Akitere Middle Gourd – Green Beaded Colour

AKITERE
The Middle Gourd Form (Green Beaded Colour)

Akitere takes its form from the Turkana milk gourd, a vessel shaped by function, carried through daily life and held within a tradition of making that has endured across generations.

Its name, Akitere- “To Look At”
Speaks to observation: looking closely at a familiar African form and allowing it to be encountered through another expression.

The middle-sized form within Akire’s Gourd Forms, Akitere is crafted from brown vegetable-tanned kip leather.

Its generous rounded body is moulded and stitched by hand, retaining the distinctive proportions and opening that give the vessel its sculptural character.

Green colour beadwork is engaged by hand, bringing rhythm, texture and individual expression to the brown leather.

Within, an African-print cotton lining introduces another layer of pattern, held quietly inside the form.

Akitere is made to be carried, yet its presence invites a second look an everyday vessel reconsidered as an object of contemporary African craftsmanship.

Each piece carries subtle variations in its leather, beadwork, form and hand-finishing, leaving individual traces of its making.