‘There’s nothing wrong with really embracing your African culture, but I believe in looking beyond the print, the silhouettes’ says David Tlale. ‘Other African designers, they really focus on their culture, on their heritage, but… I see people get stuck up in what they know, or what culture has been taught to be. And not exercising an element of growth and looking at beyond what Africa is all about.’

Tlale’s comments are – in part – a critical reflection on some of the work of designers taking part in 2009’s Africa Arise Fashion Week, which saw 51 of the continent’s best designers take to the catwalks in Johannesburg. Tlale, whose work won him a coveted showing in New York, feels that African designers limit themselves both by being too insular – ignoring international trends and developments – and by glossing what Africa has to offer.

‘We as Africans don’t look into our heritage, into our roots, our beautiful craftsmanship, our carvings, everything that we have around us. We don’t really research it, we just take what’s here’, he says. ‘We have so much to give to the world and I believe as African designers we need to… really start looking at ourselves as part of the global market, more than just African influenced people. We have so much to teach the world; our aesthetics, our dynamics as artists, as designers.’

Read more in the February 2010 issue of CLASSICFEEL