communal space in the building for the artists working in tandem with workshops we held downstairs for musicians, DJs and producers. We didn’t just record music in the studio, we played it as well. The Friday Chillout was a post-work get 2016 together that quickly became our most popular regular event. It was a chance to laugh, have fun, drink and dance the evening away. Graphic designers working in agencies got a chance to rant about their Many amazing things happened in 2016 but they were stifled creativity and freelance writers could complain about delayed payments and artists could celebrate all overshadowed by our greatest achievement of the new commissions. It wasn’t just fun and games, it also provided an informal platform for knowledge year. We published our first book! Femmolution Volume transfer on topics such as intellectual property rights or designing for African audiences without the stuffy One is a collection of stories, poetry, non fiction, music feel of a classroom or seminar. photography and visual art by revolutionary women The event’s popularity continued to grow until living in and from Kenya. our neighbour K**i K****a began making constant noise complaints. It got to a point where the police sat outside our offices every Friday praying that we went past the 2017 11 pm ‘curfew’. One day we almost did, so they arrested Riding on the high of adding “Publishing House” to our business cards, we created a line of shoes. one of our crew and confiscated our equip- The idea was simple in its description, hell in its implementation. We planned to ment. He was released hours later and the take a product from the design stage to market. In the early 2000s, the Ken- equipment returned to us. The police yan government tried to create a national dress via a public competition. This presence every Friday became a running was the latest of many such competitions whose results faded into obscurity. joke in the office, ‘ free government Rather than lump Kenya’s diverse cultural background into one single security’. outfit, Creatives Garage went the other way. We started work on This is the same year we also creat- a line of boots that we called. Shoejaa, inspired by pre-colonial ed Lebo; one of our largest heroes from Kenya’s 42 tribes. multimedia projects. It was con- Our naivety turned this into a failed movie that in- ceptualised to draw out the prejudices held by cluded; fundi’s delaying the prototypes, receiving an different societies and cultures in Kenya, order of leather that was far below the quality expect- Uganda (by working with Ugandan refugees ed, one fundi completely blocking our calls and messag- domiciled in Kenya) and Luxembourg. The es, and a poorly planned sojourn into China that ended key focus was how these stereotypes affected with us lost in Guangzhou. the lives of the LGBTQ+ community members. The project’s multimedia installations included digital The year’s projects did not all end in disaster. There were art, photography, short films & poetry fused with some amazing projects such as I speak, a project about the music. The work created for this was displayed at women of Tana River County. The residents of Tana River exhibitions and showcases in the three countries and have lived with famine, flooding and intertribal conflicts that through social media dialogues and advocacy cam- paigns. 50nd3k4 20 50nd3k4 21 50nd3k4 20 50nd3k4 21