It is fitting that one of the most colorful and exciting shops we’ve stumbled upon in Cape Town, the Mami Wata Surf Concept Store, should be found in one of the city's most colorful neighborhoods, the Bo Kaap. Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, the Bo Kaap (literally translated as "above the Cape") sits on the slopes of Signal Hill in the city center and dates back to the 1760s when numerous huurhuisjes (rental houses) were built and leased to slaves from as far afield as Malaysia, Indonesia and the rest of Africa. That this community remains pretty much intact today – along with the neighborhood’s penchant for brightly painted houses – makes it one of our favorite and most authentic experiences in Cape Town. All of which made our discovery here of Africa’s first surf brand, Mami Wata, all the more fortuitous.
The brand was conceived by ad man Nick Dutton, surf journalist Andy Davis and designer Peet Pienaar in a bid to tell the story of surfing in Africa. "There’s a big surf culture here, and yet everyone wears international brands that speak to the cultures of Australia, California and Hawaii," explains Nick. "As a continent surrounded by four different seas and oceans, Africa is the destination for some of the world’s finest surf breaks that are largely undiscovered and commercialized."
Mami Wata is about celebrating that – African style. "We see ourselves as a surf, adventure, travel and design brand," says Nick. "And nothing encapsulates that better for us than the mystical tale of Mami Wata, West African Pidgin English for the African water deity or Mother Ocean." Their mission to tell the stories of Africa, its countries and surf breaks by weaving the continent’s many cultural and design traditions into the design of their apparel, surfboards and incredible surf break maps is exciting stuff. From the brightly painted, chevron-striped walls of the exterior of the shop to the colorful interiors, funky coffee shop and music store, and of course the ubiquitous banana logo that is found on everything from T-shirts to board shorts, the concept is a feast for the eyes.
