Tebazile

Nigerian born designer Elizabeth Dankaro joined the jewelry design world by way of trouble-shooting. After being unable to find a job after graduating from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and from her study in California, Dankaro ended up taking a job as a beader for famed stylist and designer Wendy Brigode. She discovered her artistic calling almost immediately after beginning the career that would take her through seven years of learning and growing with Wendy’s studio.

In 2003 Elizabeth took a step in faith rooted in her talent and past experiences; branching out with her personal designs and creating Tebazile Designs (her name backwards ).

Her pieces include semi-precious stones with accents of wood and leather. Inspired by African colors, patterns and boldness, Elizabeth’s style expresses a modest but somehow flourishing aesthetic.  Her pieces seem to be quietly “alive”. What I love is that her collections have a very versatile design range, from minimalist to light and airy and always bold.

In 2010 Elizabeth opened her first showroom in Accra, Ghana. This showroom is now the headquarters for Tebazile. Her success of opening her first showroom in her home continent did not stop there. She was then commissioned to design and create both the Miss Ghana and the Miss Nigeria crown! The fact that Dankaro’s first showroom was set up in Ghana is a testament to her reinvesting in the continent where so many aspects of her inspiration, character and craft stems from.  Through her continued effort for her brand to provide both an example and opportunities for young African women, Tebazile sponsored Nigeria’s only female Polo player, Uneku Atawodi for the Miami Beach Polo Tournament recently.

“Whenever I am designing a new line and I do it on my own, I always get a creative block, but once I go and rest in God’s presence, everything just falls in place. You can be gifted but gifts can only take you to a certain point but God can take you all the way.  It has been a real walk with God”.

-Elizabeth Dankaro

  

All images courtesy of Tebazile Designs.