We’re now collaborating with a British Bridlemaker on a range of belts, dog collars and leads. Like all SAHEL leather products, they incorporate the work of Fulani horse reins weavers: hand woven leather straps that are traditionally used for horse girths or reins in the Sahel. So this range is a unique collaboration of heritage…
Category: Techniques
Some of these techniques are used in the making of SAHEL products and some are just interesting.
Indigo Blues
Things didn’t go to plan on my last visit to Burkina Faso, where I’d intended to document the ancient technique of indigo dyeing. I found out that to follow the whole process I would need to spend several days, if not weeks, in a remote village where the dyeing takes place in pits dug…
Weaving leather by hand
A far flung hamlet in the outback of Burkina Faso is a hive of activity. It is the home of traditional leather workers, a group of women weaving strands of leather into horse reins. The reins are being reinvented as beautiful handbag straps, the unique feature of SAHEL Design bags. Salamata and Fatimata are the…
Street weaving in Burkina Faso
One of the perks of living in a climate where the sun shines most of the time is that so much more happens outdoors. In the small towns and villages, old people and children can pass the time in the open air, socialising instead of being cooped up behind walls and gates. Washing clothes, drying…
The many colours of mudcloth
I went a bit mad for mudcloth last year and have two armchairs, curtains, cushions and a lampshade all covered with it. I love the striking effect of white motifs on a black background, which is what I have so far focussed on for SAHEL products; cushion covers, scarves and bags. Here is some living…
eHaberdasher Men’s shoulder bag
Luxury menswear online retailer eHaberdasher has collaborated with SAHEL Design to make this leather bag exclusively for them. Made in chestnut brown antique effect sheep leather, it is a practical shoulder bag with removable straps so it can also be used like a briefcase. It’s big enough for a laptop and has inside pockets for…
Making hand cast recycled metal buckle frames
Hardware – clunky fastenings, chains, studs, that kind of thing – is something I’ve tried to avoid using on SAHEL bags. Mainly because the only ready made ones available here in Burkina Faso are cheap imported ones that would spoil the look and the ethos of the label. If I have to use a zip,…
The Allure of the Tassle
Love them or not, fringe and tassels are to modern handbags as high heels are to a glamourous night out. Not essential, but we can’t leave them alone. They add swish, flamboyance and – better than heels – a skip to your step. Big tassels say carefree. A small, neat zip-pull tassel is more suitable…
How to cook with millet the Fulani way
While foodie culture reaches new heights in the West, the staple diet of many in the Sahel is millet. It’s the polar opposite of junk food, taking hours to prepare and being super nutritious. Our video shows a Fulani girl in Ouagadougou preparing nyiiri, which is the daily food for many Fulani in the North,…
Making West African Bogolan (mudcloth)
Legend has it that a woman was washing her husband’s clothes when she accidentally dropped them in mud. They were stained brown and the technique of mud cloth dyeing was born. It was later discovered that fermented mud reacts with tannin and produces black. White is formed by bleaching away the colour. The legend of…