WHO IS SHABANI:

Shabani is a natural creative, who loves to share the 4 walls of his mind through film. With a particular focus on black excellence, Shabani has devoted most of his life thus far to sharing human stories, and showing that anyone can break boundaries and reach their full potential. We sat down with Shabani, for our first instalment of 'FOR THE ARCHIVES', to gain an understanding on his values as they pertain to creativity, documentation, vision, and quality.

INTERVIEW:

QUESTION 1 - Our mantra is ‘WEAR TO DEATH - what does that mean to you? 

WEAR TO DEATH? That's your mantra? That's hard! I can relate to that in many ways because I buy pieces to last. I like to see my pieces wear off ‘cause that's when a piece really stands out to me. When someone wears something to death, you are meant to wear them to the point where the piece is getting tired of you. I love that.  

QUESTION 2 - What value do you place on functional luxury?

I place a lot of value on functional luxury ‘cause I look at everything as an investment in a way. If you spend a bag, (you know, a bag means like $1,000) on a bag, the design and lasting impact justifies the price. Or it could be if you spend a lot on an old Ferrari from the 1960s, but the design just speaks to you - there's a luxury within the history, and also for the fact that it's an investment that will last. 

And especially with a lot of high end pieces, you know, I get it, the price is high, but it's for the fact that you're placing an investment that will last. I remember the first time I bought a pair of Docs for like $400, you know, it's crazy, but those Docs lasted me four years for the fact that I didn't have to buy any other shoes, so I placed a lot of value on that still. 

QUESTION 3 - What value do you place on creativity?

I hold a lot of values on our creativity just in the terms that it shapes people but also being aware that what you're currently creating or what God is blessing with you holds so much value for the fact that you're able to do that thing that God is telling you to do. 

You could see something and it could make you feel some type of emotions and that is valuable. Not a lot of people experience that. Not a lot of people have that feeling of where they feel inspired to the point that it is wow … this is actually just mad. 

Being able to have a creative mind but also being able to create and just seeing other people create. That is really important, especially for the whole community; the world. A lot of people create for the fact that they can inspire a kid, they can break boundaries. 

All of this is valuable because you can do something but it will still be documented or it will still be watched. People from a whole different world will be watching you for the fact that you're just being you. You're just doing what you're doing. You're just doing it, not really thinking that it's going to impact a lot of people in the world.

QUESTION 4 - What does an archive mean to you?

An archived piece to me is more like a piece that has history, a piece that people want, a piece that says a thousand words with the details that it contributes or is designed with. 

QUESTION 5 - Why do you think archiving/ documenting is important to you? Why ?

It is important to document all these things because, you know, it tells a story. Just like when people look up prior histories or archived pieces or statement pieces, you know, everything is documented so people can know the story, you know? 

Someone can be inspired, you know? You never know who's watching, that's like one thing. I'm always reminding myself, and I tell a lot of people. Documenting is so vital.

Like you might be creating or you might be doing the most amazing thing but if the world can't see it, then, you're just creating for yourself, you know. A lot of people do that and that's totally fine but, especially when you're in that mind state where you want to inspire, I want to impact people. 

Documenting and putting the right things into the right places is very vital.