Reni Folawiyo Quotes

I taught myself to make furniture and then started a furniture factory that still exists. But I realized I wanted to be around creative people. I started to travel within Africa, and discovered people making fashion and design pieces that were contemporary iterations of what you see traditionally—not what we would call contemporary in the Western sense, but in our context. And I thought that was very intriguing.

We are selling our culture. We’ve clearly become an epicenter for cultural exchange for all kinds of creative people. In my native Yoruba language, alára means “wondrous performer, one who thrills endlessly”—that’s how we see African fashion and design, and how we want global audiences to experience it and embrace it.

We are women. We are meant to rule the world. We are super.

I used to spend a lot of time with artists and designers and I had a lot of friends that were doing creative things and I enjoyed spending time with them.

The exceptional beauty and versatility of Timber and the variety and abundance that we have here. Again the skills of the makers. For me honing those skills to produce simple streamlined and sophisticated designs is rewarding.

The luxury of having a purpose, identifying it and being able to realise it. It's rare, it's valuable and it's is covetable. That's Luxury

Going beyond luxury retail, we’ve become a platform for exchange across all the creative disciplines. Our curation is trusted, and our network authentic.

I felt that we needed something iconic that would change our city, change the way we see ourselves and also change the way the world sees us.

We will open people’s eyes to the incredible creative renaissance that is growing in Africa and how seamlessly it functions as a part of the global conversation of style.