The story begins in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.
Sacha, French and Ivorian was born in Abidjan where he grew up before leaving to France for his studies. Nikita, French, Portuguese and Cape Verdean was born in France, spent her childhood in different African countries including Côte d’Ivoire, and studied in Belgium.
After several years in Europe, they decided to return to live in Côte d’Ivoire. They have a lot in common, such as their multi-cultural roots, but above all the desire to be agents of change for their continent. Their dream is to carry out together a humanitarian project around education.
Yet, after another brainstorming session and a voice message that will be the trigger, the idea was born. It alone must be able to represent the basic idea of their project in fashion and education. It must be modern and that one day it will be as identifiable as a pair of jeans or a sports shoe…
From dream to reality, there is only one step. They cut African wax and a bag of cocoa, 2 very trendy materials.
They place the pieces of cloth on the floor and imagine their future bags. The ADEENKRA Bag was born!
ADEENKRA is an ambitious project, backpacks to start with, but the young designers intend
Hamaji magazine met them
When on vacation where do you spend most of your time: in the city, on the beach or out and about
exploring nature?
Since we live near the sea, we like to go on holiday in some place where nature is at its wildest. Yet, if it is possible to have nature and the beach, we are not against 😉
A 3 words definition of a journey
Culture – Escape – Discovery
What is your dream destination?
A little cliché, but since always, a world tour.
What is your favourite place in the world?
Assinie-Mafia, a real paradise on earth between lagoon and sea a few kilometers from the city of Abidjan.
A hotel
Akoula’s House in Assinie-Mafia.
Your favorite restaurant in the world?
This is a difficult question, because we believe that the location plays a predominant role. First the setting. Magic! Preferably, we will go to small trendy restaurants in Bali, Indonesia overlooking the rice fields or a «maki» facing the sea in Dakar, Senegal.
Sacha : Ossiano, Dubai
Nikita : Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro
On an island what would you take with you?
A razor (very important), a storm lighter, a guitar and books.
A step back in time
Nikita : 70’s, the years of disco, funk and soul.
Sacha : Woodstock
Your last trip
Dakar, Senegal.
Your next trip
Nikita: Discovering my origins, Cape Verde
What would you ask if the answer was «Yes»?
Will Africa ever have the place it deserves on the world stage?
5 Kay dates
November 2004
Civil War in Côte d’Ivoire We left Côte d’Ivoire, the country in which we had lived for many years under dramatic circumstances. Until then, having always lived in Africa, returning to France was complicated and destabilizing.
January 2017
Our return to Côte d’Ivoire We both returned to live in Côte d’Ivoire in early 2017.
Nikita: I hadn’t been back in Côte d’Ivoire since the events of 2004! This trip was much awaited and moving.
January 17, 2018
The beginning of ADEENKRA The day we went to Treichville to get our very first wax fabrics and a jute bag. We imagined our bag by cutting and placing the fabrics on the floor. It’s funny, we came back to the photos of our first design recently, it’s impressive to see how the project has evolved since.
June 1, 2018
ADEENKRA became public The day we actually launched
ADEENKRA. We put our social networking pages online and made the project public!
July 31, 2018
The end of our campaign about ULULE
From that day on, we will be able to deliver ADEENKRA bags to all contributors and start developing, hiring, creating other models! This is exciting!
