Solomon Omogboye
VISUAL ARTIST
Nigeria
Solomon Omogboye was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa since 2014, Omogboye is a contemporary impressionist painter. He attended Lagos State Polytechnic, studying HnD Art and Industrial Design in 2007. After graduation, he worked as an art instructor in secondary schools in Lagos and worked on his art from his home studio.
Omogboye was inspired to become an artist at an early age by his mother, who as a teacher, introduced him to drawing. He uses primarily charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil on canvas for his artworks. He is renowned for his inspiring and reflective portraits of young people.
Meron Seid
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Meron Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Meron Seid is the founder and creative director of Meron Addis Ababa. Passionate about design, utilizing locally sourced materials, and empowering the community through fashion, she started Meron Addis Ababa in 2010. Meron has been at the forefront of Ethiopia’s fashion-focused leather industry. Since its inception, the brand has been driven by delivering top-quality leather products to the growth of export to regional and international markets. As a result of Meron’s leadership, she grew the brand to design, manufacture, and distribute leather products such as bags, accessories, jackets, and shoes, all sourced from the Ethiopian market.
As a result of her work in design, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship within the leather industry, she is a recipient of numerous local and international awards. Some of the accolades include Young best female Entrepreneur by UNDP, Young female emerging designers in fashion presented by the Office of First Lady of Ethiopia, and Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment Ethiopia in the symposium on ‘Boosting African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) inclusive and sustainable industrialization through job creation, value chains, and productive investments,’ organized by ACP-UNIDO, Brussels, Belgium, November 2017. In addition, Meron was featured in Vogue Italia magazine, ‘African Designers for Tomorrow 2018 in Berlin, and Featured in ARPEL magazine, ‘Focus on Green Fashion,’ 2020.
