Curated Collaborations

Designed by Yelda Bayraktar in conjunction with artists and artisans across Africa, Couth is a collection of apparel and homeware that blends art, tradition and modern design

- Jessica Ross

uncomfortable,’ says Yelda Bayraktar, sounding out each syllable of the word in her accented English as if to emphasise her distaste for a simple, easy-going existence. The notion of curiosity strongly resonates with the Turkey native, who fled Istanbul for life in Africa – from Morocco to Dakar, Nigeria to South Africa – 17 years ago and who, as an experienced interior designer and buyer, never saw herself launching a lifestyle brand at this stage of her life. ‘I was consulting for an international company interested in investing in South African fashion, and they had such a vague, clichéd idea of what African design is, so I put together a presentation of what I know and understand from the continent,’ she says. And so Couth was born: a unique alchemy of Yelda’s passions for craft, collaboration, design and art under one fashion and homeware label.