in London, Heart 365 Emporium incorporates traditional Maasai beading with the drama of bold designs, colours, and layered textures.

Proud of her Tanzanian heritage; Heart 365 Emporium is a celebration of cultures and traditions that go beyond borders and pays homage to handmade jewellery, traditional craftsmanship and the art of adornment. During a trip to Tanzania, Jacqueline spent time with Maasai bead workers sharing stories, making jewellery and learning more about the history and significance of the traditional beading she remembered from her childhood. Creating wearable pieces of art has helped Jacqueline connect with the semi nomadic Maasai people of Tanzania; experiences that are combined with the influences of having grown up in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The debut collection, 'Uhuru's Wings: Freedom to Fly', was inspired by Tanzania reaching the milestone of 50 years of independence - Uhuru is the Swahili word for freedom - and led Jacqueline to explore the meaning of freedom and what it means to people and societies, and how this concept could be translated into her work and into a thing of beauty. Paying homage to what calls Maasai Couture, Heart 365 Emporium reflects a culture of beading where Maasai women skilfully handcraft jewellery and other distinctive forms of adornment that have a specific meaning for the wearer, conveying messages through the use of certain colours and layers. An age-old craft, over time the pieces created began to feature different layers; at first made with locally found materials such as seeds; as brightly coloured European glass beads became increasingly available and popular meant the addition of another layer as they were later incorporated; and now Heart 365 Emporium adds its own complementary layer of crystals, semi precious stones and vintage pieces.

The statement pieces of the collection are Uhuru's Wings; crystal encrusted ceremonial style collars from which luxuriously dark silky feathers fan out.

Jewels of the Kalahari by One Fine Thread
Handmade by the San of the Kalahari, Jewels of the Kalahari is a collection of jewellery by made using the delicate natural shards of ostrich eggshells, which are combined with other materials like recycled glass.

Upholding craftsmanship and ancient skills, Jewels of the Kalahari was produced by One Fine Thread; a business that was founded by designer Anna Haber as a platform to highlight the rich culture and unique designs found in global arts and craft traditions.

Anna collaborated with craftswomen from the town of Ghanzi in Botswana and jeweller Sabine Roemer to create long draping strands and twisted ropes that belie the fragility of the eggshell shards. The designs are organic, emerging from a design and creation process saw the experimentation of new materials like ribbons combined with artistic tradition and heritage. Alongside the natural cream colour of the eggshells are brown and black colours that come from frying the eggshells. The campaign for the Jewels of the Kalahari collection is fronted by a local San girl.

Buki Akib
Continuing to draw inspiration from Fela Kuti, Nigerian knitwear designer Buki Akib has launched a luxury collection of bags inspired by the legendary singer’s 27 wives. Exclusive to London store, Darkroom; Fela, The Wives is a follow up to Buki’s acclaimed menswear collection, previously featured on African Daydreams here. Designed to capture the individuality and essence of the Wives, the bags feature Buki’s signature use of pattern, texture and colour, and are made using traditional Yoruba hand woven textiles, combined with leatherwork from South Western Nigeria. Details such as the long sensuous fringing on the Sandra bag, and the playful tassled pompoms on the Funmilayo bag add a touch of the flamboyance and extravagance that Fela Kuti was known for.

Sseko
In February of last year African Daydreams did a feature on Sseko sandals and how the business is helping young women in Uganda go on to higher education. This month the business marks its third year in business, significant in that it means three classes of women have graduated from Sseko and are now in university. To celebrate this achievement Sseko has just released The Swiss Miss Clutch, a range of handcrafted clutch bags, that are perfect accessories for day and night; and have kindly offered African Daydreams readers 10% of the new Swiss Miss Clutch bags valid from now until Tuesday, 31 July 2012. All you need to do is enter the code - africandaydreams into the 'coupon box' at the checkout to get your discount.  

The Swiss Miss Clutch is made with a Scandinavian inspired cotton textile on the front of the bag and depending on the colourway chosen, the back has a complementary soft caramel or dark brown coloured leather. The leather used is oil tanned and comes from Kenya. The clutch is a simple fold over design that secures your items with a magnetic closure and features two inner pockets, inserted to store essentials like your phone, money and cards. Choose from three patterns and colourways; Annaliese with warm orange tones; Aubonne with bright tones; and Beatrice with multi colour tones. 

