Kwadjo Owusu-Ansah hasn’t even promoted his latest line of brightly colored helmets, but ‘the most amazing people are finding them’
It was a zipper that propelled Kwadjo Owusu-Ansah’s project into motion. “There was a flannel shirt I made with bleach,” the self-taught fashion designer recalls, “and I hand-sewed the zipper on to the back of the shirt. I think I fell in love, because almost everything I make has a zipper now.” That device, and Owusu-Ansah’s fixation on it, were the seeds of Animated People, his brand of innovative streetwear.
Owusu-Ansah – who goes by the name DamnKojo professionally and works full time in marketing at a wine and spirits company – sees his fashion line as less of an up-and-coming label than an ongoing art project. “I want you to tell your own story,” Owusu-Ansah, 31, says. “Make your own meaning with my art. Dissect it. Think about it. Why is a dude wearing a miniskirt today? [I want people] to question the pieces when they see them. That’s what starts a conversation.”
