CYNDI
OKECH

About

Pattern.
Image.
Material.

If clouds were our forgotten memories, every shape, colour, size, drift pattern, temperament and location would indicate a beloved or specific memory. That is the frame through which I approach being an interdisciplinary artist.

Clumps of music, film, television, fashion, beauty, poetry, even a single lyric, can signal action. Writing has become as fundamental to me as design. Learning from various cultures and techniques, such as the tjanting tool, allows me to absorb different methods and make them my own. What comes out is my visual identity: pattern, image, moving image, brand identity, printed and digital art.

My path into design came through a wide range of disciplines. Architecture, interior design, gardening, fashion, jewellery, furniture, music, printmaking, garment technology, visual communication: the list of what has shaped me is long and still growing. The thread weaving through each stage did not disappear. It became clusters in my atmosphere. African heritage, Japanese visual tradition, a British creative foundation, digital culture, the physical act of making by hand at times combined with digitisation: these are the sources I keep returning to. The work of Tsuchiya Koitsu, Yinka Ilori, Takashi Murakami. There are too many to name.

After my father passed, I took time. During that time I learned something I already knew but had not yet acted on: there is no good reason to wait to showcase my art. My travels to Africa broadened my understanding in ways I had not expected. I built friendships with tailors, toured the markets, and watched garments come to life from start to finish, all from my own sketches. Witnessing that level of craft and resourcefulness within their own environment stayed with me.

That feeling has never left me. There is more to make, more to discover, and more bridges to build between the cultures and disciplines that curate my work. This is where it begins.