Khadija Dikko: Creative Practice and Textile Histories

In 2018, Nathan Jones moved to Nigeria, and what immediately followed was an immersion into working and living as a creative. Shortly after he arrived, Kenneth Ize worked on a collection for Beyoncé’s "Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100" performance, and Nathan’s role in producing the clothes in collaboration with the artisans became instructive for the evolution of his work. As a Savile Row-trained trouser maker committed to the craft of making clothes, living in Nigeria and working as a technical partner with designers introduced him to a new palette of materials and a growing need to make products that draw from local craftsmanship and resonate globally. The ambience of craftsmanship in Nigeria intrigued him, and he moved from setting up his production outfit— Cabaret Volta, to establishing a not-for-profit research, development, and production studio, Atelier Onikan, with Funke Faweya. Atelier Onikan is a technical partner for designers looking to push the limits of existing craftsmanship and develop their design ideas through trial and error. Nathan has a bird’s-eye view of emerging design ideas and methodologies in the fashion industry, gained from working with designers and brands like Kenneth Ize, Lagos Space Programme, IAMISIGO, ALRA, THIS IS US, WAFFLESNCREAM, Éki Kéré, and on projects like designing jerseys for Kano Pillars, the promotional run for the film My Father’s Shadow, and supporting in costume design work for the fantasy movie Children of Blood and Bones, coming out in January 2027. Through all this, the question most dear to his heart, and the work at Atelier Onikan, is: how can we distribute the value created by translating Nigerian craftsmanship into globally resonant products more equitably among everyone involved, especially the artisans?To keep up with the studio, visit their website: Atelier Onikan.This conversation was recorded on June 20, 2026.

We are surrounded by objects, but so often these objects are “made to be made”, so how do you create an object? In this episode, Oluwakemi Agbato, a jeweller and jewellery designer, brings us into her world of creating jewellery that’s an extension of Nigerian life.The materiality of the place (in this case, Nigeria) is central to RENIKEJI’s philosophy for making jewellery. From discovering the varieties of gemstones found in different parts of Nigeria to creating products like the Oregun necklace, inspired by the familiar gates in Ikeja, and the Abi earrings, inspired by breeze blocks, Oluwakemi is unyielding in following her curiosities, looking around, finding beauty, and making beautiful objects.To keep up with the brand, you can find them on Instagram: @shoprenikeji.This conversation was recorded on July 4, 2026.

Is it worth spending millions of naira on a local fashion show if 90% of your buyers are international? In this episode of Fashion Offscript, Felix Inala, founder of fashion brand Anko, shares an honest perspective on the business of building a global-facing brand from Nigeria, from sales strategies to the realities of running a fashion show and why having a predominantly international customer base is informing his decision to potentially host the brand’s next runway show outside Nigeria. We also explore his ideas on what “African modern,” as a design language, means, challenging predictable tropes to focus instead on lived experiences, drawing inspiration from how Nigerians interact with their world. To tie our conversation together, we look to the archives to understand how the industry's structure has shaped the production struggles designers face today. To keep up with the brand, you can find them on Instagram: @theankoshop.This conversation was recorded on May 10, 2026.

As a continuation of the conversation with Khadija Dikko on structuring Nigeria’s artisanal production, this episode of Fashion Offscript focuses on her personal journey. She discusses her evolving practice from aspiring textile designer to in-house designer to her ambition to start a textile design brand, and how demands from brands have accelerated this transition.Khadija also reflects on the significance of this moment in time for the fashion and textile industry in Nigeria. In a world where sustainability is the buzzword, the collapse of the textile industries in the 80s and 90s presents the industry with a clean slate to build systems that work and are future-proof by bringing artisans into the process of structuring the industry from the beginning. We also explore the complex history of ankara (African prints) in Nigeria, particularly how it’s deeply embedded in Northern Nigerian culture yet industrially detached, raising questions of ownership and affordability. Finally, our conversation extended to her thoughts on textile experimentation in the fashion industry, including designers whose ideas are expanding what has typically been created using traditional textiles. To keep up with her work, you can find her on Instagram: @wovenbykhadija.This conversation was recorded on December 13, 2025.

For our first episode of Fashion Offscript, we’re in conversation with textile designer Khadija Dikko. Together, we discuss her experience working in Nigeria's fashion industry, building structures that facilitate knowledge exchange and support, and respecting the role of artisans as an in-house textile designer, and how Nigeria can learn from India to structure our largely artisanal textile industry. Finally, she shared how knowledge exchange works between artisans in Northern Nigeria and Lagos fashion house — THIS IS US NG, and some ideas on how we should be thinking of textile innovation in Nigeria. To keep up with her work, you can find her on Instagram: @wovenbykhadija. This conversation was recorded on December 13, 2025.