'Green Experiments' / boujani [Interview]
A thoughtful and experimental creative project born in the depths of one of Naarm’s many lockdowns, boujani is an up and coming design label by Emmanuel Boahene.
From watching their mum sew, to drawing in their sketchbook, to now selling out their drops, Emmanuel’s brand has developed quickly and with grace. boujani artfully intertwines a sustainable and waste-free ethos, with muted colourways and contrasting shapes.
Each piece is unique, created freehand and in alignment with whatever shape/feeling each colour and texture communicates to Emmanuel. They works to bring fun to functionality, to share the feeling of wearing a one-of-a-kind piece to everybody at a low cost.
Based on their own desire to make clothes that they could wear, without the exorbitant price tag, boujani collections showcase practicality and individuality and are accessible to the every-day person.
Emmanuel hasn’t been designing long, but it’s already evident that their pieces are becoming imperative to the design landscape in Naarm. Their pieces create shapes that hug the body in interesting ways, and imbue comfort with playful yet sharp features.
Their latest drop ‘Green Experiments’ was released on Sucker this week. Read below to learn more about boujani and the designer we should all be keeping an eye on.
Credit: Matty Geronimi
Congratulations on your upcoming drop! It’s been great to watch your designs and brand grow in such a short amount of time. How did you first get into designing?
I’d say the passion for it started really early. I knew I wanted to make my own clothes for a long time, since like 10 or 11, but never had any of the skills to do it. My mum used to sew a little but she never really taught me any of those skills. It was only until isolation last year that I took my designs and actually started making them. In terms of designing it would have been like… 2 years ago that I started sketching designs in my sketchbook and slowly from there I guess it manifested into me actually making it. It felt really natural the way it started.
That’s really nice, I like hearing about how people’s creative practises develop organically.
Yeah I think it’s the only way to really do it. I mean anything, if you do anything with positive energy then things will naturally evolve from it. That’s the way I view these activities I guess, you just put in a positive mindset and try and use it for you.
What has the journey been like so far from drawing in your sketchbook to now having a known name and brand in Naarm?
It’s really hard to say because it’s only been a year, so it’s like a really present thing. I’m still really developing quite a lot, it’s very early stages. But so far, I guess it started from isolation, the second lockdown in Melbourne. This was like July last year, I had a breakup and moved out, and my ex actually used to sew a little bit and I used to watch her do that, and it was around the time that we broke up that I started making the first pair of pants that I wanted to make. It was just for skating so it was a pair of pants with like speed pads on them and some mesh down the sides to keep me cool… so from there, just making a piece that was supposed to be functional, I realised the different designs that I did like and tried to make more personal pieces that could reflect how I felt and what I liked. Colours that I liked, textures that I liked, it became more of a personal thing than a functional thing. From there I wanted to share the experience of what it feels like to wear an individual piece. So yeah that was the progression from last year, it came from functionality, to seeing how it feels and how I might want to change it, and then trying to fit it to other people and share it with as many people as I can, hopefully. This is the stage that I’m at now - upping the production, I guess. In my opinion, I’ve had enough time now to learn how to make enough different designs that I can confidently up production and still keep prices low and more accessible.
Let’s talk more about your process, what does it look like? Is there a specific way that you create and draw inspiration? Is it different every time or are there common themes that you can pick up on?
It’s hard because I do like to change things up. I feel like the best creativity comes from abstraction and just throwing shit out there. I try to change it as much as possible. Sometimes I’ll have designs that I’ve drawn and I’ll go from there, I’ll use material that I’ve got and try to put colours together to try and fit that design and those spaces. Sometimes I’ll look at the material that I’ve got and be like… damn this corduroy would really go with that, and then just try and put something together in that way. Or sometimes I might just have a colourway in my mind, which… I don’t know. I used to get those quite a lot, seeing how colours would work together, and I just try get it out through painting or into the clothes. Texture is also a big part of it for sure.
What about the way you create the shapes of your designs?
Again, most of it came from the functionality. You could have any design that you want, but if it doesn’t actually work as a piece… I mean obviously the runway is different, but I’m not doing runway pieces. I want to create pieces for someone that they can wear, that they can wear casually.
So initially I try and and design stuff that will work with the flow of the body parts, so like certain ways that the leg might move, I’ll add a certain patch in a certain place, or like I could put thread around certain areas so that way the thread stretches in certain places so that when the pair of shorts or pants or whatever, once you ‘ve worn them in they actually suit you or fit to you. So yeah, trying to keep it natural it’s all just how the body naturally works.
And then there’s also the artistic aspect which gets more prevalent, and then it’s more of a feeling that a certain shape gives me. So I've got a lot of greens, and then ordering blue and ordering a browny beige. The browny beige gave me more of a sharper feel so they’ve got more clean cut lines. The blues, they gave me more of a rounded wavy feel so that’s what I did with them. The colour and the texture will influence the way I cut it and shape the piece.
What would you say are the core values of your designs and your brand, what underpins it?
First and foremost, all the pieces are made on stolen land. I can’t explain enough how I feel about that. It doesn't feed into the designs, but for me it’s the political aspect of these circumstances. I’m not indigenous, I don’t claim to be and I can never understand what these people have gone through because I don’t have to experience that. But I do pay my respects to all first nations people as I work. As the brand grows I would like to start paying the rent and figure out how I can further support these communities.
Aside from that, the actual material itself is all second hand. It’s all clean, ready to use, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s going to go to waste if it’s not used. So I’m trying to reuse as much as I can, the only thing that I buy is thread. Trying to manage waste is a big part of the brand I guess. I’m pretty happy that I can actually make products that are 99% made from reused fabric. Recycling stuff is a big thing for me, why not?
