00:00Our brand is very focused on the narrative and the stories that we're telling, and so
00:06we are focused on the black experience.
00:09We're focused on filling in that white space in what you would call Americana fashion.
00:15We're focused on history, remembrance, and transference of family stories down the generations.
00:24And so when you look at the black experience here and how it reaches over to the islands
00:30and the continent, we are telling that cohesive and that collective story.
00:35And so a lot of times that ends up being a story that is rooted in the past, but that
00:40has currency in the present.
00:43Hi, my name is Akua Shabaka.
00:46And I'm Rebecca Henry.
00:48And we are House of Ama, the mother-daughter design duo.
00:52And we're hanging out today with Essence.
00:58Our creative process, specifically in the studio, is a very interesting way of thinking
01:03about Ama.
01:04And I've never thought about it that way, but really, I would say that as storytellers
01:10and as a brand that focuses a lot on the research component and the folklore that anchors the
01:17collections, when we get into the studio, that's really where the fabrication exploration
01:24comes into play.
01:25That's really where we start to think about what will be the textiles that we create.
01:31Specifically being here in downtown Los Angeles, we're immediately where our manufacturers
01:36are, our production is, because we produce everything here.
01:39And so when we get into the studio, we're actually going outside of the studio a lot
01:45because we're on ground going to these different artisans and there are different manufacturers
01:52to produce these pieces.
01:53I believe our studio is very task-oriented when we come into the studio.
01:59Akua is the project manager, and so she really sets out what our daily agenda is going to
02:04be and the task and the milestones that we have to hit daily, basically, daily, weekly.
02:11My mother is much more in the studio on an everyday basis, and I would say that she has
02:17an even deeper relationship with the materiality and the people that we work with on a day-to-day
02:23being just head of the production, and it really stems from when we were creating the
02:29pieces in her living room, and now we've brought the living room component to the studio.
02:42When you look at Alma, you'll see nostalgic textiles, but then you'll also see timeless
02:48references as well, and also contemporary designs, just even paying homage to me and
02:54my mother's age difference and our age gap as well that I think anchors and makes the
02:59brand even more beautiful.
03:01And yeah, these are the ethos.
03:04House of Alma is essentially the home in which we're able to explore who we are as a people
03:10and how we want to express ourselves in the world.
03:14My maternal line is from Louisiana, Shreveport in particular.
03:19My mom is from there, and all of my mom's family is from there, and my mom is actually
03:25like an archivist and a genealogist and has done extensive research on that family ancestry,
03:33and so we know exactly where the plantation is that my family was on.
03:37And Shreveport is Shreveport.
03:39It's a port city, and so it was like a dropping spot where you had African people, and African
03:45people were enslaved during the time in which we became, you know, dominant there.
03:52All the women in my family sew and do handicrafts, quilt work, needlework, all kinds of work
03:58with the hands.
03:59Our family has a Southern legacy, and so when we decided to focus in on storytelling in
04:04our brand, we looked in our own family histories and started to tell those stories.
04:13Similar to what we're doing with our brand, where we really decided that this would be
04:17a point of healing for us and exploration, where each collection, we're really looking
04:22at either stories that are known to us or stories that we want to unpack deeper.
04:26I remember when we did our Amato's collection, there was a lot of stories that I didn't really
04:32have all of the details for in terms of my ancestral lineage in the Caribbean.
04:38And so I was able to take this time to really speak to my aunties and people who are getting
04:44much older to really try to repair these stories, and I use that as an example as to how other
04:51people can use their creativity.
04:53We have Zora Neale Hurston over there, and she's one of what you would call our sheroes.
04:59And it was because Zora Neale Hurston was an author, but she was also an archaeologist.
05:04She was a folkloricist.
05:06She was a researcher, and it was really her mission and purpose in life to really explore
05:11Black identity, in particular in the South, because she knew that in the South is where
05:18really we had the root of our culture before even the Jim Crow era in which we were being
05:27dispersed.
05:28And so it was at its strongest there in terms of the Africanisms.
05:32Our brand is also very focused on character and development and building out environments.
05:37And so we're very inspired from her personal narrative and the character development, and
05:42we've taken that type of focus into our collections when we develop characters and themes and
05:49environments and how we build them out.
05:51I learned as the parent to be flexible in my role as the parent, and I've learned that
06:02I need to accept advice sometimes from my daughter in the role that she's in as the
06:07project manager and the person that really makes the machine run.
06:11So I've had to humble myself and accept that she's an adult, and a lot of times, like I
06:18tell her, she's right about most things.
06:20Working with my mother, we spend so much time together, and it's very rewarding to
06:25be able to spend that much time.
06:26I think as I'm getting older, I just appreciate it more and more.
06:31I think that working together works really well for us because we know how to lean into
06:36the areas of our interests and where we have the most strength with the brand.
06:41And I think that, really, for my mother, we lean on a lot of her personal stories and
06:47familial heritage, and she's really the anchor of who House Havana is, and we wouldn't be
06:54House Havana without her.
06:56My constant motto is staying open and curious about what the day has to bring, places I'm
07:01going to go, people I'm going to meet, and experiences I'm going to have.
07:04What I love most about this particular work is the research and continuously discovering
07:12new nuances of African people, African-American people, African people in the diaspora, and
07:19just discovering the rich heritage and history that we have, and just mining that in terms
07:26of stories that we want to tell.
07:32AMA is the creative, the community that comes from creative, and the community that comes
07:38from running a fashion brand, and there's so many parts to it, and I don't think people
07:44realize all these parts, but it's the community that you build through working with the textiles
07:50and wherever you want to go with that, whether it's making fabrics, or embroidery work, or
07:57you want to work with a small artisan.
07:59So there's that community, but then there's also the community of the people that you
08:03work creatively, like photography, video, styling.
08:09You create all these communities through the work, and I think that's something that gets
08:15me going because I have the ability to pick and choose who it's going to be, and learning
08:21more, and I think that for me, just being explorative in that way has always been really
08:27exciting in running the business.
08:34Something I continue to tell myself is that I'm excited for the new life of AMA, and it's
08:43because we've had the brand since I was in high school.
08:46It's been 11 years, and we've been able to accomplish a lot as entrepreneurs when you
08:52accomplish a lot, but then there's so much path to go.
08:56You realize that sometimes where you need to be excited is the next breath.
09:02What will be the new lessons that you learn?
09:04What will be the new things, the new pathways that you have to break through, and the new
09:09struggles that you have to find?
09:11And I think through our experiences, we've had to learn so much so fast, and now I'm
09:17just excited to see how with realizing all of that, and just learning even more about
09:22the business itself, where we will take House of AMA, I feel confident that we'll be able
09:28to do it.
09:32I feel confident that we'll be able to do it.
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