LOCO: An Up-and-Coming Sudanese Accessories Brand to Go Crazy For

Art meets madness in the up-and-coming Sudanese accessories brand, LOCO (@be_loco), boasting stylish hand-painted wooden bags and earrings made for those who think outside-the-box – and need a beautiful wooden box-shaped bag to put their thoughts in.

LOCO was created in 2017 by 25-year-old artist Yasmeen Abdullah, whose creativity and passion for the arts was discovered as soon as she picked up her first crayon as a child. Over the years, she continued enjoying the process of learning, finding ways to work with her hands and practising her craft. The journey led her to study at the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST), where she specialised in painting until her graduation four years ago.

She then moved on to working full-time as a graphic designer until her interest in creating her own business pushed her to create something of her own. ‘As an entrepreneur, I have always wanted to start my own project so I went to a lot of entrepreneurship programmes that motivated me and set me in the right direction,’ said Abdullah.

However, the endeavour would not have been possible without Abdullah’s best friend and business partner, 24-year-old Wafaa Salah. Meeting in their first year at the College of Fine and Applied Art, they quickly became companions, supporting each other creatively and personally. Post graduation, they struggled to find employment and being productive in their passions. Sudanese society deemed conventional art like painting and sculpting as a luxury. There was barely a market for handmade arts and crafts in Sudan. Despite this challenge, the girls worked together with four other female artists to start a brand called Zolaa in an effort to create a new market for fine arts, which is more modern and original.

However, no creative endeavour comes without complications. The group split in 2017. Salah and Abdullah, however, stayed together to create LOCO. ‘We put our plans to work and started from scratch with new ideas and new materials. We named [it] LOCO, which means crazy in Spanish, to present the idea of LOCO,’ said Salah. ‘We wanted to present a crazy, different and unique product that would reflect our culture and one that we could proudly manufacture in Sudan. So, we decided to offer a variety of handmade wooden bags and accessories,’ added Abdullah.

The making of a LOCO bag consists of at least five stages that require a combination of creativity, pragmatism, and marketing. First, they must manufacture the wooden boxes. Only then comes stage two, the design idea. The girls are inspired by nature, African spirit, and Sudanese culture amongst other things. Once the design is selected, they begin stage three and painting the designs on the bags. In stage four, they complete the finishing touches by putting the locks on the bags and finishing the inner fabric lining. Once complete, comes stage five, which consists of a photo session, including editing the images, designing the posters, and finally, posting them on Instagram.

In addition to their signature LOCO bags, the creative entrepreneurs began to delve into making earrings, launching their first handmade earrings collection late 2018. The exquisite colourful collection consisted of lightweight sculptural earrings with dozens of different African-themed looks, using various materials such as gold wire, gold coins, beads,  plastic, tassels and more.

According to Abdullah, their work is not just a handicraft. It is the ‘transmission of their feelings which makes each piece tell a different story.’ In a world dominated by fast-fashion clothing retail companies like H&M or Forever 21, which often cross ethical boundaries of harsh manual labour conditions and produce generic designs seen on just about anyone and everyone, Abdullah and Salah saw an opportunity. One where they could present original art with pure African spirit to reflect a rich and diverse Sudanese culture which seeks to spread visual art and enhance visual content.

In Salah’s eyes, LOCO also represents a dream and message – a story of how two Sudanese female artists started a global fashion brand. Being a certainly inspiring journey, we asked what they want the destination to be. ‘Paris, Italy, London – I believe in LOCO and see it as the first African-Sudanese brand with huge success, which we hope everyone will know alongside Gucci, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana…with patience, diligence, and a little bit of luck, we see LOCO everywhere!’ said Abdullah.

Having high-reaching goals for their brand does not come without incredibly hard work. The girls still work their day jobs as graphic designers, only to return home to their second job with LOCO. With 12- to 14-hour work days, and family and social obligations, their passions do not come to fruition without determination.

Wafaa Salah and Yasmeen Abdullah, founders of LOCO

With no employees or partners other than themselves, Abdullah and Salah put everything they have into their work. Their focus is on quality and beauty, ensuring their customers feel special and unique when donning an original bag.

Their work has not gone unnoticed. So far, the brand has experienced success by being exhibited at the acclaimed Eve’s Garden Designer’s Exhibition in December 2018 at Ozone Café. Mayada Adil, renowned Sudanese fashion designer recently held an exhibition of work at UNESCO’s fashion show in Paris and used LOCO’s bags as accessories for her pieces. With their continued success, the best friends have expanded their business and artistic vision past bags to beautiful earrings.

With a growing fan base and increased quality with each product, LOCO is a brand that has the power to not only redefine beauty and fashion in Sudan and abroad, but to also inspire those in our community to make do with their time and resources and follow their dreams to the top. Until then, Abdullah and Salah will continue to ‘dip [their] brushes into [their] souls and paint [their] nature’ into their work.

For more of LOCO, find them on Instagram at @be_loco.

Nadine El Roubi is a recent graduate from the University of Birmingham with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. She loves Sudan and anything artistic, and the combination of the two make her especially happy. Find Nadine El Roubi on Instagram at @nadineelroubi.