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Born in New York and raised between Nigeria and London, Dotun Abeshinbioke wears many creative hats. “I like to call myself a 360 creative,” she says with a glow, over a Zoom call from New York. Abeshinbioke is part of a creative class of people that doesn’t want to be boxed. “I like to mix things up. I don't like things to be too rigid and scheduled,” she reveals. The 22-year-old multi-talented designer launched her sportswear-inspired fashion label Abike Shop in 2019. And last year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she established Abike Studio — an emerging creative agency specializing in branding, web design, and art direction and production for African and Pan-African brands. Her list of projects so far includes work for music discovery platform Audiomack, Native Magazine, and Nigerian musician Adekunle Gold.
At the very core of her work is an ambition to tell African stories and empower African female creatives like herself. Abeshinbioke traces the start of her creative path to her final year of high school when she developed a strong interest in graphic design, which she says became her favourite subject at the time. This past May, she graduated with a BFA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design in New York.
Abeshinbioke speaks to AMAKA about the Abike Shop, her creative process, her inspirations and ambitions.
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AMAKA: Could you tell us about yourself? Where did you grow up and what’s your educational background?
AMAKA: Take us through your creative journey.
DA: I’ve always wanted to be creative, especially when I started learning more about the industry. I considered being a doctor and my dad wanted me to be a stockbroker so when I was thinking about [a career to pursue] I tried a bunch of things like dance and fashion. By the time I was in the sixth form, I was interested in graphic design and owning a magazine.
AMAKA: You started out designing accessories. What’s your motivation behind Abike Shop?
DA: While at Parsons, I had a project in which I had to use the laser cutter in fabrication class and I decided to make something wearable. I made earrings, brought them to my class presentation and wore them for the rest of that day and people [showed interest and] were asking me about them.
AMAKA: What made you decide to progress into a sportswear-inspired fashion label?
DA: I love a good theme and our Abike jerseys were one of our most popular pieces so I decided to create a collection around the theme of sports and sportsmanship. We are also a very playful brand which is why the collection is called 'PLAY', an encouragement to have fun in everything you do.
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AMAKA: How do you split your creativity between the various projects that you take on?
DA: It’s a mix between some organization and chaos. I’m still trying to find the best way to balance. It’s fun working in everything and finding the balance is hard but I’m learning. One thing I try to do now is plan my days, like this is the day I’m gonna do client work or this is the day I’m gonna work on Abike stuff.
AMAKA: What has been your favourite project to work on for Abike Studio and why?
DA: Creating branding and digital collateral for HUE, an internal employee resource team at Sony Music Australia. Their mission is to drive increased equity, opportunities, platforms and advancement for BIPOC staff, artists and the community. I enjoyed designing with their mission in mind and working with my team to create other assets to produce a cohesive and impactful brand experience. I am yet to share this project on the new Abike Studio website which [is going] live this month.
AMAKA: You’ve mentioned that your multicultural upbringing influences your work a lot. How do you embed your culture and roots into your work?
DA: We work a lot with brands and founders that are African women or brands that are West African. [This is] the kind of work that we gravitate towards so people know me for that. Being able to work with African women to brand your African business is appealing to a lot of people. That is something that is a core part of the studio and that’s something I would like to continue pushing.
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AMAKA: How would you describe yourself in three words?
DA: Goal-oriented, innovative, and spontaneous.
AMAKA: What values are most important to you?
DA: Authenticity is important to me. I love seeing spaces where African stories can be told.
AMAKA: Who or what inspires you?
DA: My family and my parents inspire me because they support me. [Outside of that] artists such as Malick Sidibe, Hassan Hajjaj, and Mickalene Thomas [who’s] a multidisciplinary artist practicing photography, graphic design, and film.
I love seeing any artist that does [many things] at a large scale especially because I [also] do a bunch of things.
AMAKA: How would you describe your creative process?
DA: I always like to start with moodboarding. I try to be constantly in a state of moodboarding and finding inspiration from Instagram where I follow a couple of art pages. I like to create digital and physical archives of inspiration from my Instagram and Pinterest. Physically, I have design and photography books.
I always have this thing in my head that says the first thing I make is gonna be ugly so I always get the first version out and then start designing from there.
AMAKA: You've explained your creative process, but could you expand on how you execute your concepts for the Abike Shop?
DA: This is my first time designing clothing for the brand, so for this collection, I first decided how many pieces I wanted, asked friends and supporters of the brand their thoughts on some of the samples and played around with incorporating our signature acrylic letter embellishments in all the designs.
AMAKA: What are your favourite items/products from the Abike Shop, and why?
DA: The Orange Ilari Earrings are one of the first pieces I started selling which are also what the brand is known for [and the] Abike Play Tank is a fan favourite. I love to see how everyone styles their tanks and it's a perfect summer staple.
AMAKA: Describe the Abike girl.
DA: An Abike girl knows what she wants, she’s very creative, playful, and entrepreneurial.
AMAKA: What are your plans for the future?
DA: [I would like] to continue to grow Abike Studio and be able to pay myself a salary and hire other people to work in the studio and the shop.
I envision Abike in more stores and I would like to do more activations and pop-up shops in Nigeria, London, New York, and other places. I would [also] love to have a creative studio in New York where I can work.
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