Tackling the Outside World with ITA Leisure

NEW YORK, United States — Waves of opening back up come with equal parts anxiety and eagerness. ITA Leisure would like to make that transition as restful and as soothing as possible.

The newly launched outdoor goods brand kicked off its inaugural product line with a trio of outdoor chairs and color-coordinating tables. The output is a nothing less than a pure expression of aesthetic joy and functional simplicity. The name ITA [Ē-TA] derives from the Yoruba term for outside and the collection arrives as people everywhere navigate the complicated return to normalcy or lack thereof.

Founder Jade Akintola shared on her Instagram regarding the launch: “What started as a bean of an idea to ‘make beach chairs’ because I wanted to see something that made me feel different while outdoors, turned me on to a much bigger absence…” She continued in her caption noting, “a considerable gap in the market, but also a huge oversight in [the outdoor goods] industry.”

ITA Leisure / Photo courtesy @ITALeisure / Photography by Deirdre Lewis

In shades like Erupẹ (sand), Ọrun (sky), and Ọsan (orange), the collection reflects a balmy color palette that speaks to its intended purpose — rest and relaxation whether in the city, the countryside, or the sea. The dip in the back frame mimics organic shapes found in nature while the hand-woven PVC cord on the seat resembles aso-oke, a tightly woven prestigious heritage textile developed by the Yoruba dating as far back as the 15th century. The blanket shares the same textural inspiration, but in a jacquard fabric woven in North Carolina. Three countries over from Nigeria, the beach towels harken to Ghana’s ewe kente cloth that are sure to differentiate by the water’s edge. The emphasis on the hand-crafted nature of each product is critically important as it connects to the centuries-old and multi-generational traditions cultivated in West Africa.

The Market Bag, which at first glance, calls to mind the popularized ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag that signified the painful deportation of Ghanaians out of Nigeria in the 1980s. Its current-day usage has deviated from its derogatory past, but the stiff yet colorful totes epitomize a historical relevance to specific diaspora narratives. Surely something Western brands, including Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga among others, could not have been referencing in their $2,000+ versions of the jute bag. The other reality is that Nigeria has 530 miles of coast line and is located in the Gulf of Guinea, which gives the country a more tropical environment than other African countries. The outdoors is inextricably part and parcel of what makes Nigeria such a special place.

ITA Leisure / Photo courtesy @ITALeisure

But deeper than geographic and design provenance is the theory of leisure as out of reach or simply not afforded to all people. As defined by the brand, leisure is “free time from obligation, time to choose or not to choose to do certain things.” The concept in and of itself is radical and has been recently explored by practitioners in the visual arts (Derrick Adams, Naima Green, Amy Sherald, and Freddie L. Rankin II to name a few), but rarely deployed in a consumer space. One certainly sees leisure expressed within experiential spaces — niche social collectives that form and begin to throw get-togethers that turn to parties that then anyone can purchase access to. But when society has witnessed leisure be sufficient to wage violence on Black people in this country, the concept of leisure as fraught or even dangerous begins to take on a new meaning.

Anchoring on such a nuanced topic certainly lends itself well to further exploration and product expansion. West African heritage is full of deeply rich stories to parlay as aesthetic foundation for ITA Leisure. We anxiously await the thematic playlists, camping gear, and wide-brimmed sun hats surely to come.

Lead Image courtesy of ITA Leisure / @ITALeisure / Photography by Deirdre Lewis