Purple African Baoulé three piece outfit: coat, top and pant by Fatou Kiné Coulibaly

“A Senegalese Mandela Washington Fellow at The Resource Exchange. That experience was for me like finding myself, my ideas, my view of the world.

People usually call my ideas UTOPIA; it always seems unreachable. But seeing this wonderful business, community making all that world happen just by believing in the possibilities and their will, this experience made me believe more in my ideas and my business and everything I can make happen. 

I came to the center hoping to learn about business models and everything that I can bring back to help my business grow. Which is exactly what I got and more. It was a short journey, but it helped me take a step forward; the kind of step a I was always delaying. Indeed, taking sawing classes, making an outfit with my own hands instead of my usual routine of creating the design and giving it to a tailor, is a new level for me and will make my business more authentic. That is all thanks to the implication and the mentoring of that short but hopefully fruitful experience at The Resource Exchange.

Another wonderful think is that for a designer it is one of the places to be to find amazing fabric at affordable prices. It gave a push to my creativity, and I cannot wait to make a new clothing line with the material I got from the center.

The one thing I can call myself is someone who adores seeing ideas come to life, creating something out of things people don’t want to use anymore. That is how my business came to life. I have always loved turning old and even new clothes into other designs just for fun. I never saw used fabrics as textile waste but as something beautiful that still must shine.”