Cross-culture creativity

Founded by Azel Ait-Mokhtar and Youri Asantcheeff, Ibkki is a design studio focused on carrying forward the craft traditions of the Berber people of Algeria’s Kabylia region

- AIDAN IMANOVA

Located in northern Algeria, the Kabylia region forms part of the Tell Atlas mountain range and is set just at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The region was historically part of Numidia, an ancient Berber kingdom located in the northwest of Africa in modern-day Algeria that later expanded across what is now Tunisia, Libya and some parts of Morocco.

It is this mountainous region that influenced Azel Ait-Mokhtar and Youri Asantcheeff to start their design brand, Ibkki, collaborating with local Algerian craftsmen to create objects inspired by the culture, people and craft traditions of Kabylia. The founders, who themselves were already working with handcrafts in Paris (Ait-Mokhtar worked with wood, Asantcheeff on metal) found common ground with Ibkki.

Ait-Mokhtar’s ancestral ties connected the brand even further to the region. His family are Imazighen (Berber) people from Kabylia, who have had a long history in the region, where craft was an integral part of society. While he continued to visit his ancestral home where his family still resides, on one of his trips he invited Asantcheeff to join him (the two had met during university in Paris while studying industrial design). A friend of Ait-Mokhtar’s father introduced them to craftsmen around the area, one of whom the duo formed a strong connection with.