Welcome to Kéré Studio
Kéré comes from kékeré, the Yoruba word for small. It’s a fitting name. We’re a small studio in South London with two sewing machines and some other cool gadgets, making clothes in small batches for small people. But we’ve never thought small meant quiet.
Where it started
Before Kéré, I spent ten years working in galleries and museums, including Tate, Gagosian, the Barbican, and the Wellcome Collection, to name a few, as a curator and cultural programmer. Before that, I studied and worked (briefly) in architecture and design, and I've always loved how a single object can hold a whole story: where it came from, who made it, why it mattered. When I became a parent last year, I wanted my child’s clothes to do the same. Not satisfied with everything the shops offered I set about making clothes for my tiny human, a full circle moment as my own mother made many of the dresses I'm pictured in as a toddler in the 90s.
The first thing we ever made was the Ilé gilet. Ilé means home in Yoruba, and that’s what I wanted it to feel like: something warm and simple to wrap a child in, wherever the day takes them. Parents at play groups and out often complimented us and asked where the clothes were from. We made them at home. Everything since has grown from it.
What we make
Trousers, tees, hoodies, sweatshirts and gilets, all designed, cut, sewn and screen printed by hand in our studio. Everything is unisex, and many pieces are cut slightly oversized, which leaves room to grow. Every design is tested with real kids, running, squatting and getting wet, before it’s made.
Most of our designs are made as limited editions, and we confirm the edition size at each launch. When an edition is gone, it’s gone. We’d rather make the next thing than repeat ourselves.
The cloth
We work with deadstock: end-of-roll fabric sourced locally that would otherwise go to waste. We choose each bolt for its story as much as its look. Sometimes there’s only enough for a handful of pieces, and sometimes an edition ends up in two cloths, like different states of a print. We’ll always tell you which.
Words from home
Mother Tongue is our series of words and phrases from the languages of home: the things our parents called us, the blessings we grew up hearing, the sayings that only make sense at a family party.
We’re starting with Yoruba, because that’s my home language, but it won’t end there. London is a city of many languages, and a single nursery class might hold a dozen of them. We’ll be adding new languages month by month. If there’s a word you grew up with, we’d love to hear it.
Our Olorun’s favourite t-shirt is a good example. It’s a play on “God’s favourite”, using Olorun, the Yoruba word for God. It’s printed in a deep navy that’s a deliberate nod to the Nigerian printing of the 90s and early 2000s: exercise books, journals, and the souvenir stickers on the Tupperware handed out at hall parties. If you know, you know. If you don’t, someone at the school gate will happily explain.
For culturally curious kids (and grown-ups)
We make clothes for children who ask questions, and for the grown-ups raising them. Some of our designs come in adult sizes too, for matching, or just because.
What you’ll find here
Studio Notes is where we show our working: the fabric we couldn’t walk past, the toiles that failed the squat test, new words for Mother Tongue, and conversations with the makers, artists, parents and friends around the studio.
Thank you for being here at the start. Pull up a chair. Little ones welcome.
Péjú
Founder, Kéré Studio