ahomé
means
home.

I spent the first half of my life in Benin and the other half in France. For many years, I tried to figure out where I belong. Growing up, I thought my real home was my child home in Cotonou until I came back years after and the feeling was different.

I came to realize that home slowly became less an attachment of a physical building but the profound sense of belonging found in those objects I gathered, those people I met, those communities I partake in, those brands I loved and those memories I lived.
They carried me through life.
They built me and gave me a sense of purpose.

Home implies the notions of foundations, territory and belonging. To me, the concept of house cannot be considered without including Africa. This house which contains a history so rich but so little celebrated and know-hows present for millennia.

And because the way of seeing and showing this world is a way of building this world, today, as a designer I’m dreaming of new ways of telling our stories, showcasing our work and building up our legacy to pass on to future generations. I dare to dream of new spaces for new artistic typologies.

I am dreaming of a creative space rooted in African heritage and committed to developing design expression especially for the continent. A space dedicated to African diasporic creatives, makers and manufacturers to help them show, curate, write, build, question, provoke, educate, learn.

That's why I founded ahomé.

For the brands with which I share the same values.
For the creatives who will recognize themselves in my ambitions.
For the people, who are committed to fostering economic development through craft.
Four our footprints to be large and stable enough for the generations to come. For our history and stories that need to be carried on, continually told creatively by our people, with appropriate means so that the chain of transmission does not break, even after us.

May this creative house of mine help you build yours along the way, whatever it might look like. At the end, may it be ours, our shared ahomé.

With all my love,

- Willina, the founder of ahomé