KUA
A kaleidoscope of prints, textures and bright colour characterise the bags and fashion accessories of US-Based label KUA, and their colourful and fun range of straw bags make for pretty summer accessories think; summer weddings (...great for bridesmaids) to nights out and everything in between.  

The acronym for Keeping Us Authentic; and also standing for her mother's name, inspired by her beauty, simplicity, cultural grounding and closets!, KUA was founded by Ruby Buah, who made the switch from 'finance to fashion' when she chose to follow her passion for jewellery design by turning the hobby into a full time business. KUA Designs Handbag; the handbag range was added in 2008 and pays homage to Ghana, Ruby's home country. Available in collections that bear the names of towns in Ghana, the designs make use of  bright complimentary colour palettes in materials that include vibrant African fabrics and leather.  

Trollbeads/Malawi Universal Uniques
Giving their customers the freedom to customise their jewellery as they please, Danish brand Trollbeads is known for its interchangeable beads and charms that come in an array of gemstones, 18ct gold, sterling silver, fresh water pearls and glass in an ever-evolving collection. Trollbeads currently has 600 unique styles, and each bead created has its own look and a story behind it inspired by anything from fairy tales to familiar everyday things. The company was founded in 1976 by Lise Aagaard, when her brother Soren, a silversmith, came up with the first Trollbead having created a bead with six faces that earned it the name Troll and as customers started to request that more beads be added to their bracelets and other jewellery pieces, the name was given to the business. A family run business, up until 2000 beads were designed by the family who made the decision to invite leading jewellery designers to create collections as a way of helping to diversify the collections, and as the collection grew in popularity new locks were added to the designs to allow customers to remove and add the beads themselves. Each individually handmade, glass beads were introduced into the collection in 2002 adding a new look and feel to the brand. 

2010 saw the establishment of the Trollbeads Malawi Workshop which came about when Lise brought together a group of young creative artists and taught them the skill of glass bead making over an open flame, creating the glass beads seen in the Trollbeads Uniques and Universal Uniques collections, which are a range of colourful glass beads using patterns inspired by daily life; from a woman's colourful dress to fruits piled in the market to flora and fauna. Based on a similar project that was set up in India, financial backing was provided to help the business get started, in addition to offering training in running a successful jewellery business that covered areas such as; supply chain, marketing, sales, production and designing. The workshop now employs about 12 people and is moving towards becoming an independent self-sufficient entity. 

The beads made in the Trollbeads Malawi Workshop are designed to fit most leading brands so you can really mix up the beads to create your own look.

The Afropolitan Shop
Inject a dose of pattern and colour into your summer holiday wardrobe with beaded sandals from The Afropolitan Shop's Summer 2012 collection. A traditional style sandal hailing from the coastal region of Kenya forms the basis of the design which feature leather soles, in a choice of black or brown, accessorised by brightly coloured intricate traditional hand beading on the uppers.

Created by Kenyan-American, Beverly Lwenya; The Afropolitan Shop began life in 2007 as a blog called 'the Afropolitan Network' sharing the stories of Africans across the globe; and what started out as a hobby has now become a full time career with the launch of The Afropolitan Shop; an e-commerce platform celebrating and promoting the work of African designers and artisans. April 2012 saw the debut of The Afropolitan Shop's own collection of sandals and jewellery design by Beverly working with Kenyan artisans and producers.

...a perfect accessory for bikinis to maxi's and everything in-between

Clinton Friedman Umbrellas
April showers having seen off a quick succession of umbrellas, has meant the hunt for yet another replacement that can hopefully withstand the wind and on and of downpours. Every time it rains here in the UK I can not help but notice how dark and dull the majority of umbrellas that get put up are...no doubt chosen for practicality they don't do much to cheer one up! I have always made it a habit to choose one as blindingly bright as I possibly can. Having previously featured the bold nature inspired prints of South African photographer and designer Clinton Friedman, showcased across cushions and notebooks, I have now come across a range of umbrellas displaying his iconic imagery. Helping to keep the rain at bay under a cover of deliciously bright and bold graphics, the umbrellas feature an automatic pop-up mechanism and are finished off with a wooden handle.

