More than Words
Love, faith, prosperity, abundance and gratitude. All these states, experiences and emotions throughout my life have shown themselves to be fundamental to my growth and joy in life, so a few years ago when symbols and slogans for hope and connection appeared as a response to the global pandemic, I decided to look into them a little more, especially as amongst a lot of black designers and brands across the world, the use of the Ghanaian Andrinkra symbols were popping up more and more.
This was a time of such mixed emotions for people and a time that truly changed society and communities forever.
The symbols in style are always of a solid black line with a distinctive nature to the shapes and form. Designed to be impactful and hold meaning, it was a style of communication that conveyed much in the simplest of ways and clearly had stood the test of time
Created by the Ashanti peoples of Ghana, the symbols represent concepts and proverbs with some holding greater reverence than others.
In search of symbols that represented each of my most valued emotions, I realised that there wasn’t one for Gratitude.
The power of gratitude as a source of motivation and inspiration had become clear to me, so feeling inspired to bring this empowering understanding to others, I decided to create my own.
The flow felt good and passion and ideas for the other emotions came so they to came to life. Faith, love abundance and Gratitude. These symbols that I’ve created are not in replacement but in honour of those before me that felt that same desire and necessity to create as a form of communication thus drawing a connection to my direct linage and place of birth.
Not long after completing and adding the symbols to the Gathering space I had the divine fortune to be visited by the Queen Mother of the Ntotroso Traditional Area. As as regal as you could imagine in traditional attire. Jewellery and footwear detailed with the very symbols I had drawn inspiration from, the meeting was a blessing.
