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Kuku unveiled... The big reveal!
April 7, 2020
Say goodbye to Darkie Designs and bid a big, warm welcome to Kuku - our new brand that takes all of the things you loved about DD and gives them a fresh direction with a sexy, funky, more vibrant look and feel. Yup - our makeover is almost complete - so find out more about the journey and what's in store...
So, we've changed our name... You've seen the new showroom, you've experienced the new look and feel and you've (hopefully) joined us on the new path we're taking... We're almost ready to say our final goodbyes to Darkie Designs - the name that made us famous - with just a few more tweaks to our website and our social media taking place. And you will have figured out that in terms of the transformation process, Kuku is DD taken one step beyond... As Bianca put it so eloquently recently on Facebook: "It's like a boob job - it's the same boobs, just perkier!"
Now we've shared the "what" with you (and we really hope you love it as much as we do), we'd like to share the "why". What made us press pause on our business and rethink it from the ground upwards?
Some may say that gin was involved, and to be fair, the early parts of our transformation process were tough enough to drive us to drink. But why, we hear you ask? To answer that question we need to hear it from "Queen B" herself... DD founder Bianca Black.
"Darkie Designs had gotten to the point where I felt it could go no further, as a brand," says Bianca. "It had grown expontentially, but somewhere along the way it had left me behind and had become something different to the business I started back in 2012," she adds.
"My vision was to find amazing African things - works of art and artistry - from textiles fabrics and furniture to hand-made objects and all-round pieces of décor genius, and tell their stories and the stories of the people who made them, sharing them with everyone I could," explains Bianca. "It was born out of a madness for design and a passion for everything African, but at some point Darkie Designs took over and developed a life of its own, and moved in a different direction, at pace," she says. "And we've been trying to keep up, but it's been wearing us out!"
Bianca knew that she needed to stay faithful to her original dream, but a trip to Bali last year also opened her eyes to the possibilities of taking the search for intriquing, exclusive and outstanding "objet's décor" global. "I saw so many incredible things in Bali, all of them begging to be included in the Darkie Designs portfolio, so I began to wonder if I shouldn't take DD to another level, and whether the original inspiration of design from 'deepest, darkest Africa' was going to contain the brand?"
On her return from Bali Bianca put her thoughts on hold. DD was busy, busy, busy, but it was getting hard to focus. The business was beginning to feel like a runaway train when a chance encounter with a young mum on a morning walk at Raptor's View opened Bianca's eyes to the possibilities of taking her vision for DD and breathing new life into it. Enter Rachel Hurry, all-round brand and marketing genius, who was eager to get her teeth into a new project, having worked with Tanda Tula to take their brand to the next level.
"Rachel sat down with me and Jana (Winterboer, Bianca's faithful 'first officer' at DD) and after talking to her the fog began to clear, and we began to see that our vision was still there, and that all it needed was a new path and a new identity to help us achieve it. With Rachel's guidance, we've been able to refocus our energy, reignite our passion and rejuvenate our love for what we do. She helped us to take what we already had and move it in a different direction."
So, Kuku is Darkie Designs 2.0. It's fresh, perky boobs after a bit of nip and tuck. It's everything Bianca wanted and is on a new, fresh trajectory with a clear path ahead of it.
"It's been a mad few months, taking everything we thought we knew about our business, unpacking it, repacking it and creating a whole new version of it," says Bianca. "But we're ready now, and raring to go... And looking forward to our first assignment - our sourcing and inspiration trip to Morocco on 18 March when Jana and I will be heading north to spend time in Marakesh, finding amazing things for projects going forward," she says.
So let's raise a glass to Darkie Designs and say "thanks for the memories"... And raise another one to Kuku and the incredible memories to come...
Cheers!
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Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light. For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
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