Studio One Eighty Nine

Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah co-founded Studio One Eighty Nine, an artisan produced fashion lifestyle brand and social enterprise that recently won the prestigious CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability. The brand is African-made and produces African-inspired content and clothing.

The brand currently operates an Accra (Ghana) store, an ecommerce site, an Accra manufacturing facility, and supports various community-led projects in Africa and the United States. Studio 189 collaborates with artisanal communities that specialize in a variety of traditional craftsmanship techniques such as natural plant-based dye indigo, hand-batik, kente weaving, and others.

Studio 189 focuses on empowerment, job creation, and education and skill development, and collaborates with organizations such as the United Nations ITC Ethical Fashion intiative.

Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah co-founded Studio One Eighty Nine, an artisan produced fashion lifestyle brand and social enterprise that recently won the prestigious CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability. The brand is African-made and produces African-inspired content and clothing.

To preserve the ancient art form of Batik, Studio One Eighty Nine works with artisans in Ghana's Cape Coast region, near the first slave castles built in the 17th century. To begin, the cloth is washed, soaked, and beaten with a large mallet. The patterns are then carved into wood or sponge. The stamps are then dipped in hot wax, which acts as a dye resist, before being stamped onto the cloth. The artisan creates the desired color by mixing dye and dipping the cloth. The wax is removed after the cloth has dried, leaving behind a work of art. There will never be two identical pieces of textile.