Ethiopian-born Sarah Bozon is the founder of GURSHA CREATIVE STUDIO. A consultant in fashion, contemporary art and design, creative director and studio manager of STUDIO QUATORZERHUIT, a contemporary art and design space based in Dakar. Her multi-cultural background has influenced her love for African fashion and the creative industry.
Sarah grew up in France but moved to Senegal recently to connect to her roots. We caught up with her to give us an Insider's guide into the city she calls home. She shares how she spends a typical Weekend in Dakar and the places she loves to visit when in the city. Read her words below:
Before you go
Known as the gateway to Africa, Senegal is a cultural hub for the continent with historical landmarks, art centres and beautiful natural landscape. The country is bordered by Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and the Atlantic Ocean and has an estimated population of about 18 million people.
Dakar is the country’s capital. It houses some of the best of West African designers and creatives. The official language is French, but Wolof is also widely spoken.
It is considered one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Senegal is famous for being home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites including: Goree Island, the Stone Circles of Senegambia, Niokolo-Koba National Park, Saloum Delta, Bassari Country, Saint-Louis Island and Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary.
The tallest statue in Africa known as The African Renaissance Monument is located in Dakar, about 49 metres (160-ft) high above the ground.
Senegal’s currency is the West African CFA Franc.
The taste of sharing
As a consultant specialised in the African creative industry, born in Ethiopia and raised in France, I moved to Senegal over a year ago, after the pandemic, to find my path in motherland Africa.
In 2016, when I founded GURSHA CREATIVE STUDIO, I wanted to share creativity through powerful stories of intersecting cultures, to enlighten designers, artists, places belonging to Africa and its diaspora, which inspire me day after day in my creative work.
Gursha means "a bite" in the Amharic language. In Ethiopian culture, when you share food with people, you can give the first bite directly into your neighbour's mouth, it is a symbol of sharing, love and welcome. This is the spirit of GURSHA CREATIVE STUDIO, the taste of sharing.
Today, I want to share with the ADJOAA community a few of my cherished places as well as inspiring artists from Dakar.
© Seku Bi Hotel
Where to Stay
Seku Bi
This boutique Hotel, located in the historic centre of Dakar in the Plateau neighbourhood near the well known Independence place is a gem. The hotel has an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean and a neocolonial architecture.
You can take a break with a delicious lunch from the Italian restaurant, Il Pappagallo. I really appreciate having a drink after a long working day with friends in an intimate and peaceful environment .There’s also a Bantu wax showroom and a beautiful well designed library to discover.
© Seku Bi Library
Don’t miss this address !
@seku_bi@il_pappagallo
@bantuwax
© STUDIO QUATORZEROHUIT
Where to visit
Founded in 2020 by the french senegalese designer Bibi Seck and a senegalese entrepreneur and contemporary art collector Oumar Sow.
STUDIO QUATORZEROHUIT is located in the heart of Dakar, in an old house from the 30s. As a huge fan of my workplace, I’m proud to recommend this beautiful space which will take you to stroll between the floors.
Dedicated to contemporary art and design, the space is spread over three floors with gallery spaces, a laboratory studio, a design store where you can shop african designers like Iamisigo, Tzar Studios, Eluwa Studio, Audrey D’Erneville, Bibi Seck and more.
Also, since last november, we opened a bar space and an intimate rooftop where you can sip a fresh local bissap or a fresh beer from the first senegalese handcrafted brewery, named Kalao, just a stone's throw from the Place de l'indépendance.
@quatorzerohuit
@q08designstore
Also, Dakar is appreciated because of its big creative community, full of artists there and from all over the world, but also for the amount of creative spaces, places , landscapes.
For contemporary art and gallery lovers, I suggest you visit a few of the best galleries in Dakar: Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Selebe Yoon, Oh Gallery, Espace Trames and Galerie Atiss from Aissa Dione.
@selebe_yoon
@oh.gallery
@galerieatissdakar
@galeriececilefakhoury @espacetrames
SANDAGA MARKET
Dakar has a lot of huge markets, depending on what you're looking for. One of the more popular ones is called Sandaga market.
Well known for having colourful and inspiring fabrics, the district has a thousand embroiderers. It should be known that Senegal is particularly appreciated for its knowledge in embroidery in West Africa.
© SANDAGA SHOP
Another special place to discover is the Sandaga shop, owned by the remarkable Khadija Ba, also known for her vanguard creative brand L’artisane. Her space is a small cabinet of curiosities with her creations in a neo-sudanese architecture.
@lesandagashop @lartisane.shop
Discover The Sandaga Shop:
© BAN Café Food
Where to Eat
BANTE YI
One of my beloved street food places to eat the best dibi. In a hidden spot called ‘Bante yi’ which refers to the wooden skewers in wolof.
Tucked away in an unexpected, authentic and friendly setting, you can eat meat brochettes as much as you want for nothing!
© BAN café / BAN workshop
On a sunny Sunday , I would share a brunch at Ban Cafe with fresh citronnade, latte and amazing homemade meals in a cosy place.
This cute space is actually owned by 2 sisters: First, Imane co-founded a Ceramic collective with senegalese pottery makers (Ban workshop) in order to develop an economic and social impact pottery centre. Then, Aida opened the cafe. You can participate in ceramics workshops and have lunch or a tasty snack.
After that, don’t resist opening the next door and buying chocolate from Venko , the new senegalese chocolate factory.
@bancafe @banworkshop @venko_chocolat
© Plage des Mamelles
Dakar has one of the last beaches with basalt sand with amazing local people taking care of this beautiful place. La plage des mamelles is my favourite place to have a refreshing swim in the blue ocean to reconnect with nature and recharge myself.
DISCOVER SENEGAL WITH MUSIC
To finish my words, I have curated a special playlist with senegalese music and songs I discovered during my trips around Senegal:
I want to share with you a few of the many talented artists I have discovered like Nix, a senegalese rapper, King Mouss, a beatmaker and co-founder of the famous event concept, La Base, which aims to federate youth around music.
There’s also The Honorable Hakim Dough, an american senegalese music artist, dj and MC. Of course we have to talk about Youssou Ndour, you can hear in taxis in Dakar or the famous kora player Noumoucounda.
@nixofficial @itsalwaysmouss @hakimdough @youssoundour1959 @noumoucounda
Connect with Sarah: Instagram
Photo credits: All images courtesy of Sarah Bozon
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