Lush greenery surrounds the scattered structures, filtering the afternoon sunlight into gentle, silver beams that pierce through the natural forest.
As if to compete with chirping birds, soft Kikuyu cultural lyrics, the creations of Muringi Matheri, waft through the air, captivating even those who know little of the language.
Muringi’s music is subtle enough to blend in with the sounds of rustling leaves without chasing the birds away.
With the legendary dawa on hand to jumpstart the mind, the afternoon held promise of serenity away from Nairobi’s chaos.
The relaxed mood under the leafy canopy at Hemingways Eden Residence, located in the far reaches of Mbagathi Ridge in Karen, was the perfect setting for Vicky Ngari to showcase her love for ancient indigenous crafts that she transforms into contemporary fashion.
Vicky’s project, The Rural Retail, brings together rural women and youth to form sustainable fashion producers whom she later connects with the industry. Apart from crafting, her workshops not only promote education geared toward income generation but also facilitate knowledge exchange between rural communities and the industry.
“I started with young women who had to go back to their grandmothers to learn how to weave the kiondo and dye it naturally. In that craft, there is education, and this is the context of bringing this ancestral dialogue into the context of AI,” said Vicky.
Vicky’s love for culture goes back to her days as an assistant stylist with Claire Watson, where she regularly turned up in African prints, a representation of her culture that she felt was not being recognised the way it ought to have.
In the UK, where she has spent most of her life, Vicky was a beauty queen, first as Miss Kenya UK and Miss East Africa UK in 2008, roles that got her on global platforms, including One Goal Campaign before the soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and the Unleash Innovation Lab in Denmark in 2017.
Africa, she felt, was always being misrepresented at a global level with those who spoke for the continent being “white men in suits, discussing the future of African youth”, a narrative she was eager to change by showcasing ‘authentic Africa’. Last week’s event in Karen was part of this African renaissance.
Guests walking down the footpath leading to a central firepit were greeted by a line of baskets and banners that created an immersive storytelling experience that blended fashion, history, and culture.
Vicky’s small, well-curated invite-only ensemble was reminded that not everything sleek and modern should come from overseas, as it was a breath of fresh air to see local women weaving baskets the traditional way, using sisal fibre and tree bark dyes to create artefacts that hold their own against ‘digital’ counterparts.
In a renaissance of Gikuyu traditional customs in a modern age, the weaving women wore the community’s brown attire, accentuated by cowrie shells that were a symbol of fertility.
The kiondo, which was the highlight of the afternoon, is one of the key symbols of the Gikuyu with a deeper meaning as far as the tribe’s origins and way of life are concerned.
Weaving the basket begins with four intertwined threads symbolising the four corners into which the tribe dispersed after leaving the home of Gikuyu and Mumbi. The four corners are marked by Mount Kenya to the north, Aberdares to the west, Ngong Hills to the south and Kilimambogo to the east.
It was an afternoon of symbolism as Prof. Joseph ‘Mukuyu’ Kamenju took to educating the small, intimate group about the ‘Kiondo Cosmology’ and its dominant place among the central Kenya community.
Over 20 years ago, Kamenju authored a paper outlining the circular aspects of the traditional basket and why traditional African huts follow the same pattern. A kiondo turned upside down forms the round shape of the African hut. In the hut, the conical top pointed heavenward, signalling the African’s deep spirituality, while the wide bottom connected the hut with the earth that met all physical needs.
In the paper, Kamenju stated that the kiondo’s story is “written in a certain language and that it can be decoded, understood, and (being) more than a container or carrier of foodstuffs to and from the market”.
He added that it is “one of the most powerful symbols among the Kikuyu and that (the story) has been written in an archaic and incomprehensible language that will require careful and systematic decoding”.
On this evening, Kamenju carefully recounted the various aspects of creating the basket, starting with the stub at the bottom symbolising the navel, or the origin of life.
He demonstrated how the weave consisting of the warp or the upright strings known as mirugamo, denotes the strong men who stand erect, while the weft, or strings that go around the basket and encircle the warp, stand for women who strongly hold on to the strong men.
This symbolism was evident in community dances, most of which took on a circular motion.
Using a different-coloured thread to divide the basket tiers was compared to age-sets among the men who had to undergo certain rites of passage within their lifetimes. Finally, a firm rounded top, gutiriha, marked the end, in this case, the end of life.
“Today, we have the digital version of the kiondo made using Artificial Intelligence (AI), but I still insist that the real AI is ‘Ancestral Intelligence’,” said Kamenju.
Kamenju’s storytelling was punctuated by soft drums reminiscent of the African cultural past, where the instrument heralded the dissemination of important messages. His message was for the current generation to look back at our roots with a view to affirming its identity and continuity.
The basket, according to Kamenju, gave tangible evidence of the community’s social structures, trade, cultural exchange, and valuable insights into how the community evolved.
However, it is the loss of such age-old social structures among the current generation that worries Kamenju the most.
“We have a miseducation where our young people no longer know about their roots. For example, our architecture has failed the local customary-built environment that our forefathers invented. Even our own cities want to rival foreign metropolises rather than incorporate African building concepts,” said Kamenju.