Knowledge Carried by the Hand
Akire is shaped and made in Kenya, bringing together locally sourced materials and the knowledge of craftspeople from different Kenyan communities and disciplines.
Each bringing skills developed through practice and, in many cases, carried from one generation to another.
Kamba woodcarvers bring an understanding of sculpture and form.
Turkana leather artisans contribute knowledge of leather, pattern and hand-stitching.
Maasai and Turkana beadworkers bring their relationship with beadwork, pattern and colour.
The Luo creative direction of the Akire world brings observation, design and the vision through which these different disciplines are brought into conversation.
Leather, wood, bark, beads, brass, waxed thread and African cotton enter the making with their own character. Through different hands, they are carved, moulded, stitched, beaded, coloured, woven and assembled into form.
This exchange of knowledge is part of what shapes Akire. An object may pass through several hands before it is complete, with each discipline contributing something the next depends upon.
Because every Akire object is made by hand, no two are entirely alike. Subtle variations in leather grain, colour, stitching, beadwork and finish become part of the character of each piece – not an absence of precision, but evidence of human making.
For Akire, craftsmanship is also continuity.
Inherited skills are not held still as memories of the past. They are given room to evolve; beadwork finding expression on upcycled denim, traditional leather knowledge entering sculptural forms, and different disciplines encountering contemporary materials.
In this way, cultural knowledge continues through use: acknowledged in its origins, transformed through collaboration and carried into objects made for contemporary life.
Tradition is carried forward through the hand.