Marie Gomis-Trezise explains how Nataal grew to become the premier platform for African creative talent

Nataal's creative director recalls her early days as part of the team and how the brand has grown since.

Date
17 August 2022

Share

Having just arrived in London from Brussels earlier that day, Marie Gomis-Trezise took to the stage with a surprising amount of energy. From the very start of her talk it was clear how she had come to be creative director of global media brand Nataal: her infectious smile and her passion for the brand’s work were tangible even from the seats at the back. She told us that she was first drawn to Nataal because of the boundaries they were pushing in terms of the Black aesthetic, and it’s from this that the brand’s network of contributors grew to be a huge, international family, she explained.

Since taking over the creative direction of Nataal and its printed magazine of the same name, Marie has overseen a plethora of exciting projects. This includes the release of two issues of the magazine and collaborations with big name fashion brands such as Farfetch, Balmain, Valentino and Thom Browne, among others. Marie walked us through the many, many photoshoots and stories that Nataal has created and published in the last few years, showcasing some of the best creatives currently working in Africa and throughout the diaspora. She finished by showing the audience “the cherry on the cake” – a recent collaboration with the V&A that saw Nataal contribute to its new major exhibition named Africa Fashion, which is currently on show at the museum. A central aspect of the collaboration was the short film Who Dey Shake, which the audience were able to watch at the end of the talk.

Event Partner

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform for growing businesses. Mailchimp empowers millions of customers around the world to start and grow their businesses with world-class marketing technology, award-winning customer support, and inspiring content. Millions of businesses and individuals – from community organizations to Fortune 100 companies – trust Mailchimp to help them connect with their audience with the right message, at the right time, in the right place.

Drinks Sponsor

El Rayo Tequila

El Rayo Tequila is transforming the way you think and drink tequila – one T&T at a time. By partnering with artists and designers, it’s building a lifestyle brand around its tequilas. Tequila & Tonic is a thing now.

Snacks Sponsor

Love Corn

We’re excited to partner with Love Corn the UK’s first crunchy corn brand as our snack sponsor. Its delicious crunchy corn kernels are packed with flavour and made with love. On trend with being low sugar, gluten-free and vegan, it’s the feel good snack so please enjoy!

Share Article

Further Info

Nicer Tuesdays is our monthly event of creative talks. You can find out more here.

About the Author

It's Nice That

This article was written by the It’s Nice That team. To find our editors and writers, please head over to our Contact page.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.