Threading culture into design

From her beginnings in Tonota to national recognition and a regional invitation to Swakop Fashion Week, the 39-year-old designer has spent the last two decades refining a craft that draws meaning from more than fabric and stitches. Her introduction to the trade came in 2005, not through formal education, but through hands-on work under an established tailor.

For 11 years, she worked behind the scenes, absorbing the unspoken codes of the sewing room, precision, patience, and practice. In 2016, she opened her studio in Francistown, marking a new chapter in a career that had, until then, unfolded in the shadows. The studio, known simply as Mosenki Fashion, was built with the support of the Youth Development Fund (YDF). The process was not smooth. “When I first started this project, nothing seemed to move the way I wanted. I had to use my savings while waiting for funding. It was not a walk in the park,” she said. The losses she incurred early on tested her resolve, but she describes those years not with bitterness, but with reflection. “It was a learning curve,” she added.