Explaining the concept of co-design will take you about 25 cups of coffee. Since we care for your health, we've tried to grasp the bloody thing in one sentence

 

"Co-design": A collaborative design process that brings together young creative talents from unexpected corners of the world that join forces to create innovative, exciting and good products. As simple as that!

 

And even better: we've explained the concept in a nifty little video which is defintely worth checking out below!

 

 

MYC4 may sound like the hottest boy band in town. Thought it's hot, it's far from a boy band. It's an initiative by Danes Mads Kjær and Tim Vang. In their own words: "MYC4 is an online marketplace that connects people from all over the world with African entrepreneurs, who lack capital to develop their businesses".

 

Since it was set up back in 2005, MYC4 has been showered with awards. And for a good reason. You can find the complete story and track record on their website. Oh, and don't forget to set up your account: for as little as €5 you can be part of the action. For now, we'll just let the numbers speak: 17,369 investors from 100 countries have invested €11,546,568 in 5,805 businesses in 7 African countries. Impressive.

 

Here's a little video that introduces you to some of the involved in MYC4:

 

 

In case you didn't pay attention in French lessons at school (or you simply don't have the luck to be a Frenchie) you can now enjoy Ramata Soré's first blog post in English, too. Ramata is the first !SYOU writer talent from Burkina Faso and most definitely knows how to handle the pen and keyboard and write about her beautiful country. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 Adventurer! In Burkina Faso, the intrepid shivers at the trumpeting of the elephant. Songs of birds lull him; bringing him on the trails of mysteries in the Sahel. There, the caravans of camels carry his dreams through the rainbow rays of the sun set.  

Ingenious! Fespaco rolls out the red carpet for filmmakers. And the princess Yennega pays them tribute. At SIAO, craftsmen from worldwide take tourists and visitors to a hole of imagination. On stage, singers and artists jazzing and hip-hoping tell life. From Burkina Faso, in the heart of West Africa, decibels spread to the world.
Curious! At the Museum of Manéga, the foolhardy travels in the kingdom of dead people. Then, at the Museum of Loango, he sees that the world is full of human being’s prints, prints crafted by sculptors from around the world.
The past of the world will catch the eyes of the adventurer at Lorépeni, let him see through the painted caves at Pobe Mengao and Arbind how our ancestor lived.  

 

Read the original in French here!

 

The amazing first photo syout by Petrovsky & Ramone has not gone unnoticed on the interwebs. On the contrary, lifestyle curator Nalden dedicated a sweet little corner of his online lifestyle kingdom Nalden.net to the making of campaign, shot by P&R in Burkina Faso.

 

This photo shoot is the first one in a series of many more, where !SYOU travels the world designing fresh sneakers while connecting established artists with young talents. For the "ohhh" and "wowwww" this way please. Enjoy!

 

And make sure you pick up your pair of !SYOUs inspired on Burkina Faso in our newly opened sneaker store before the journey continues!

The sneaker store....now officially open! It took a while to get everything set after the successfull launch... but here we are. Have a look at the !SYOU models in the webshop and if you like one of them: 'make it yours'. Within two days they will be delivered wherever you want.

 

At the moment we are only available in the Netherlands. However, in a not too distant future all over the world. iDEAL is the payment-system which can be used at the moment. Credit Card payments will be possible within 10 days.

 

Enjoy your new way of walking. Check out the sneaker store here

Petrovsky & Ramone (NL)

 

vs.

 

François Ouedraogo (BF)

 

Location: Ouagadougou, Amsterdam 

 

Check out the video (below)

 

 

 

To celebrate its official launch in style, !SYOU is having its very own exclusive pop-up store on May the 9th in Hartenstraat 34-36 (9 Straatjes) in Amsterdam.

 

Drinks, DJ's, and sneakers will make this Sunday quite the perfect Sunday. The complete first collection inspired by Burkina Faso will be available for touching and fitting.

 

Don't forget to invite your friends and come and celebrate a new way to walk.

We hope to see you on Sunday the 9th!

 

Check out our flyers on Facebook and have a sneak peak at the Burkina Faso collection here. We will be adding more sneaker models during the week so keep an eye out for fresh designs. All sneakers will be available as of the 10th of May in our webshop. Ah yes, patience is a virtue!

In November 2009, !SYOU was proud to collaborate with TEDxAmsterdam to create a fantastic and authentic bag design for the gathering. (//--> Check out video below)

 

Designed by Wilfried de Paul and produced in Burkina Faso from locally sourced materials  the bag was a big hit amongst the wise and wonderful TED delegates. Here’s a little wisdom from Wilfried about the benefits of co-design.

TED brings together the world’s leading thinkers - from Bill Clinton to Frank Gehry - to share ideas and push boundaries across Technology, Entertainment and Design. Like us, the people at TED think co-design is an idea worth spreading. Read more at TED.com

Biotex Afrika is a company run by the two friendly Frenchies Robert Gillouin and Jean-Luc Fradin. With decades of experience in the textile industry, Robert moved part of his business from his native Lyon to Ouagadougou. Quite a move! !SYOU is lucky to have met Robert, as bio-cotton is an important ingredient in our sneakers. We intend to broaden the use of bio-cotton from East Africa in our sneakers.

 

If you have any creative ideas, why not drop us an e-mail?

 

The very first !SYOU talent call, set up jointly with Butterfly Works, brought us in contact with some very impressive talent in the fields of photography, writing and painting.

 

Our writer talent is called Ramata Soré and was born and raised in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso in East Africa. Ramata is a passionate journalist reporting mainly on African and international affairs and has travelled extensively to different continents. She writes her own blog which you can find here. Download her pieces on Burkina Faso and !SYOU here (PDF, French only!).

World, meet Wilfried de Paul!

 

While travelling through Burkina Faso, the good people at Butterfly Works met Wilfried de Paul, an amazing local artist, born and raised in the nation's capital, Ouagadougou. We decided he was the perfect artist to team up with Esther van Oirschot to co-design our very first range of sneakers inpsired by his beautiful country. His impressive work is a mix of African inspiration with a surrealistic twist offering a fresh approach to sneaker design. Just how we like it.

 

Keep your eyes open because you're going to hear more from this guy!

Here at !SYOU we love talent. One guy who has plenty of it is called François Ouédraogo. He won the !SYOU talent call as a young photographer a couple of weeks ago. We were so impressed by his work and dedication that we decided to send the Dutch established fashion photographers' duo Petrovsky & Ramone to Burkina Faso in order to co-create, exchange know-how and inspiration. The result of this visit can be seen throughout the website so sit back and enjoy.