Fashion Designer Launches Ethically-Made Luxury Accessories. A A K S produces raffia bags handmade by a women’s cooperative in Bolgatanga, northern Ghana. The brand produces luxurious handmade accessories using ethical processes and age-old craft traditions, are not often seen beyond the borders of Ghana. However Ghanaian Fashion designer Akosua Afriyie-Kumi wants the world to see how luxury and quality can grow from traditional designs and is using A A K S to change perceptions of Africa through fashion.
After interning and working with fashion designers such as Peter Pilotto, Matthew Williamson and William Tempest in London, she embarked on her own path in 2013 to set up A A K S in Ghana. Against all the odds A A K S is a brand that seeks to showcase the unlimited possibilities for the fashion and textile industries in Ghana. Using skills and techniques that are unique to this part of Ghana, craftsmanship is the foundation of this luxury brand. It takes approximately one week to complete a handbag which attests to an unwavering dedication to modern style and interpretations using traditional methods. Made by hand each bag bears the finger prints of the person who fashioned it and a signature tag is added to prove authenticity.
Akosua has showcased her work internationally in Milan and London, and the A A K S brand tells an exciting story of Ghana, offering a different perspective of Africa as a whole. The visual inspiration behind every design is reflected through the images of Ghana and the crafters as they create these handbags shared by A A K S on social media. Akosua is building an African brand ethically and conscientiously one handbag at a time.
