Made of tradition and modernity, of old and new, of technical skills and soul; the creative production of the African continent has integrated various external influences to which it was exposed, thereby reflecting numerous foreign traditions in its own work.

We can find a legacy of exceptional craftsmanship, the ability to transpose fine details with manual skills that are difficult to reproduce by machine, and a sense of exclusivity that makes almost every product an original object.

Coherent in the common intellectual and cultural heritage of mankind, for which he was the co-producer, he is today demonstrating a strong desire to participate in this common adventure by drawing on best practices. It is on this basis that we today find a generation of African designers who translate his vision of the world and of modern Africa, its vitality, but also its diversity and its soul.

Fluidity, movability, impermanence, possible reconfigurations, the deviation of objects from their usual uses, organised and ingenious chaos, African design is therefore a syncretic movement whose sole task is to produce that which is functional and beautiful.

Through their work, they offer the possibility of re-energizing themselves, starting from the essential, the vital, before designing new futures. These African designers consciously orient their work towards real sustainable changes for the fulfillment of others.

Style, fashion and design in general are those particular areas where one would find African ingenuity, in its creative shapes and its aptitude to synthesise, recycle and remodel. Seeking inspiration, designers from the African continent are permanently seeking from within their own heritages and with the will to respect the old and the new. Learning and experimentation are their new motto. They bring new life to old techniques, adapting them to new materials or developing new uses for them.

Presented as an ‘inclusive and responsible design responding to societal needs, a design for and with society’ by Professor Mungendi K.M’Rithaa [1], African design today is developing its innovative approaches to create sophisticated products while maintaining its attachment to its excellent heritage as artisanal products.