A CULTURAL PRODUCTION

Founder’s ORIGIN story

“The world is a dancing masquerade. If you want to understand it, you can’t remain standing in one place.”

— Igbo Proverb

I have travelled to various parts of the world and For years during my visits to Nigeria, my birth country, I engaged with  skilled artisans. I have had the immense opportunity to bring them an idea , a design, a spark and watch them bring it to life. I have traveled to communities to learn how things are created. 
Red Soil Kin came to me after one of my travels. I remember sitting there in my home far away from my birth country, wondering how I could share the things I love so deeply with others. I have embodied the name Ije oma aka onye ije. The name 'red soil kin' inspired by my deep love for the redness of the soil in Eastern Nigeria. And you know, the word, "Kin" because creativity does not exist in a silo. After all, I am building with my kin. 

During the development of Red Soil Kin, I did what I know best: I traveled to the parts of the country where women produce these textiles, where the dyeing is done, where the art is born. I engaged with women from Eastern Nigeria, driving to meet them, to sit with them, to learn from them. I connected with women in Abeokuta through an incredible woman who has been a supplier of my personal collection of adire for years. 
Why does this story matter? Because it is at the heart of why I created Red Soil Kin. 
Some of these creations are one of a kind. Few and far between. Small batches, slow work because I do not like rushing creativity, because it is made with the hands of people who do things with intention. Who have other things to do, who are building, cooking, loving, working. Slow.  Made in the image of my quirky, random, playful, researched ideas and imaginations. Like the raffia shoe inspired by the fact I cannot see certain masquerades or learn about them because it is taboo in my culture as a woman. So, last year after I reached a dead end I began to design the house slippers. Or how deeply I love experimenting with plants and spices to create color. 
All love and all love and all love.
                                   Warmly,
     Ijeoma Umebinyuo. Founder and CEO.

  • Founder & CEO

    Ijeoma Umebinyuo is a multidisciplinary Igbo-American writer, curator and founder of Aguwazi Creatives. Born in Lagos, she spent her childhood between the city and her holidays in ancestral hometown in Eastern Nigeria. In Eastern Nigeria, her grandfather introduced her to oral storytelling through Igbo folklore. Educated in both Nigeria and the United States, Umebinyuo attended undergraduate and graduate school in the United States.

    KNOWN FOR HER WRITING AND TEDX TALK ON DISMANTLING THE CULTURE OF SILENCE, UMEBINYUO IS INTENTIONALLY AND DELIBERATELY EXPANDING HER CREATIVITY AND PASSION WITH RED SOIL KIN. SHE SEEKS TO DEVELOP WORK THAT SPEAKS TO HER WHILE REMAINING ROOTED IN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND COMMUNITIES. HER VISION FOR RED SOIL KIN IS COLLECTIVE, FOSTERING CREATIVITY THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN ISOLATION.