In terms of core values I’m not exactly sure what else you would classify under that. It is like my brand and myself and I’m still trying to figure out the border between myself and the actual brand. I have my own views on stuff, I’m pretty open to everything. But as a brand I’m still trying to figure that out.
Credit; Matty Geronimi
That’s a really interesting thing to talk about, like what the line is between yourself and your brand. Especially because it’s just you creating right?
It’s been pretty fun, it’s not like I was trying to go out and start a brand. I’m more than happy for that, but I’m more interested in the creativity than the actual brand.
Would you say that the sustainability aspect is a key aspect of the way that you create?
Yeah definitely. All of the materials come from the op shop, and if I have material’s left over from one collection I’ll always try to make a random hat or something out of it, try to use literally every piece that I’ve got. I’ve got a lot of friends that will send me pairs of pants and stuff, which is very nice of them. I'm always happy to make commission pieces and that kind of stuff with clothing that we don’t use any more. We do just grow out of our pieces and it’s nice to put a new life into the materials.
You’ve got a new release that’s just launching, how do you feel about it? What has it been like getting the collection together?
I feel really good about it. It’s been really fun trying to mess with new designs and colours and that sort of stuff and play with a colour scheme that I haven’t really played with yet. I like to try and keep each series fun. I feel like, as I was saying before, if it comes from fun and positivity it should be a good thing that comes out of it. I’m pretty keen to be putting out these new designs, and pretty keen for everyone to see them as well. Like every time, each piece is it’s own piece. None of them are made with a pattern, it’s all freehand, it’s all as it comes you know? Like I said I used to just draw in my book, so I’ve got a lot of designs back up and it nice to play with ideas that I never could make before.
What has it been like creating your new collection and reflecting on your growth and previous collections you’ve put out?
Well I guess the weather changes it a lot, I try to keep it seasonal. I’ve only had two drops before this, I think in July and September. Yeah winter and spring, pants and then like pants, skirts and stuff. Now it’s just like all shorts, summers out, that’s played a big part on the design itself. Making a pair of pants is very different to making shorts. Just because you literally have twice as much space in a pair of pants, so personally I feel you have to do half as much. I feel like it needs to be a bit more simple with a pair of pants. But with a pair of shorts, because you’ve got a shorter amount of space you need to do more within that space to equal that integrity or design of the pants. That’s played a big part in just doing the shorts. But also just learning from old pieces, trying to learn people’s sizes is a really big thing that I need to think about. Who’s going to grab this piece, who’s going to wear these designs?
Credit: Matty Geronimi
Yeah, especially if you’re not making multiple sizes of each design. How do the sizes fluctuate, do you have different sizes for different pieces?
Each piece is it’s own size, and that’s the only way I can make it. Pretty much because it’s all made from one off op-shop pieces, so they all come in their own size. I can alter them any way I want, but sometimes I leave certain parts and it makes the shape itself. I guess the design kind of makes itself. Previously my pieces have been slightly larger just because I’ve based some of the first pieces off myself. But I’ve been told that smaller sizes would be appreciated. So they range from like XS to L for the sizes. For this run most of them will be a small (around 30-32) and then there are a few pieces that are around 44. And I guess we’ll see from here what other people want.
Is that how you try to base what you do next, seeing how your collections are received?
Partially yeah, it definitely has some bearing on what I’m doing because that’s half of the reason the brand exists. Obviously I can do whatever I want with my own stuff, because that’s what I do, but with the actual stuff that I’m selling I do have to listen to what people are saying. What sizes, what kinds of design are people after? I usually just try to take that information. I never really try to look at trends, it’s just what I feel like making and what the demand is. I’m just going to keep it that way to be honest.
Yes! Just do your thing. So what’s next? Do you have any collabs coming up, any big plans?
In terms of collaborations, not with the pants so far. But I’ve got way too many plans in terms of different designs I want to do. I need to put out another set of blue pants, because they were pretty hot to be honest. Skate pants have been hot on the agenda for a minute now. I’ve been trying, every now and then I run through my brain different designs, and exactly how would I make these. It has to been functional as well, I can’t just fucking put out a pair of skate pants if it’s not going to work, so those are on the agenda. And honestly I just want to make a lot more skirts, I love making skirts and I haven’t made enough. Skirts are really fun to play with to be honest, they’re a really open piece to mess around with.
Where can we find your stuff!?
I have my stuff on my instagram, and on the Sucker website and instagram. I’m thinking of making a website soon as well!
Links to find boujani pieces and follow what they’re up to >>>
Instagram: @emenal_boujani
Words by Ria Pillai
Thank you for reading this article. Before you leave the page, we’d like you to take a moment to read this statement. We are asking our readers to take action and stand with the BIPOC community who fight and endure the oppression and injustice of racial inequality.
Here in ‘Australia’, Indigenous people are the most incarcerated population on Earth. Countless lives have been murdered by white police, white government policies and this country’s white history, institutionalised colonialism and ongoing racial oppression. Racial injustice continues today under the phoney, self-congratulatory politics of ‘Reconciliation’ and the notion that colonialism is something that must be denied and forgotten, an uncomfortable artefact of the past.
Feeling guilty is not enough. We must take action, pay the rent, educate ourselves and acknowledge that empathy and sorrow for past actions is insufficient if this does nothing to prevent our current reality from extending into the future.
Please consider making donations to the following organisations (the list is so small and the work to be done is so large, do your research to find more grassroots, Indigenous-lead community organisations):
Indigenous Social Justice Association - fighting to stop Indigenous deaths in custody
Firesticks Alliance - who campaign for Indigenous land management, cultural burning and looking after Country