SUPAFRIK Takes Over Toronto To Kick Off the New Year!

Happy New Year!

We hope your 2016 ring-in was filled with love, laughter, and lots of Afrobeats. On our end, we’ve been quietly working towards getting ready to kick in SUPAFRIK’s 2016 debut, and it’s looking to be a great. We have linked up with some of the marquee institutions in Toronto, and we’re planning on sprinkling contemporary Africana fairy-dust everywhere we go. Keep reading to find out more!

January 21-24 | Gladstone Hotel | 1214 Queen St. W, Toronto |
‘Style & Profile’ at Come Up to My Room 
SUPAFRIK Founder Chinedu Ukabam has been selected as a featured artist at “Come Up to My Room” at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St W). In case you aren’t familiar, it’s the biggest alternative design festival in Toronto. The hotel invites artists and designers to transform rooms and spaces into a world of their own. Chinedu’s installation, “Style and Profile”, is an ode to Afro-Pop-Art. It is inspired by African barbershops and explores notions of identity in all its seriousness and absurdity. He will be creating original prints and mixed media artwork, and collaborating on some furniture designs with his old friend and man of many woods Gregorio Jimenez. We’re inviting you all to come up to HIS room. PS: The big reception party is on the Saturday 23rd.

Exhibition Admission:
$10 | General admission (per day)
$25 | School groups book tours with lukus@gladstonehotel.com.
$5 | Student day on Jan 22  (with student id)

February 5 | Royal Ontario Museum | Water Carry Me Go @ Royal Ontario Museum Friday Night Live and Kuumba
This one, we’re super excited about! Water Carry Me Go is a fashion-art exhibition featuring seven African and Afro-diasporic designers from Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, UK and of course, Canada. Each designer is creating an avant-garde garment for the show.  The unique exhibit will centre on the theme of water, an element that connects Africa and its Diasporas in a multitude of ways—as a passage, a cause of displacement and the origin of mythology. The show aims to dismantle artificial distinctions between fashion and art.  We could not have done this without the support of TD Bank, Seven Continents, and Honour Carpentry. “Water Carry Me Go” will first debut as a performance art piece with “live” mannequins during the Royal Ontario Museum’s Friday Night Live, before being permanently installed at the Harbourfront Centre’s Architectural Gallery from February 6-12 for their Kuumba festival. Learn more about the artists here!

Exhibition Admission:
ROM Friday Night Live | Tickets can be purchased at this link
Kuumba @ Harbourfront Centre| Admission is free for everyone.

February 5 | Royal Ontario Museum | GUMBO #4 @FNLROM + Tattoo
GUMBO is back, this time at 2 locations! The ROM will be hosting the 4th edition of the popular GUMBO music series that Chinedu and Wan Luv started last summer. The first party was at Caribana. The last party took us to New Orleans. This time, we’re pulling out all the stops for Carnival time. First, it’ll start it off as a public dance class with renowned choreographers Esie Mensah and Pulga Cesar Muchochoma with music by DJ Revy B to get you up to speed with all the latest dances from Africa and the Caribbean. Then, it’ll morph into an intense Afrobeats/Afrohouse Soca Reggae dance party with Deemaks, Sean Sax, and Donet at Tattoo (567 Queen Street West).

Exhibition Admission:
ROM Friday Night Live | Tickets can be purchased at this link
GUMBO After party | gumbo4.eventbrite.ca

We’ll be updating you all with more information leading up to the event! Be sure to follow us on Instagram @SUPAFRIK and on Twitter @Chinedesign. If you have any questions, email hawa@SUPAFRIK.com.

 

 

 

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Masquerade – Multimedia Fashion Presentation and Masked Ball Party

#MasqueradeTO on twitter

On February 15, 2013 masked and decorated guests will join to celebrate modern fashion infused with African and Caribbean aesthetics and traditions. Toronto fashion label, Chinedesign presents “Masquerade”; the brand’s second exhibition mixing fashion and art as part of TD’s “Then and Now” Series for Black History Month.

Masquerade as it is performed all over Africa, is a complex and often secret ritual that is interwoven into the religious, political and social fabric of the people. The masks or the masquerade costumes are often believed to represent the spirits of ancestors and local deities. Carnival as it is practiced in the Caribbean and in South America is a mix of European and African notions of Masquerade and is becoming increasingly popular in Africa as well.

“Growing up in Nigeria, I have always been fascinated by Masquerades. I was captivated by the myth, costumes, and entranced by the music.” Shares Chinedu, designer of Chinedesign.

Taking place simultaneously with popular Carnival celebrations around the globe, the evening will feature a mix of cultural elements beginning with a Diptych digital presentation by Another Africa, depicting the influence of African Masquerade on fashion, photography and art. The Masquerade Collection runway presentation is paired with an original soundtrack composed exclusively by Chinedu, and to celebrate the Carnival festivities a Masked Ball will follow where masks are mandatory until midnight.

The avant-garde “Masquerade” Collection features more than a dozen looks that Chinedu describes as, “designed for the spirits”, including custom designed prints. Each design features unorthodox materials such as cowry shells, woven chains, fringed leather, lace, traditional African indigo fabric, plants and large seeds that are commonly used in West African masquerade. Exquisite headpieces created in collaboration with British Milliner Keiron Vine, complete the style.

“As a fashion designer, my appreciation of masquerade has come to take on another dimension. I am enthralled by the aesthetic and garment technology of the masquerade and I have long nurtured the idea of creating my first “couture” collection, as opposed to “ready to wear”, by deconstructing and remixing elements of masquerade “

The event will take place on Friday February 15th at Daniels Spectrum, located at 585 Dundas Street East, Toronto. Doors open at 9pm and the multimedia fashion presentation will begin at 10pm followed by the Masquerade Ball. The style code is formal or African Traditional and masks are mandatory until midnight. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit www.chinedesign.com/masquerade

*Opportunity* Interested in fashion design, social media or event production?

Are you passionate about fashion design, social media or event production? Here’s an exciting opportunity to join the production team for Chinedesign’s “Masquerade” debut couture fashion show and masked ball party taking place this February in Toronto. We are looking for volunteers* to fill in the following roles (* indicates a paid position):

Stage Manager
Social Media Liason
Usher (2 spots)
Server* (2 spots) – Smart serve certified
Dresser/Designer Assistant (2 spots) FILLED
Decoration Assistant
Documentary Photographer*
Website Designer* (for another project. send email to imara@supafrik.com for this one)

Send an email to info@chinedesign.com for full description of the responsibilities and requirements of the position you are interested in. It’s a great opportunity to gain hands-on on experience and be involved in something that’s cutting edge and rich in culture. Please feel free to share this with your network if you think it will be of interest to them.

Masquerade is a part of of TD presents “Then and Now” Series 2013.