Fleuri La Belle Ngapy

Fleuri La Belle Ngapy is a Product Design graduate from ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands. Above all, she finds inspiration in mythologies, culture, and movement.

Ngapy’s graduate collection, ‘Embracing Black’, focuses on Ngapy’s journey of reconnecting with her Congolese roots. She designs afro comb amulets and chains to tell the stories of ancient Congolese cosmology whilst celebrating contemporary black pride and identity within the White Western world she resides.

Kala - 2022 - black clay, textile string

Luvemba and Yam paint bowl - 2022 - brass, found shell, resin poured beads, freshwater pearls, white paint, black ceramic clay

Her amulets and chains translate spoken cosmology into material, spiritual rituals where she seeks the wearer to embrace their skin and African ancestry. This ‘Embracing Black’ work is the birth of her research into what is means to be a person of colour, specifically with African roots, in a White European society. As she continues her practice, Ngapy has ambitions of exploring decolonisation and post-colonialism, utilising her voice as a designer with dual heritage.

All images featured are taken by Fleuri.

Tukula - 2022 - resin poured beads, copper, padauk wood, cotton textile with screenprint, thread, resin poured plantain

Metisse - 2022 - padauk wood, brass, silk, ceramic bead, acrylic glass

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