Kkerelé; A design studio exploring simple yet bold forms in hand-crafted footwear design
Kkerelé is a Lagos based design studio that is best known for its footwear designs that are informed by the long history of leather production in Africa. Founded in 2018, kkerelé is producing handmade shoes and sandals in Nigeria. Departing from the largely gendered notions of symmetry in footwear design, Kkerelé shoes and sandals allows everyone to feel a little bit of adventure, play and mystery to their wardrobe.
Photography by kkerelé
Tina Akerele is a designer, creative director, and the founder of kkerelé. Her approach to design is deeply intuitive, seeing it as a way of thinking and feeling through objects, spaces, and experiences. She is equally passionate about architecture and interior architecture, with plans to expand her practice into those areas. Whether designing a shoe, a room, or an experience, Tina is driven by a desire to create spaces - both literal and metaphorical - that people can truly feel. Her work is rooted in a fascination with design psychology and how form shapes perception, behavior, and memory. She cares about how things age, how they’re remembered, and how they continue to hold presence over time.
Photography by kkerelé
Design is for Tina “the most natural and instinctive way I’ve made sense of the world.” It’s no surprise that she’s been designing for as long as she can remember. For her, it’s more than a profession. “It’s how I process emotion, how I respond to chaos, how I find clarity.” From the moment she finished school, there was no hesitation: “The only thing that felt true to who I am was to start designing.” Shoes, in particular, held a special place. “As a teenager, I gravitated toward quirky, masculine styles that drew attention - sometimes confusion, sometimes curiosity”. Every so often, someone would get it “and in that moment of recognition, something clicked. That feeling helped shape kkerelé” - designing what she loves for those who share that feeling.
Producing shoes in Nigeria comes with significant challenges, but for Tina, the decision to keep production local was rooted in a deep respect for craft and community. “I’ve always been drawn to the process of making - the way things come together by hand, the intimacy of craft, the energy that lives in something made slowly and with care.” She initially imagined a partnership model: she would design, and local artisans would bring those ideas to life. But Nigeria’s production landscape soon proved too unstable. “There are huge gaps in structure, consistency, and access to proper machinery or skill training,” she explains. This pushed her to build her own production studio - something she hadn’t originally planned. One of her first creative solutions came when she began wrapping soles in leather to cover imperfections due to limited finishing tools; “over time, that workaround became one of our most recognizable design elements.”
Photography by kkerelé
“Late last year, we started considering producing in Portugal,” Tina explains. “It seemed like a practical fix - established systems, consistent output, skilled labor.” But just as conversations were unfolding, the U.S. - China trade war reignited. “It was a reminder that global systems, no matter how efficient, are ultimately subject to forces beyond our control.” For her, the deeper question became one of value: “Where does it originate, and where should it be sustained? Value should be kept alive within an ecosystem you’re a part of - not a visitor of.” This realization shifted the vision: “We’re now building a world-class, standardized manufacturing facility in Nigeria - not just for kkerelé, but for other African brands too.” Despite the difficulty, she adds, “It’s pushed me to be a more introspective and resourceful designer. That challenge has become one of the most meaningful parts of my journey.”
“For years, the brand existed entirely online,” Tina says, “and while that was beautiful - reaching people across geographies, building community through the screen - there came a point where it felt necessary to embody the brand in physical form.” Opening a store in Ikoyi, Lagos, was challenging, but deeply intentional. “I’ve always believed that what we do goes far beyond footwear or even design as an object,” she explains. “I wanted people to step into a space that carried the same intentionality as the objects we make. A space that makes you feel.” On opening night, that vision came to life. “Hearing people’s stories, how long they’d been following, how the pieces made them feel - it was overwhelming in the best way. Pure. Honest. It reaffirmed everything.”
Kkerelé ships worldwide. Shop the collection: kkerele.com. If you're based in the Netherlands, you can explore and shop a curated selection of shoes and sandals at Showroom, in Amsterdam .