At African Drops we take pride in knowing where and by whom our products are made. That's why we would like to introduce our tailors to the community.
First off we are meeting Jacob.
Jacob (33) is from the coastal town Ada, Ghana. One day a friend from Canada and asked for Jacob's help. She wanted to give her friends some unique gifts back overseas. They bought some fabric at the market and asked a seamstress to make some clothing out of it. After receiving positive responses on his designs he decided he wanted to do it more often. He started working with the seamstress to learn the craft. When he could afford his own sewing machine he started for himself.
When sewing Jacob is fully in his element. Fully relaxed at work he has no problem with expressing himself through his products. That's why he has been a tailor for over 10 years now. His specialties are bags and shoes in all fabrics. He loves Kente and Batik especially with the colours green and yellow and a dash of red.
Jacob likes to get challenged by his clients and uses these challenges as inspiration for his own projects. In his free time, he likes to sing and make music. Next to that Jacob is a computer hardware engineer and is known to help the whole neighbourhood with their technical difficulties.
We met Jacob just like you meet everybody else in Ghana, through a friend. We asked Jacob to work with us on the bags for the Akwaaba drop. But as we are friends you will get plenty more chances to get your hands on some of Jacob's work.
Next up we introduce Francis (57) but we know him as Uncle Caution. Uncle Caution is from Accra, Ghana's capital city. At a young age Francis fell in love with the art and craft of tailoring, so he decided he wanted to became a designer and he made it happen.
Team African Drops didn't have to think long to pick their main tailor. Francis has over 35 years of experience, in these many years he mastered many different techniques. Before African Drops existed we already did projects together. Francis enjoys the freedom the tailor work gives him when it comes to deciding his own working hours, but also expressing his creativeness in his projects. After so many years clients become friends and he tries to make the clothing just the way his friends like it. He measures his success by the amount of people that keep coming back and the new clients he gets through referrals.
Francis is specialised in both men's and women's suit and safari. He makes custom fitted pieces that perfectly fit the clients body. People come for clothing for all kinds of occasions, from weddings to funerals and everything in between. Francis can make art from every kind of fabric you hand him and still manage to add his own touch to the pieces. His favourite colour changes per project, because he looks for the perfect colour combination with every piece he makes.
In Francis' free time he is a professional relaxer. He enjoys his music and makes sure he is ready for a new day of work. With all that experience he found the perfect balance between work and pleasure and you can rarely find Uncle Caution in a state of stress. Over the years he worked for various projects in different countries. Next to mastering the art of tailoring he is the master of
languages and speaks over 5 different languages including English, Ga, Twi, Portuguese and some Dutch.
As African Drops go-to tailor you can expect much more coming from Uncle Caution in the coming drops. If you are wearing a piece of African Drops there is a big chance that you are wearing a piece of Uncle Caution's craftsmanship.
Want to make sure you have a piece of the amazing tailors Jacob's and Caution's work? Head over to the web shop and it will be coming your way shortly!