The human tribe

Blogs for March are going to focus on all things tribal, as this month we’re featuring tribal arts inspired clothing, accessories, unusual gifts and curiosities for the home on our website (some of which are curiously modelled by me here).







According to the freedictionary.com, tribal means ‘relating to or characteristic of a tribe’. The word ‘tribe’ itself seems to have many denotations, the first being defined as ‘A unit of sociopolitical organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture and among whom leadership is typically neither formalized nor permanent’. The word has many other connotations too – some of them resulting from tribal customs (more on this subject later).





Perhaps you belong to a tribe of ethnic or ancient origin? Or maybe you consider that we’re all part of one great big global tribe? This is certainly the view of Mike Sylla, the driving force behind a creative collective called Baifall Dream and the Human Tribe, whose hand painted recycled vintage leather clothing and handbags are currently available at ShopCurious. His community of artists from all over the world stage shows called ‘slam operas’ that include fashion, music, art, dance, drama and performance poetry.





What I love about Baifall Dream’s designs is that they’re authentic, raw, edgy and handmade. Images on their stylish pieces range from traditional tribal portraits and ethnic symbols to street art and graffiti style paintings. Every item looks strikingly individual and has its own story to tell, as well as being an original work of art in its own right. Of course, each unique masterpiece is also a part of the whole collection – rather like us members of the human tribe…

Are you?