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Ash Cream Kiondo
Material Honesty | Cleansing | Origin
The original Kiondo emerges in cream - off-white - sisal in its purest form: beautiful, robust, and unmasked. This piece celebrates material honesty and cleansing. The colour emerges through traditional ash-based processes, producing a quietly luminous hue. In Kikuyu culture, ash symbolises purity, ancestral connection, and cleansing.
Primarily derived from wood, it was used as a soil enhancer, natural cleanser, and medicinal aid. This Kiondo honours the fibre without obscuring it, symbolising purification and renewal - a preparation of the body and spirit before the next phase of becoming.
Accessories used:
Styled with Vicky Ngari cream satin kaftan.
Measurements:
Size: S
Fabric / Material Composition
Handwoven sisal fibre | traditional ash-mineral dye | hand-formed brass
BUY KIONDO BAG
An African essential, rooted in architecture, community philosophy and spiritual systems of Kikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) people of Kenya .
The Kikuyu people wove their homes in a most captivating manner - the Kiondo cone shape, turned upside down, with the navel at the top, was the typical Kikuyu hut. Symbolising a connection to the spiritual realms and spiralling down to the wider base, signifying the meeting of earthly realities - where the natural meets the supernatural.
Young men and women danced in unison, forming circles that spiral around a tree. The men placed their arms on the shoulders of the women, supporting them as they pointed towards the tree. The women, in turn, wove their arms around the men's waists, mimicking the warp and weft of the Kiondo. The entire circle moved rhythmically around the tree, representing the navel and axis of the world, and the essence of nature.
Sisal plant’s are stripped, Naturally dyed with tree bark, handwoven in spirals to a cone shape, by women sharing healing through storytelling.
Special Thank you to Dr Joseph Kamenju MŨKŨYŨ
Professor and Gĩkũyũ Shaman dedicated to the origins of Kikuyu Kĩondo Cosmology.
GUCOKIA RUI MACARO
RETURNING THE RIVER BACK TO ITS COURSE...
Vicky Ngari
She explores ancient indigenous crafts and transforms them into contemporary fashion that symbolises indigenous communities and embodies their environmental practices. Through her project, The Rural Retail, Vicky brings together rural women and youth to form sustainable fashion producers and connects them to the industry. Her workshops promote crafting, education, and income generation. Vicky also facilitates knowledge exchange between rural communities and the industry. She has engaged with institutions such as Kew Royal Gardens, Cambridge MAA, and the V&A through her research in nature, ancient knowledge, and the creative economy.
Vicky is a contributor to global policy platforms and innovation labs, using art as a tool for better capacity building, cultural heritage, and ethical youth and women's affairs. She started a petition for repatriation of stolen ancient artefacts and is active in Britain and France's efforts to restore looted treasures. Her goal is to harness relationships with all stakeholders to explore ancient knowledge and enhance modern sustainable cultures and economies.
The Vicky Ngari Kiondo is born from creating a sustainable fashion workshops working with grassroots rural women’s groups. We prepare our weaving women to manufacture and invite the retail sector to produce with them.
‘Knowledge exchange of Indigenous methods with modern design standards must include and centre, the people and guardians of these ancient practices’
‘Through identity in our garments, inspiration from Indigenous practices is innovation for true global wealth, may we continue to transform through culture and these are symbols of connection.’
Vicky Ngari
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