Move! There’s a New IT bag in town! ‘THE BAR’BARAH BAG’

In talks with Fashion designer Joshua Ewusie.

Photographer- Jessica Madavo

Photographer- Sebestyen Bruckner

Film directed & edited by Luca Vannucci

Model- Marie- Celine Agossa

Styling - Mona Haidar

Set Design- Joseph Ewusie

Set assistants - Patryk Walczak, Adam Urbanik

We met up with Joshua Ewusie, a Ghanaian-British designer from CSM (Central Saint Martins) who is keeping his roots alive and his sense of self through his creativity . During the pandemic he developed an accessory project called ‘leaving in 10’ featuring ‘THE BAR’BARAH BAG’ which focuses on the act of get- ting ready in a rush , using beautiful and contrasting colours that highlight the black skin interwoven with memories from his grandmas house to create his own utopia for this new IT bag to exist in ! So it’s more than just a bag. This bag is an outlet for his expres- sions of special memories of his childhood combined with his present self. The bag is currently available for pre order on the website at www.Joshuaewusie.com We spoke to Joshua about his creative design process, his introduction to fashion and what it means to him to reference his West African background

Congratulations on the launch of your new bag , we are so excit- ed !! Can you please tell us about the design process of creating THE BAR’BARAH BAG? Initially, this project was one of the many mini projects I wanted to do over the quaran- tine period. I was in need of a bag to hold all my essentials, and I wanted to challenge myself to make a bag instead of just buying one. My thought process behind it at the beginning was ‘nothing is final’. I would design and make the physical thing and if I do not like it, it would be still beneficial. This is because it can help determine more of what I like and do not like, developing my aesthetic. I thought the handle that leads into the structure of the bag was quite unique and it spiralled into this. I decided to release the bag in the 4 colourways. The colours, I personally wear in my own wardrobe, and I feel work well with my skin tone and something I plan to incorporate into my design work.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6ca050_67f6c0da9d3145e8ba2a097b4cc83531/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Video directed, shot and edited by : Luca Vanunucci @lucavnncc

Photographer: Jessica Madavo @jessicamadavo

What inspired the name of the bag? The name of the bag is a play of my late Grandmother’s name Barbara. When I was younger, and still now, I had trouble pronouncing/spelling her name so it is a reference to that. Also, the shape is a reference to purses of the 60s and bags my grandmother would wear in that era.

What was your tunnel vision moment that kind of catapulted you into fashion design ? What was your first introduction to fashion? Childhood memories of playing dress up in my grandmother’s house. I would spend most of my days dressing up with mainly African textiles and her clothing she had around the house. That was my dress up box and I would create stories. I think that was

my first introduction to fashion or becoming aware of how clothing and surroundings can make you feel. At a young age, the home is all you know of the world and as a child it can feel very surreal. I have childhood memories of distinctive furniture pieces appear- ing larger than they do now and being scared to go to certain parts of the house be- cause a fear of monsters being there. Those memories have stuck with me and I would like to replicate that feeling.

What does referencing your West African background mean for you? Firstly, it means respecting it. Being first generation British and being brought up with traditional Ghanian values, it made me question why things are a certain way in the these respective

Photographer: Jessica Madavo @jessicamadavo

cultures, traditions, and histories. Especially with a focus on how menand women dress. My work is my personal response to this with it being my interpreta- tion.

Do you travel back often to Ghana and what is your relationship with home ? Throughout my life I have gone to Ghana several times. I recently went to Ghana in 2019 the year of the return, was there for a while and loved it. I still feel like a tourist but me and my siblings do want to go to Ghana more frequently and spend longer periods of time now that we have inherited my grandmothers house. Would love to take my friends to experience Ghana. I think with the success of the year of the return there is an increase of many young first generations Africans wanting to go back home. Photographer: Jessica Madavo @jessicamadavo

Who is the ideal BAR’BARAH BAG IT girl or boy? What kind of person would you want to carry this bag? A confident person, a person brave to pull off such colours.They know themselves and the power they posses its innate and they play on their strengths, my clothes and bag are just a further extension to this image they have de- veloped over time. Currently the bags are made of leather, would you be ex- ploring other materials and would you be releasing more collections of bags or accessories ?

Originally, it was intended to be made out of canvas, however In terms of how I wanted to market the bag leather was a better material option. I am currently developing a tex- tile and would love to incorporate into the bag. Yes, I do! I have been developing other silhouettes. I plan to release my first collection and new accessories will definitely be apart of it.

Lastly, has the pandemic brought clarity or has it been disrup- tive to you creatively and how was it working on this project through the pandemic? It has been disruptive in-terms of opportunities, internships I had have been delayed. The pandemic gave me the Luxury of time, I have time to think about what my brand is, what I would like to do as a designer. It was difficult in terms of not having access to fab- ric shops, I just had to accept this is the new normal and found ways to work around it. I worked with my friends/creative family on this project over zoom and it was good to have their support throughout. This project gave me something to do and a pur- pose which helped through this ongoing pandemic. Photographer: Sebestyen Bruckner @sebibruckner

By Adesuwa Odiase