Yaa Serwaa Ankara Purse

This bag is made from African Wax Print Fabric, wooden frame and leather. African wax prints also known as Ankara and Dutch wax prints are usually used for making clothing in Africa, especially West Africa. They are colorful cotton fabrics designed with very bold motifs. The wax prints are part of a nonverbal way of communication among African women, and hereby they carry their message out into the world. Each fabric is named locally by mainly the market women who assign interesting sometimes very funny names to the fabric. The fabric can be named after personalities, cities, building, sayings or occasions. The beauty of this design is in the combination of the fabric used as well as the leather which brings out a unique contemporary African style. 

The base of the bag is about 17 inches in length with a width of 7.5 inches and a height of 9 inches. The leather used for this bag is leather scraps mainly off cut leather from bag making factories in Europe which has been upcycled or otherwise reused to make this beautiful piece.