- atelier 55 - Contemporary African Design

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Atelier Fifty Five Tapiwa Matsinde African Interior Design Liz Riley Photography

Dedicated to Modern African Design

The ateliers of Africa are overflowing with creativity and ingenuity. atelier | 55 by Tapiwa Matsinde invites you to discover the soul and stories of African design

Our Mission

To support the development of the African design industry and bring the work of talented designers, makers, and creatives from the continent and its diaspora to the attention of local and global audiences.

Atelier Fifty Five by Tapiwa Matsinde African design consultant Liz Riley Photography

Meet Tapiwa

I feel privileged to be a part of what I call the golden era of contemporary African design, a time when we are witnessing a continent-wide, collective, creative reawakening. I celebrate this creative expression by participating in it and working to expand its reach.

I feel privileged to be a part of what I call the golden era of contemporary African design, a time when we are witnessing a continent-wide, collective, creative reawakening. I celebrate this creative expression by participating in it and working to expand its reach.

Services

By sharing information – about contemporary African design with curators and collectors; about best business practices with makers and creatives, and making connections between these groups of people, I contribute to the growing, thriving world of modern African design.

Atelier Fifty Five by Tapiwa Matsinde African design Consultancy Liz Riley Photography

Consultancy

Consultancy and Guest-Curation

Consultancy and Guest-Curation for cultural organizations that want a deeper understanding of Africa’s dynamic design and creative landscape.

Atelier Fifty Five by Tapiwa Matsinde Creative Entrepreneurs Liz Riley Photography

Creative Entrepreneurs

Resources for the creative business owner.

Creative business support designed to help growing brands, and fledgling creative business owners expand into new, high-end design and lifestyle markets.

“

Power is gained by sharing knowledge not hoarding it

African Proverb

Curated Content

Browse through objects, commentary and perspectives of modern African design, chosen carefully and thoughtfully for you. As important as the creations themselves are the inspiring stories, insights, and profiles that enhance our understanding and appreciation of the work.

Atelier Fifty Five by Tapiwa Matsinde African Design Writing Content Liz Riley Photography

Books, Writing, Publications

Capturing the dynamic African design industry.

We collect information to help us make sense of things, and, to create records of what has happened and is happening. I’m proud to contribute to the collection that chronicles and captures the dynamic African design industry.

We collect information and cushion it with context to help us make sense of things, and, more importantly, to create records of what has happened and is happening. I’m proud to contribute to the collection that chronicles and captures the dynamic African design industry.

Atelier Fifty Five by Tapiwa Matsinde buy African Design Liz Riley Photography

Shop African Design

Beautiful products.

A selection of sophisticated products for contemporary living from some of Africa’s finest design ateliers.

atelier | 55 offers a selection of sophisticated products for contemporary living. Thoughtfully sourced from some of Africa’s finest design ateliers.

Read The Edit, Be Inspired

- Africa’s top brands 2019
  Brand Africa is a continent-based initiative that recognises the power of brands as an asset in cultivating a positive image, reputation and the competitiveness of a nation. As such Brand Africa seeks to inspire and promote a positive image of Africa, celebrating its diversity and driving its competitiveness. As part of their agenda, the initiative has since 2011 compiled and published an annual list of the top 100 brands in Africa. Unsurprisingly this list is dominated by non-African brands. With Nike, Adidas, Samsung and Coca-Cola leading the way. African brands that do make it on to the list include: telecoms provider MTN (South Africa) at 8;apparel provider Anbessa Shoes (Ethiopia) at 12;consumer provider Dangote (Nigeria) at 25; telecoms provider Econet (Zimbabwe) at 31;Mukwano Products (Uganda) at 41; and DSTv (South Africa) at 45. This tells us that homegrown African brands still have a ways to go in capturing the hearts and minds of local consumers not to mention gaining global recognition. In the future, it would be good to see African design and lifestyle brands such as YSWARA, Tongoro, and Rain make their way onto the list too. But that will only happen if we as Africans support our own. Homegrown design brands have yet to gain firm footholds. Part of the reason for this is because many of the products created cater to a wealthy consumer base putting them out of the reach of the everyday consumer. It is my hope that as the design industry continues to develop and diversify we will see good design filtering down the tiers to create locally made products for different price ranges. For the full list visit: www.brandafrica.net – Tapiwa... Read more...
- Ep 7: A masterclass in marketing your brand beyond social media and why having your own platform matters with Kwabena Oppong Boateng
  In this episode I chat with Kwabena Oppong Boateng. Kwabena is a dynamic communications professional with extensive social media, telecommunications and advertising experience across public, private and corporate sectors in Ghana, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Kayobi clothing, and Nkanee, a 21st century strategy consultancy based Accra, Ghana that specialises in innovative physical and digital experiences powered by ideas and creativity. If first came across Kwabena having seen an article he posted on LinkedIn that spoke of the effect that social media outages in Ghana have on local business relying solely on these platforms to build their businesses. And the dangers of doing so. With a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur and a digital marketing specialist Kwabena, shares his tips for creating a business marketing strategy: Tie your strategy to your real business goals, goals that help you make money. So decide what these goals are, is it to get sales, or to get clients. Choose you platforms wisely – try not to be on every platform, because you may not have the resources, people time and money to manage everything. So for example if you are a fashion brand you might be better off on Instagram, if you are a consultancy LinkedIn might be better. So think about your audience and choose the platform where they are. Create a content plan – your chosen platforms need content. This could be video, pictures captions, but you need to know what is the purpose of the content, because there is no point in creating beautiful images if no-one buys. Content ideas include blog posts to help keep your website fresh, and rank better in Google. Writing an article for LinkedIn can get you an interview or you can do audio books. You need a budget – digital marketing can be highly ineffective without paying money. Are you going to put your money into Google ads, or Facebooks ads, and which ever you choose do you know how to make them work for you. If not you can lose a lot of money with little in the way of results to show for it. Once your strategy is up and running measure the results, using tools like analytics. If you are not getting returns try something different, until you find what works. Also look at other brands, not just the big names but the little ones too. Look at a wide variety of brands and see how they try to convert customers, to getting their attention, or getting them to take some kind of action. We talk about: His LinkedIn article, Blackout, which discusses social media outages in Ghana, and the effect this has on businesses and sales The dangers of using social media platforms as the sole place to run a business The difficulty for African brands and access to reliable commerce solutions and the solutions Why having a website even if it is a simple webpage matters, and the advantages of having your own platform The importance of using offline in your marketing strategy The value of collecting customer data and cultivating real relationships with your customers How to create a business marketing strategy that works for your business Analytics and how to use them in your business Attracting attention to your your business “The advantage of having your hub is that you can … build a long term relationship with the client, and have more sales over a life-time.” – Kwabena Oppong Boateng Links and resources mentioned in this episode Blackout LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kboateng?originalSubdomain=gh Jumia – https://group.jumia.com Shopify – https://www.shopify.co.uk Bigcartel – https://www.bigcartel.com Bigcommerce – https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk Orijin Culture – https://orijinstore.com Christie Brown – https://www.christiebrownonline.com Duro Olowu – https://www.duroolowu.com Quicksell App – quicksell.co Where you can go to find out more about Kwabena: www.koboateng.com www.nkanee.com www.kayobiclothing.com/collection.html You can listen to the podcast on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android) And before you go I have a favour to ask, if you could you take a few minutes to do the three R’s: that is rate it, review it, and recommend it to anyone you feel would benefit. It will really make a difference and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks again. Tapiwa... Read more...

“

If you can envision it, you can accomplish it.
If you can imagine it, you can reach the heavens!

African proverb