Meet our Artisans: Ahmed and his Team
Mbote Mes Amis!
I hope you are all well. I wanted to start sharing some of our Artisans with everyone. I wasn’t sure what the best medium would be so we went back and forth. We decided that a one size fits all isn’t the correct approach to take. We decided to do a video this time around to show you how Ahmed and his team work and continue the Touareg jewelry traditions.
Ahmed makes our Fulani earrings and our Afrika jewelry collection. Everything is handmade and he puts a lot of love and pride in his work. We’ve been working together since 2018. Ahmed is based out of Dakar (capital of Senegal) and Niamey (Capital of Niger). Ahmed speaks French, Wolof, Hausa, Songhai, and Arabic. He is a Touareg; they are mostly a nomadic group that belongs to the Berber group. They are mostly found in Niger, Mali, Algeria, Chad, Libya. They tend to travel across the Sahara desert. The Touareg have some of the most beautiful jewelry, beautiful traditions, and songs. I’ve been invited to Touareg weddings but couldn’t make it due to Covid. Hopefully, I will get more invites so I can share the beautiful ceremonies, traditions, and pageantries.
We decided to shoot a day in the life of Ahmed and his team working at their Dakar shop. The video is in French but you can watch and see how they make everything and the tools they use to make our jewelry. We will also shoot a video of him in Niger. It’s completely different than Dakar! I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse of a day in our artisan Ahmed’s life.
Best Wishes,
Adolophine
