IMK Designs, bringing black back and designing change…
♡ Who is IMK Designs ♡

I am Hawa, a black female millennial and mama pursuing a nontraditional career and passion.

Born in the beautiful city of Paris, France, living in Conakry, Guinea for several years before immigrating to the United States in 2012, I’m truly a citizen of the world and ambassador for diversity.

While in Guinea, I connected to my afro heritage and discovered my culture, my tribe, true pride in a heritage infused with color, joy, and creativity. After recently graduating college, while raising my children frustrated with my inability to balance family life with career demands, I began to reconnect with my unique passion for African Heritage and drew inspiration from past memories of my time in Guinea, before I could sharpen the dullness of my pencil, IMK Designs was created; a forward-thinking, radical, uncompromising brand rooted in African and Black Pride.

IMK stands for the name of my three children; Ismail, Muhammad, and Khadija. I want my children to look back on their heritage with fierce pride through the designs I create inspired by our lives, by our culture and our diversity. I don’t want to just share my designs with you, I want to share my proud African Culture with you.

♡ What is IMK Designs? ♡

Handmade, Handsewn, Fierce, Aesthetic, some of the words I would use to describe my designs.

Every piece I create, I hand sew with the idea that this unique piece becomes part of your daily life, whether it is the go to colorful African print fabric clutch that you dress down with an African Print Hoodie, or glam up with an elegant African Textile headband and eye-popping heels. I want you to feel stunning, fierce, fresh, contemporary and empowered by the African accessories and designs you carry, and with that fierce contemporariness become an ambassador for African Culture, for hope and for change.

My designs are a way that the black community can celebrate their heritage every day in a positive and stylish way. Let us be the narrators of our stories, the poetic, full of courage and triumphant tales that we can express through design and claim our space in the fashion world by creating apparel and brand experiences that blend our heritage, style, and diversity. Let us design a story of black excellence that lives on.

I am not just designing an African print bookmark, empowerment T-shirts, African print buttons, and African fabric earrings, with each design, I am designing change.

♡ Why IMK Designs? ♡

I craft and sew all my designs in a fair & ethical manner using mindful materials.

I work hard so that you receive handcrafted items that you are pleased with and inspired by. I am happy to help with any issues with my product and work honestly to address any concerns you may have.

I love to assist my community, aid with further educating all to be the best versions of themselves for their families and their own communities.
I want to encourage women from all walks of life to be proud of who they are and where they come from.

This is my mission to promote multicultural awareness and inclusivity through African rooted designs and culture. Embrace yourself, love yourself. Be a confident black woman who loves themself, overcome the color of your skin and see that there is more to life itself, there is beauty in our story we just have to find the way to illustrate it to those who lack a bit of imagination, at IMK we do exactly that.

Remember the words of Maya Angelou;
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. How will you make others feel? I will choose to make you feel beautiful and proud.