This episode of Afrimaxx moves between tradition and reinvention and finds them harder to separate than they might seem.
The king's forecourt
Ojude Oba has been held in Ijebu-Ode for over a hundred years. Originally a gesture of gratitude from Muslim converts to their king, now one of Nigeria's most spectacular annual gatherings. This year, something shifts: a princess rides in. Not to watch, but to perform.
Woven in Eswatini
This collective started with basket weaving and ended up in Vogue. The Eswatini-based brand translates ancestral weaving techniques into high-end handbags, using natural, biodegradable grass fibre and leather, designed by a trio of women with strong matriarchal influences and a shared conviction that craft from this part of the world deserves a global audience.
From ad exec to furniture maker
Joey Khuvutlu spent twenty years in advertising before teaching himself furniture design. His pieces are low to the ground and deliberately, rooted in the African tradition of living close to the earth. Every piece carries a name in an indigenous African language: The coffee table in the room is called "Moyo", the Sepedi word for baobab.
Nairobi, curated
Nairobi - a city that went from railway depot to East African cultural hub in just over a century. The art here is not decorative but asks questions: Check out exhibitions that built around identity, Indian Ocean histories and the constitutional rights of a community still criminalised in Kenya.