The Resilience Collection – A New Chapter for Ndara
Ndara was born in Bangui in 2017 – born from passion, rooted in craft, and driven by connection. In the early days, we worked from a garden shed, selling at private events, with marketing done purely by word of mouth. Eventually, we took a huge leap of faith and built our brick-and-mortar boutique in the city center of Bangui. From the day we opened our physical boutique in June 2021, it has been more than our main source of income – it has been our shelter, teacher, and safe space.
While we continue to invest in improving our Bangui boutique - upskilling our team, stocking it with new products we make, and creating unique experiences - we remain aware that in our fragile country (not to mention the volatile global political situation), political decisions can make it difficult for customers to reach us from one day to the next. Something that could put our team’s livelihood at risk. Strengthening our own resilience while inspiring others to do the same has been our mission from day one.
Why we took out first leap online
A couple of years ago, we launched a US-based web shop to reach more people and diversify our customer group with the aim to become more resilient. But for our European community, high shipping costs and tariffs made access almost impossible - a challenge that has only grown over the past year.
Resilience is in our bones, so now we’re taking another step forward: The Resilience Collection - a web shop with its inventory stocked physically in the EU.
More Than Access – It’s About Impact
Our artisans live resilience every day. In uncertain times, they create beauty against the odds - pieces that carry joy, courage, and hope you can hold in your hands. We believe that now more than ever, our message of resilience and hope is needed in the world.
Every garment is one-of-a-kind, made in a single fabric combination. Homeware pieces are equally limited - just a few in each colourway. This is a slow, personal and sustainable creation - not mass production
Our work is never about trends. It’s about meaning. It’s about supporting craft that sustains livelihoods, skills that change lives, and a message of hope to hold on to when things are hard.
Wear Your Values
We’re not growing for growth’s sake. We’re growing with intention – to keep creating, employing, and inspiring. The Resilience Collection is for those who believe in beauty with backbone, in owning something rare, and in connecting to the hands that made it.
This is for the brave, the thoughtful, the joyful. The Resilience Collection is hope you can hold.
Our Bangui Boutique – Still the Heart of Ndara
While we expand our reach, our Bangui boutique remains exactly as it’s always been – open 10:00–17:00 daily, all week long, run by our skilled artisans.
· Restocked every Friday with the products we’ve made that week
· Garden brunch every Saturday, serving a home-cooked meal
· Monthly product drops with new designs straight from our workshop
For our local Bangui community, the boutique is still the place to find the full breadth of Ndara’s work, week after week.
