CLOUDY Launches Collaboration with Basket Artisans in Algeria

CLOUDY began co-creating products with artisans in Algeria in September 2025. Until now, the company has mainly based its activities in Ghana, Africa, working through job creation and craftsmanship. As a new initiative, CLOUDY saw significant potential and future promise in the delicate techniques, material appeal, and cultural background long inherited by artisans in Algeria, and decided to start collaborating with Algerian basket makers. Through this project, CLOUDY has once again recognized that Africa is home to many outstanding techniques, materials, and talented artisans that are still little known to the world. Everything from model casting to product photography was carried out in Algeria. The encounter began when CLOUDY participated in IATF2025, an exhibition held in Algeria. In September 2025, at the invitation of the United Nations Development Programme, CLOUDY joined the Intra-African Trade Fair, one of Africa’s largest international exhibitions. Torii, vice director of NPO CLOUDY, and Atito, head of CLOUDY’s local NGO partner in Ghana, attended the event. Through exchanges with artisans, companies, and material producers from across Africa, they explored new possibilities for product creation. CLOUDY’s purpose in attending the fair was to discover new materials and resources that are difficult to procure in Ghana, build networks with artisans across Africa, and explore the possibility of product production and collaboration outside Ghana. What drew CLOUDY to Algerian handcraft was the breadth of craftsmanship encountered at IATF, from traditional crafts to contemporary craft techniques. Among them, Algerian craft products and the handwork of local artisans made a particularly strong impression. There were materials and techniques still unknown to the wider world, and artisans who approached each item with pride and care. Seeing great potential in these skills and backgrounds, CLOUDY launched a new product-making project in collaboration with local artisans. CLOUDY’s craftsmanship, which has been rooted in Ghana, is now beginning to extend across Africa. Through this project, the brand will challenge itself to create a cross-African model of production, working not only with Ghana and Algeria but also with artisans and producers in countries across the continent. CLOUDY aims to be more than a brand: it wants to serve as a gateway connecting Africa and Japan, bringing the appeal of local culture, techniques, and materials to Japan. Through product creation, it will continue to generate new employment and opportunities locally, working toward a future with lasting choices and opportunities. Beyond “cuteness,” people, culture, and techniques become connected. CLOUDY will continue to share this new form of craftsmanship. The products born in Algeria include the Cordon Basket and the Doum Basket. The Cordon Basket is carefully woven one by one by local women using cotton cord sourced in Algeria. The materials include colored cotton rope and natural hemp. Each basket takes three to four days to make and is finished entirely with a sewing machine. It combines the flexibility unique to cord materials with structural beauty, creating a new form of craft suited to contemporary lifestyles. Cordon has traditionally been used more often for household storage baskets than as bags, but CLOUDY added its own arrangement and transformed it into a bag. The Doum Basket is made by drying leaves from the doum palm, a natural material, splitting them into thin strips, and weaving them. It is a traditional handcraft long passed down in Africa, combining the lightness, strength, and breathability of natural materials. While it has long been used as a practical everyday item, each basket gains a different expression when woven by hand. It takes a full day to weave one Doum Basket. For this version, an Algerian artisan known for traditional embroidery added embroidery, resulting in a one-of-a-kind CLOUDY basket. Inside, a cover made from African fabric produced by workers in Ghana has been attached, creating a jointly developed product from Ghana and Algeria. It can be used in many summer settings, from daily use to resorts and beaches. It is said that almost all Algerian women take a Doum Basket with them when going to the beach. Cordon Basket artisan MARWA is 31 years old and the mother of a five-year-old boy. Formerly a civil engineer, she began making baskets on her own because she wanted to create things by hand that would remain in people’s memories. She is now a popular Cordon Basket artisan in Algeria and always serves delicious coffee. Doum Basket artisan SIHAM is 47 years old and the mother of three boys. She runs a Doum Basket shop with her husband. She values women’s independence deeply, and working is what gives her life purpose. “For women to be able to work means having choices in life,” she says. SIHAM also continues to teach embroidery techniques to women in her community. She hopes to teach embroidery to many more women in the future, and is a warm-hearted, cooperative person who often invites the CLOUDY team to her home and treats them to generous meals. Products created through this collaboration with Algerian artisans will be released in advance from Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the POPUP store currently being held at Roppongi Hills. This special collection allows customers to feel the materials, techniques, and cultural background of Africa. Sales through the online store and the Harakado store are currently being prepared. The latest product and launch information will be announced through CLOUDY’s official Instagram and the CLOUDY online store. DOYA Inc. operates the brand CLOUDY with the aim of solving social issues in Africa through the power of fashion. While offering apparel and lifestyle goods using original textiles created by its in-house designers, the company has established and operates its own factory in Ghana, Africa, creating more than 630 jobs to date. A portion of the profits from the business is donated to the NPO CLOUDY, which is operated integrally with the group, and used for local support activities centered on education, employment, and health. The company aims to build a sustainable social business model in which profit and nonprofit activities circulate and move forward together. NPO CLOUDY was established in 2010 and works to address social issues in Africa through three pillars: education, employment, and health. Based in Ghana, it listens to local voices and carries out community-rooted support activities such as building and operating schools, constructing sewing factories and providing training, and offering health support including school meals and sex education. CLOUDY aims not for support that simply gives, but for support created together. Through collaboration with DOYA Inc., it emphasizes embedding systems for employment and education locally and nurturing Africa’s self-sustaining future.