KAII©️

The Kaii print©️ defines several components that make up this collection and SVOSVA the brand. When creating the main artwork for this collection, we wanted to combine futurism and afrocentrism with elements of royalty and power. 

Svosva is an embodiment of culture & power. Culture pertains to heritage and imprint. Power pertains to the ideology of an infinite number of seats at the table.

If you look closely at one of the prints on this pattern, you will see what resembles a mother looking at a child. When growing up, whatever home we went too as children, it was likely that we would see a mini sculpture that looked like a mother looking at their child created in what seemed to be stone. Upon further research, we found that, these sculptures were created by local shona artisan out of serpentine stone, and there are many interpretations of this design varying from artist to artist. We wanted to recreate this is the form of a 3 dimensional futurism artwork based on the Naya Print. You could argue that is is the Naya print looking down at her child. 

Another element of the design represents power. You will see what resembles a woman standing strong. When working with the design team on this element, one of the the things we wanted to ensure was that the woman looks strong. You will also so that there is not only one woman there is 2. We wanted this to represent that there is power in unity. Our ethos states that there is an infinite number of seats at the table and this element represents exactly that. 

With another element, we wanted to capture another angle with what you could argue to be the Naya print. A lot of african art sculptures and drawings of women often show the profile of the woman and we wanted to represent this. 

One of the texts on the print reads...

Totem. A natural being that is believed to have a spiritual significance to society. From that, an emblem is adopted. As part of the Shona tradition, each family has an animal that stands as the emblem of the family. Think of it similarly to a family crest. Our emblem is the Eland which is a type of antelope found in East and Southern Africa.

We wanted to create a family crest inspired by the Eland, and our logo and you will also see that within the pattern too. 

So why the name Kaii? 

For this collection, we wanted to name some of the pieces after the new generation. The new generation is our future, and with the collection representing futurism the choice of names just made sense.