Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Oppong.
Hi Eddie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a creative of many sorts. More specifically I am a poet, creative director, and capsule collection designer. Of recent moments, I’ve learned to implement my love for poetry and storytelling into my design work. Designing capsules that tell stories from my health journey being a dialysis patient for a decade to capsules surrounding mental health. I feel that this allows us a constant reminder of positive things of life as we wear articles of clothing and shoes. It is said that the colors or even items we wear can have a positive reaction to our mood. So I make it a mission to continuously design pieces that will uplift the individual wearing them. In addition, I am the founder of a Ghanaian culture-driven streetwear brand called YE WO KROM. The meaning behind the brand is that no matter where you are, city or town, we are there and we have arrived. A brand created to amplify our love and appreciation of Ghanaian culture and everything it entails.
A constant reminder that we got this, and the good moments shall prevail… even if we can’t see it currently.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I believe nothing is necessarily smooth all the way through, but there are moments that allow you to breathe a little. For me personally, it’s been a constant battle of trusting the process and letting life… be well LIFE. Living with kidney disease my entire life and recently having to undergo dialysis for a decade has been my biggest and hardest battle. Some days I am fine, but then Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday come back around and I’m sitting in dialysis for another 4-hour treatment. It truly is something I didn’t expect my life to be from 22 to 32, but I’ve taken its moments and found the beauty in it essentially. I don’t let dialysis control my life, I am in control. I’ve let my ups and downs inspire me to spread love even more, to design and tell more amazing stories, and be a source of inspiration for those lacking.
Even on the worse of my days, I’m creating… and I will continue to do so until I can’t.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a creative director, poet and designer. I specialize in poetry and visual narration, of which I do voiceovers for visual projects, wedding clients, and personal audio pieces. As a creative director, I strive to bring to life any idea a client, brand, or friend has by embedding my perspective that aligns with what they are trying to achieve with a project, collection, design, and furthermore. As a designer, I find a sense of joy in telling stories through my capsule collections. May it be a capsule collection surrounding Anxiety and Depression or a capsule reminding us to give people their flowers now. I pride myself on being able to integrate my love for poetry into designing pieces and sneakers. I am the utmost proud to be able to say I’ve designed near 10 sneaker projects in the last three years completely independently. My love for Converse 1970s sneakers brought me here, and I took the ball and ran with it. Continuously using its silhouette with my own spin on it to tell a story. Something that sets me apart is being able to channel my inner struggles and allow it to help me bring love and joy. All I’ve endured has only made me want to work harder, spread love harder, and inspire harder.
How do you think about happiness?
Designing and writing poetry is by far my greatest love lol. To be truthful, I love writing poetry more than anything. To be able to paint with my words. It’s a feeling you can’t come down from. I write and send it to a few friends, and they can clearly see every component that occurred through my words. Occasionally I’d take images from my close photography friends and write stories to them. It’s a project I call PICTURES AND STORIES, creating my own perspective from what I see. Secondly, I love designing, it’s a joy unmatched. You design something, drop it, people purchase and then wear it. Like someone is literally walking around in a pair of sneakers Eddie Oppong designed or a tote bag. It’s truly a humbly experience and truly brings me joy. Thirdly designing my brand YE WO KROM is something I’m very proud of, creating a brand that is Ghanaian culture-driven streetwear brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.EddieOppong.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/Eddie_Oppong
- SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/kopongspeaks
- Other: www.yewokrom.com
Image Credits
Pictured are @Theejasminedanielle for Brave Butterfly, @Gina_Kwarteng for Ye Wo Krom & @Bri.Asamoah for Ghana Mmaa. All images are taken by Jeremy Osei | @oseicanyou_see of @Native_Shutters.