 Not just for rainy days, the umbrellas make for perfect summer accessories lending themselves as parasols to shelter from the sun as you stroll or enjoy a picnic in the park.

...colourfully striking, make you stand out in a crowd

Schier Shoes
Lately, the unique style of Namibia's Herero Women has been the inspiration for several fashion collections, and a recent advertising campaign by Namibian footwear maker, Schier Shoes brought a smile to my face, its embracement of this spirit of individuality and enjoyment of life whatever your age and wherever you are. Based in Swakopmund, Namibia, the company Herbert Schier has been manufacturing Velskoen shoes since 1938. Although more mainly associated with Namibia and South Africa, those from the Southern African region will be familiar with Veldskoen's or 'Vellies' as they are more commonly known, a type of rugged suede footwear that I can recall in Zimbabwe being a staple, given its durability, amongst the uniformed professions such as the Airforce and Safari Guides as well as farmers all of whom seemed to favour the shoe in a light sandy brown colour, or maybe that was the only choice available at the time!

Growing up I witnessed 'Vellies' going from utilitarian to wider social acceptance and I remember some of my friends wearing them to school, and the adoption of bright colours has seen them become the shoe for choice for artistic types and musicians, a trend which still resonates today. Although I liked the bright colours I couldn't quite bring myself round to wearing a pair, as far as I was concerned they were boys shoes! Having said that, whether you are eight or eighty the Schier Shoes campaign is bringing Velskoen's to a new generation that reaches beyond the shores of Namibia.

A pre-cursor to the modern Desert Boot, Velskoen's were first made in the 1600s when they were crafted from local raw materials using a design inspired by the footwear worn by the Khoisan Tribe. Today a small team that comprises eight gentlemen from Namibia's Damara tribe produce twenty pairs of shoes an afternoon, all made to order for shipment to the Schier Shoes retail base in New York.

Sporting a buttery soft traditional suede or leather finish, are handmade from Kudu hides that come from legal sources as part of a Namibian government conservation mandate, and as a result of the natural markings and blemishes in the hides each shoe produced is one of a kind. No nails are used to craft the shoes and features include a leather footbed, brass rivets, a reinforced leather heel counter and a simple resolable rubber sole. The shoes are hand finished using a knife to perfect the outer texture of the leather. Available for men and women some of the styles are made with leathers that have been dyed with vegetable dyes in colours that bring to mind the intensity of the Namibian desert.

Carolyn Roumeguere
Jewellery designer Carolyn Roumeguere is a nomad at heart, a sentiment that is reflected in her eclectic jewellery creations such as the Swahili Choker, a stunning piece that is handmade using the precious gems diamond, sapphire or emerald, and coral. Taking a month to complete the Swahili Choker incorporates traditional Maasai beading, and features an enamel pendant and the beads sourced from Jaipur, India.

Having grown up in Kenya amongst the Maasai, Carolyn's upbringing was unconventional to say the least; her mother, a social anthropologist was married to a Maasai Warrior and Carolyn learnt her craft from the Maasai women and young girls who influenced her sense of colour, shape and design and instilled in her a passion for beads and adornment, all under the protective shade of an acacia tree. Often travelling to remote destinations, Carolyn is inspired by different cultures and began creating jewellery by recycling materials that she gathered from around the world. Today Carolyn creates new pieces, working with artisans in three continents using the methods of age old skills, such intricately carved bone and horn from East Africa, enamelling from Mexico and traditional Kundan method from Jaipur. Other materials used in her creations include copper, bronze, gold and cow horn which are combined with precious gems to dramatic effect. 

Inspired by culture and a sense of community, Carolyn supports several charities donating a portion of her sales. The collection for CoutureLab was handmade in Kenya, where Carolyn has a home within a Maasai community and works with the local women. Whether intricately detailed or a simple smooth carving, Carolyn's collections can be likened to found treasures, those picked up on travels, and laden with meaning for the owner.

..bohemian chic with a story to tell