Photo courtesy of Nana Quagraine
Nana Quagraine wants you to buy African.
As founder of 54kibo, an online marketplace showcasing African luxury goods, Quagraine bridges the gap between African designers and international consumers more accustomed to buying their wares from other destinations.
Below, read how this Harvard MBA and mother of two is revolutionizing the African design space, and her plans to change the world’s perception of Africa in the luxury market.
Who are you? Where are you from? What does life currently look like for you?
Born in Ghana and raised in South Africa since 1986, I moved to the U.S. in 2006 to attend Harvard Business School. I’ve had a broad career ranging from metallurgical engineering, strategy consulting, investment banking, managing an infrastructure fund and now investing in and building 54kibo.
What do you and and why do you do it? Why is your work important?
I started 54kibo because I knew that there was a huge population of incredible African designers who deserved access to broader markets and who design fans deserved to see. The idea came about as I sourced items for my own home in Brooklyn and had difficulty bringing back all of the incredible design I was seeing in South Africa, where I lived part-time.
But on a deeper level, as the mother of young children growing up in America, it was important to me that I incorporate elements that showcased the beauty of my culture, because there are so many misrepresentations of it, and I want to contribute to changing this by giving people a new vocabulary for Africa. To me, inclusivity, is important not just because it’s right, but because it truly makes the world a more beautiful place. The same goes with design.
Image courtesy of 54kibo
What was the impetus for 54kibo? What’s the inspiration behind its name?
We wanted to create a brand that truly represented the height of contemporary African design. Kibo is the highest summit in Africa, a perfect metaphor for what we aspire to for our collection. Pairing it with 54, the number of African countries, we came up with our name.
In your opinion, why are products from the continent so underrepresented in the design market and so hard to access globally? What needs to be done to change this?
There are a number of reasons – for one, logistics. You’ll see that African fashion has made its way across the world, as fashion is made of much lighter materials and trans-atlantic shipping is expensive. It is difficult to procure and ship heavy durable items from Africa, and can be cost prohibitive without sufficient scale. Two, a simple lack of awareness. People generally don’t think of Africa as a purveyor of fine luxury goods and design – fortunately the tide is changing given the rising profile of contemporary African art and fashion, as home decor and furniture is a natural extension of this.
What have been some of the challenges you’ve experienced as an African goods company trying to cull a space in the (very white, very European) design industry?
For one, we are not only trying to drive awareness for our 54kibo brand, but also offering the market a new visual language for the home decor category and a new language for Africa. Education is hard work and requires a lot of heavy lifting – fortunately the beauty of the products speaks for itself, and in ways, that works for us, because the products are truly distinctive and unique in a relatively homogeneous market place.
Also, because we are a company grounded in African design, people often have a natural inclination to connect Africa to charity because that is the lens through which Africa is often discussed in the media. As a result, they typically gravitate towards initiating dialogue about crafts and social enterprise, both things that are good, but not at the epicenter of our brand. Have you ever heard someone inquire about the beneficiaries of the profits of a Scandinavian design piece? Similarly, 54kibo’s focus is on highlighting the exquisite products from contemporary African designers in Africa and the diaspora.
Image courtesy of 54kibo
How do you determine which goods/artists to represent on 54kibo?
We get recommendations from other designers, social media, and industry or design related events. There is such a breadth of designers available on Instagram, for instance; and we recently met very exciting product designers such as Reform Studio and Asfour El Nil from Egypt at WantedDesign Manhattan as part of NYCxDesign’s annual design celebration. We look at the quality of each piece, the distinctiveness of the design, the designer’s story and think about the needs of our target and where the piece might reside in their life.
Who are some of your favorite women artists on your platform?
All of them! Seriously — there are so many incredible ones. Some of our newest additions are the illustrious Lisa Hunt, whose gold-infused geometric paintings are out-of-this-world gorgeous, to Dounia Tamri-Loeperof Dounia Home, who designs contemporary Moroccan light fixtures. We also love Tosin Oshinowo, a multi-talented Nigerian architect and furniture designer whose ile-ila chair collection is the epicenter of contemporary African design, and Candice Lawrence, a Cape Town-based designer whose Ndebele Pendant Light fixture has caught the eye of many design fans.
Who are some non-54kibo women artists whose work you enjoy?
I still have Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing book on my mind. It is such an ambitious and skillfully written book. It weaves 300 years and 7 generations of Ghanaian and American history and creates an exceptional novel that should be required reading for everyone!
Image courtesy of 54kibo
In which ways can black women incorporate African elements into their own homes? What are some trends/designs/items that are most popular currently?
Contemporary African design is a very broad category, so it suits a number of different tastes – if you have minimalist leanings but are on the brink of adventurous, Ile-Ila’s monochrome Adunni chair has beautiful lines and hues that add a smooth punch of color into a room. Our throw pillows are a fun way to change up any room, from our HOPE Barack Obama pillow to our iconic adinkra-inspired throw pillows by Eva Sonaike, there are a variety of options to infuse a bit of culture into your space. Also, our artwork – Malene Barnett’s prints have been very popular- they are beautiful images of powerful women that integrate beautifully into so many spaces, and Lisa Hunt’s painting collection is a great option for people looking for the perfect intersection of a modern look and African inspiration.
As an African female business owner and entrepreneur, what has been the greatest challenge when establishing 54kibo? What has been your greatest joy?
Startups are a grind: you need a strong vision, resilience, tenacity as well as strong network, team and cash flow management to survive –the work is not sexy! But it is so rewarding to hear the appreciation in our product designers voices when they talk about the beauty and quality of 54kibo.com – the platform, the products and the stories. It’s wonderful to see how their different styles and creativity meld together to create this unique beautiful platform. And of course the joy from our customers at our pop-up events is infectious and energizing – makes all the hard work worth it!
How have you utilized your personal identity (as a woman, as an African, as a mother, etc) to make 54kibo as successful as possible?Honestly, I’ve tried to make 54kibo less about me, and more about the designers that make up the beautiful collection we’ve been able to curate. But 54kibo is an extension of who I am and what I stand for, so in essence it is an authentic representation of me, which helps people genuinely want to engage more with the brand when I share it with them.
What advice can you give to other black women entrepreneurs?
Continuously develop a learning mindset. Find the right experts and ask lots of questions as you work towards your goal. The trick is you’ll need to get comfortable with asking what you think, others might think, are not so smart questions; those really don’t matter in the long run. Don’t sacrifice your potentially great questions because you’re afraid to ask your self-assessed not-so-good ones.
What’s next for 54kibo?
We have a slew of incredible designers coming on the platform in the months to come, and are looking forward to continue collaborating with them and the rest of the design community to showcase contemporary African design throughout the US, and ultimately, the world.
