2020 Holiday Gift Guide
In Her Shoes 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: 75 Black Women-Owned Brands to Shop
Blk Girls Green House is the brainchild of two Oakland women—Kalkidan Gebreyohannes and J’Maica Roxanne—committed to collaborating with fellow Black-owned businesses and inspire conscious, local shopping and gathering. The idea for the business grew from Kalu and J’Maica’s shared love of interiors, plants, and bringing joy to their living spaces, especially now that they are sheltering in place.
“Because of Covid, people are spending so much more time in their homes,” explains Kalu. “For the first time in a long time, they are thinking—I should hang this, I should paint this, I should buy more plants. People are connecting with what their space makes them feel, they are wanting to make their home their sanctuary.”
Blk Girls Green House is the destination for customers to purchase plants, beautiful ceramic and clay pots, thoughtfully curated goods for the home (magazines, coffee table books, candles, wall hangings, speciality teas, and more!), and locally-produced apparel.
Neffi Walker believes life should be designed beautifully and a beautiful life is one designed with intention. As a mother of five, business owner and principal designer of The Black Home, Neffi Walker bridged the gap on family, creativity and business in ways that are enviable. Her approach on life to highlight the overlooked or undervalued beauties can be mirrored in the way she approaches design.
Often considered daring, Neffi uses dark tones as the focal point in many of her designs. Known for accentuating black walls with pops of color and opulent gold mirrors, Neffi Walker’s adaptation of minimalism is something marveled at by Essence, Blavity, Domino, Apartment Therapy and her profoundly engaging following alike.
Chelsea Coffey is the founder and EIC of the lifestyle blog, The Coffey Break. Join her for Coffey Break Chats, travel vlogs, style advice, natural hair tips, spiritual guidance, relationship advice, and a good laugh from time to time on Cooking with the Coffey’s. She doesn’t claim to have it all figured out, but she sure as heck is willing to give it a try, and she’d love to have you along for the ride! Treat yourself to one of Chelsea’s Coffee + Creavalle mugs. Tell a friend. Show a friend.
BLK MKT Vintage is a curated love story. The founders’ motivation to build a collection that mirrors multifarious Black cultural expression is rooted in their love for Black people, Black culture and our own lived experiences. They approach their work as cultural historians and encourage you to join them in bringing history & antiquity into your everyday lives.
Their work includes curating a robust brick and mortar & e-commerce shop, interior styling, prop rental/set design, exhibition loans and other special curatorial-based projects that center the relationship between Black people, material culture, memory and the contemporary. In other words, Sankofa.
Don’t Sleep Interiors aims to merge the worlds of interior design and African Diasporic culture to spark “meaningful conversations, promote free thinking, & encourage exploration into our collective past.”
Your home is the ultimate canvas for self-expression. From the lighting fixtures to wall color items in your home should reflect who you are, spark memories of past adventures, inspire new ones and be the ultimate statement of your style.
Instead we often settle for decor with little self relevance or imagination. Cookie-cutter decor void of visual aesthetics and most importantly void of you. You are vibrant and worldly. You make a statement in all areas of your life; your home should make a statement as well. Now it can. With products from Reflection Design, you’ll say goodbye to humdrum decor and hello to decor that sparks conversations and makes you smile every time you enter your space.
Founded by designer Justina Blakeney, Jungalow aims to connect people with nature within their own homes. The brand’s home items exemplify this through leafy patterns, a bold color palette, and sustainable practices.
Born in Ghana, raised in South Africa, and now living in New York, 54kibo founder, Nana Quagraine always loved the unique contemporary African design items she found on trips home. But while African designers often inspire global design, she realized these designer’s creations were largely under-represented and hard to access globally.
Nana founded 54kibo along with a team of executives, investors, and advisors committed to sharing the vast creativity and talent the African diaspora has to offer the world.
Nicole Gibbons is the founder of Clare Paint and an interior designer who saw that no paint brands were offering an easy or convenient way to shop for paint, so she decided to fix that. A true expert in her field, her design know-how has been featured by top media outlets like HGTV, The Oprah Winfrey Network, Good Morning America, Elle Decor and more. Nicole is passionate about helping people create beautiful spaces they love. And with Clare, she’s continuing to do just that…one perfect paint color at a time.
Even though SustainAble opened in November 2017, the brand’s story goes back more than 20 years ago. The founder, LaToya Tucciarone, grew up with an innate love of culture. Because of the African artifacts her parents had all around the house coupled with the wonderful sounds of music from all over the world, she just knew from an early age that the world was a beautiful place that is meant to be enjoyed and preserved. 2001 was the year that LaToya got to travel the world for the first time. She went to Johannesburg, South Africa with a group of friends from college for a month. It was a life changing experience because she experienced what it was like to fall in love with an actual group of people and their culture. She began to see with her own eyes how big and beautiful the world really is! Fast forward a decade, throw in marriage, kids, a successful photography business, more trips around the world and here she am, that same young girl who wants to unite the world! SustainAble was born out of a deeply held belief that all men and women are made in the image of God and have inherent worth and value, skills and talents. We all have something to offer each other. To LaToya Tucciarone, the retail industry is the perfect place for the world to meet.
LIHA creates home and beauty products are, like the brand’s founders, a mixture of natural African roots and a quintessentially British attitude. Created by best friends Abi Oyepitan & Liha Okunniwa, the Liha Beauty range includes oils, soaps and lotions made with natural ingredients and Yoruba traditions. The pair pride themselves on creating cruelty free, vegan, natural beauty products that are homemade in small batches in Cheltenham and London.
With the desire to be intentional, the LIHA team attempted to create a soft launch to introduce the community to their concept, and things have been a whirlwind ever since. They are grateful for the journey and to you for joining them.
© 2020 IN HER SHOES BLOG. ORIGINAL THEME BE MVP THEMES, CUSTOMIZATIONS BY MS KAMILLE