The Air Afrique publication offers a new platform for Afro-diasporic creativity

Bottega Veneta has initiated a new partnership with Air Afrique magazine, a new platform for Afro-diasporic art and conversation. The magazine, conceived by a young collective in Paris and inspired by the pan-African magazines of the 20th century, will launch with an event at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on 23 June 2023.

Airline Inspired

Air Afrique is named after the pan-African airline Air Afrique, and serves as an important expression of recently independent countries and of a certain pan-African ideal. Almost immediately, the airline became a major patron of arts and culture, as well as a means of cross-border transportation.

Published in both French and English, Air Afrique is led by the airline’s cultural vision, and by the logic of its in-flight magazine Balafon, which was distinguished by its ability to celebrate the cultural and historical diversity of the African continent making it one of the more unique publications out there.

A Unique Ethos

Air Afrique will combine this ethos with a sharp, precise aesthetic to transmit African cultural heritage and inspire cross-border creativity and discussion. Each issue of the magazine will include both archival material from the airline’s cultural patronage, and contemporary cultural expression from French, French-Caribbean, and African artists and writers.

On top of that, in its partnership with the magazine, Bottega Veneta will provide its brand name and platforms, as well as tailored events, to support the magazine launch and help build and connect engaged communities of readers.

Even More Goodies

The brand will also release a limited-edition series of blankets by Franco-Sudanese designer, Abdel El Tayeb, a designer in the Bottega Veneta studio. Specially commissioned by Matthieu Blazy to mark the launch of Air Afrique, each blanket is a unique composition of the finest wool, silver leather, and shearling from the Bottega Veneta archive.

Under his own label El Tayeb Nation, El Tayeb combines Sudanese craftsmanship with Western tailoring in an aesthetic that mixes couture and ease. The Air Afrique Afro-futuristic blanket designs are inspired by the vibrant patterns of the traditional toub dress worn by El Tayeb’s mother.

More information can be found on the Official Bottega Veneta Website.