African designer combines tradition and style

DAR ES SALAAM — A Tanzanian fashion designer’s creativity has taken her on a journey of three years to fulfill her dream.

Upendo Minja, a 2016 graduate in procurement and supplies at the College of Business Education in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, says she decided to blend her clothing design with the Maasai traditional wear and drawings of wild animals by Tinga Tinga art for a different look.

“My fashion design that comprises the Maasai traditional wear and wild animals drawings such as giraffe and lions by Tinga Tinga art is attracting tens of hundreds of customers, including tourists from across the world who visit Tanzania to see these animals,” says Minja.

Tinga Tinga is a visually stunning painting style that was developed in the second half of the 20th century in Tanzania. This kind of art began as a simple idea by using recycled, low-cost material like Masonite squares, ceramic fragments and bicycle paint.

The Maasai people are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best-known local population internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes, and their distinctive customs and dress.

Minja works with Endelea, a fashion brand founded in Milan in 2018, to create clothes and accessories in African wax fabrics, with a made-in-Italy design. She says her three-year design journey has not been that rosy.

Behind the name Endelea, a Kiswahili word meaning “to move forward, to continue without giving up”, Minja says there is a group of dreamers guided by passion and courage who believe in creativity, connections and empowerment.

Francesca de Gottardo, co-founder and CEO of Endelea, says the goal of the company is to create collections that are able to mix Italian design with African fabrics. She says Endelea wants to support fashion designing in Africa by working with ordinary people — teaching them and passing on skills.

Minja, a self-taught fashion designer, says the start of her design journey was bumpy when three years ago she participated in the Swahili Fashion Week, Tanzania’s leading annual fashion event, but her design did not impress visitors to her pavilion.

“This did not discourage me but it persuaded me to improve. And this year, I participated again in the Swahili Fashion Week and my pavilion attracted many customers from all walks of life,” she says.

She decided to do something more African but also with a Western touch by choosing the style of Tinga Tinga art, she says.

“I decided to collaborate with an artist from Tinga Tinga art as I worked hard to improve my fashion design and make it a household name in Tanzania and beyond.”