UUNGU – Sandals with a Heart

AM: So UUNGU reflects not only your African origin but your passion for hand made luxury products with a powerful feminine pride. 

SB: In 2018, I chose to leave my job in order to devote myself to my professional project. I set myself the challenge of creating a brand that blends my passion, my origins and the values that are dear to me (fair trade and ecology). I begin to imagine and design the first UUNGU collection. I settled in Marseille and from time to time I isolated myself on the island of Frioule in order to work better. In order to bring an emotional dimension to each model I designed, I developed a concept around ancient African deities. Thus each piece bears the name of a goddess and is intimately linked to its symbol and its colour code.

AM: Many young talents have brilliant ideas and draw collections. How did you bring it to life? 

SB: I met Daniel Wathelet who is specialized in collective intelligence project coaching. He agreed to come on board, and has become my coach so far. He coordinated the construction of the structure of the UUNGU project. And when we reached the technical stage, he sent me to Martine Ernoux, formerly in charge of fair trade at OXFAM, with thirty years of experience in the field of fashion (she launched her own line of clothes with vegetable dyeing) She developed the technical and fair trade aspect of the UUNGU project. She is my main consultant. 

This step also validated, Martine Ernoux sent me to Bénédict Philippart-de-Foy. She is the director of CRÉAPME, a structure of accompaniment in activity creation and development, which is located in Liège. From January 2019, I started an intensive coaching session that lasted six months and financed in large part by the Walloon Region. I then moved to Liège to dedicate myself to this session. CRÉAPME helped me to go from a idea to a very successful project. At the end of it I found myself with with a team of professionals working on the UUNGU project, as part of an exchange of processes. Benoit Varlet, specialized in luxury leather goods, ensured the development of the prototypes and performs the quality control. Jeffrey Beckers, specialized in communication, was in charge of the visual and digital identity of the UUNGU project. 

AM: What about Kenya in all this?

SB: This first collection was inspired by the Masai people, so the next logical step was for me to work with artisans in Kenya. Once I was there, I went around the workshops and collectives. I asked them to reproduce a model so that I could decide what to do next. Among them, one strongly attracted my attention. Azu is a Kenyan lady who comes from a second generation of Indian immigrants. She offers a platform to young Kenyans to practice their art, in order to get them off the streets. Many young people who preserve the bead stringing technique passed down from generation to generation, meet there. They work according to their availability, paid by the piece and without contractual commitment. And when I asked her the reason for this choice, she answered that she feels Kenyan and that she just wants to give back to her country the chance it offered her.

Besides being marked by these values, I found their work serious and of good quality. So I naturally chose to collaborate with them for the continuation of this collection.

AM: This was in 2019 , little you knew in 2020 the art of bead threading would become a UNESCO world heritage.  

SB: Oh, that was the last thought on my mind,  2020 was a real struggle…We validated the project with many sustainability points. I wanted leather from pastoral breeding, and from a domestic use with vegetable tanning. And I committed myself to propose a remuneration above the above the hourly rate of the minimum wage in Kenya. In the months that followed, I returned to Kenya to follow the evolution of the product development in the workshop, until we reached the standards of the specifications and requirements of the product range sought. 

To finance the production we launch a campaign on the ulule platform: https://fr.ulule.com/soyez-divines-pour-lete-2020/. 3 days after the governmental measures for the health crisis were announced. Several people tried to persuade me to give up, under the pretext that the period was not favourable.  I chose to take the risk and go through with it. The first weeks were very difficult, but I managed to convince ulule to extend the campaign. And finally, on April 2020, UUNGU reached 104% of its announced goal. I collected the funds and started all the administrative procedures. The work was delayed by all the health restrictions and containment paralysis at the time. I delivered all the sandal orders in October 2020. And I organized a Pop-Store & Expo UUNGU to meet my first customers and thank them in person.