Eastern Cape-born Illustrator, designer, and visionary Masonwabe Ntloko is dominating the retail space with his creative genius. He is back with an iconic partnership with clothing giant Markham after a sold-out range with rug retailer Airloom titled Ilifa Lethu (our inheritance).

The Markham collaboration sees this Idutywa native create three design pieces for South Africa’s largest menswear retailer.  “The range consists of a short-sleeved shirt, a pair of shorts and a printed t-shirt. The reason it’s called, full-circle moment; like every other township kid growing up wanting to dress at Markham. Owning a Markham piece was a big deal and personally, where I grew up it symbolized growth and maturity.

For this project, I wanted to challenge myself by moving away from what I would typically do in a project of this nature by trying out something new. I played around with different colour palettes and different positioning of the print on the garments.” commented Masonwabe.

On Friday 1st October Masonwabe dropped another sold-out collaboration with rug retailer Airloom.  The 60 rugs followed the success of their debut collaboration titled Ilifa Lethu (our inheritance) which had sold out in only two days of release.

An exciting time for this 24-year old Illustrator as he gets to produce quality work he is proud of.

This collaboration is yet another excellent, captivating body of work testament to Masonwabe’s commitment to telling stories through his art. He prides himself in preserving our collective heritage, with more emphasis on his Xhosa roots.

A Textile Design graduate, Masonwabe’s passion for art is inspired by his upbringing and pushing the culture forward. His work has been commissioned by the Mandela Legacy Foundation (Zindzi & Winnie Mandela), Blue Note Records, Universal Music, Sony Music, Castle Lite, and an incredible partnership with Yogi Sip.

His design style is well-curated, simple with a cultural influence. His style is a modern approach to past lives, bringing about a sense of nostalgia to the consumer of his art.