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How a journey across Africa turned into a quest for style and sustainability.

London, 22nd June – When a couple of young creatives travelling across Africa saw an elderly street artist transforming junk into drums, ornaments and sculptures, they didn’t take photos. Instead, they took the inspiration for Mosaiqe, the brand behind London’s first wooden watch concept store.

Operating out of Camden’s historic Stables Market, Mosaiqe use only recycled and sustainably sourced woods to create unconventional dress watches that go against the grain. Though they’re now trading in one of the capital’s most revered fashion hubs, their story began a world away. Founder and co-director, Kas Fulani, describes the moment he found his direction:

“I was travelling through a busy village called Tema just outside of the countries capital. Whilst I boarded the Tro-tro, I spotted this old man sat on a pile of scrap wood with a chisel. Everyone was walking past him and if I’m honest I only noticed him because it seemed we were the only people sat still.”

“When I passed the same way again five days later, he was still there – only the wood was gone. He’d reincarnated the refuse into beautiful objects and now people were lining up to buy. It got me thinking about how after a process, one man’s waste can be that same mans treasure – and how ethics and aesthetics can co-exist.”

"It was incredible to see an elder use his bare hands and basic tools to take a material in it's rawest form and create art."

On returning to the UK, he teamed up with his business partner and got to work establishing a brand that would embody the values he’d seen in action in Ghana. While the Rolexes of the world pride themselves on precision engineering identical pieces, Mosaiqe take a different approach. Using natural materials, they create handmade products that – thanks to their graining, pigment and texture – are all unique.

"Ironically we've both always had an unnatural love for watches and a huge part of the enjoyment comes from creating new life from deadwood and proving that ethics and aesthetics can co-exist”

The watches’ neutral colourings make them a perfect match for all skin tones and styles of clothing. But it’s not all about looks. Sustainability is a key part of the mission. And though they may be pulling up trees in the figurative sense, in literal terms they’re doing anything but. In fact, thanks to their partnership with the charity Trees for the Future, they’re planting five trees for every watch sold – whether through their website, mosaiqe.com, or from their store at Unit 266, The Stables, Camden.

For more detail, see the Mosaiqe Website