UK-based company Ese ne Tekyerema CIC and Ghanaian circular designer AduAmani have been awarded the prestigious British Council Biennales and Festivals Grant to support their upcoming project, Kokoo (Cocoa) 360 The Circularity Exhibition.
This event will be a highlight of the CHOCOLATE HAS A NAME Festival, set to take place as part of the Calderdale Year of Culture 2024 in Halifax.
The grant, amounting to £5,000, was awarded on September 1st under the British Council’s Architecture Design Fashion (ADF) program, which provides support to UK-based designers and architects participating in international biennales and festivals.
The Kokoo (Cocoa) 360 exhibition, will run from October 25th to the following week, coinciding with the opening of the CHOCOLATE HAS A NAME Festival.
The exhibition will showcase a collection of upcycled fashion pieces made from cocoa jute sacks—materials commonly used in the exportation of cocoa.
These sacks will be transformed into bags, shoes, clothing, and jewellery, illustrating the potential for waste materials to be repurposed into high-quality fashion items that promote sustainability and circular economies.
Artistic and Creative director Adelle A’asante, of Ese ne Tekyerema CIC, and Vera Adu-Amaning, Circular designer at AduAmani, have played key roles in bringing this vision to life.
All fashion pieces for the exhibition are produced in Ghana by AduAmani, underscoring the global collaboration and local craftsmanship at the heart of the project.
The event aims to shine a spotlight on the narratives of cocoa farming communities, while also promoting sustainable fashion and circular economic practices in the fashion industry.
As anticipation builds for the Kokoo (Cocoa) 360 exhibition, both Ese ne Tekyerema CIC and AduAmani are preparing to present a powerful statement about sustainability, culture, and the future of fashion.
