The Designers Studio - Magazine The Designers Studio - Issue ONE | Page 34

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[Image: Siaka S. Traore]
Senegalese footwear brand, Nio Far, wants to
get mud all over your shoes. Mud cloth, that is.
From afar it would appear that founder and
designer, El Hadji Malick Badji – alias Milcos
Badji – has simply created a footwear of
contemporary style.
But it’s the use of the mud based fabric known
as ‘Bògòlanfini’ (often referred to as Bògòlan)
that gives this footwear ethnic depth, rich in
meaning. Currently they have a capsule
collection of Nio Far released in limited
edition. However, we’ll look at their popular
‘Nnéma collection’ to better understand this
merger between indigenous and modern style.
“Nnéma”, which means comfort, is a collection
that features handmade sneakers, made from
leather and Bògòlan.
The patterns and colours that form on the fabric
are no coincidence, with each delivering a
unique story or meaning.
This mud cloth, which has particular significance
in Malian culture, is made by taking hand woven
cotton and dying it in a painstaking process
using branches, leaves and river mud.
[Image: Siaka S. Traore]