Tiene, Affiong And Ini Are TIONNI ACCESSORIES

Ini Isong, Affiong Enoh and Tienne Akpabio are cousins who grew up together and thus developed a strong bond for one another. As children they had the most important tool they needed for success; the love and belief of their parents. While most of us psyche ourselves saying we have a dream and hopefully we shall someday fulfill it, these girls went ahead in pursuit of their childhood dream in spite of their age.

The beginning

While they were still young Ini, the eldest of them had an eye for fashion and thus decided to explore. In the course of designing a piece, she needed a particular fabric and had to go all the way to Aba, a popular market place in Owerri. Ini recalls the moment;

This was just the beginning as these young ladies tried their hands at cake baking, card making, interior décor and even party planning! But were still not satisfied with all these and like Abraham Lincoln (the father of determination!) they kept trying out different things. Finally what seemed like an experiment at first turned out to be the birth of what we know today as TIONNI ACCESSORIES. The brand was officially launched in February 2011.

TIONNI ACCESSORIES

Shortly after the completion of Ini’s internship program at Ituen Basi after returning from a short course on fashion at the London College of Fashion, she along with her cousins decided to start their own clothing line, they were taught to think big which they did but then they remembered it was better to “Think big and start small.” The main idea was to make the best use of African prints to produce the best of African clothes/fashion for the world, so they decided to begin by designing and making fashion accessories with African prints, especially the popular Ankara we all know.

They delved into other areas such as hand-made foot wears, brooches, ear-rings, bangles, rings, bags, ear-rings, hair-bands, neck pieces, brooches, bangles and gradually to their first love…clothes!

The Team

The brand name was coined from their names:

Tio: 22yrs, Undergraduate at University of Surrey studying Hospitality and Tourism. Handles the P.R (Public Relations)

Affi: 24yrs Graduate of English Babcock University 2011. Handles management and administration.

I: 25yrs, The oldest, Graduate of Computer Engineering Covenant University 2009. The brain and think tank behind the brand.

They come from Akwa-Ibom but are presently resident in Abuja. They have together taken part in a few events such as Designer market place (DPM) and Le Petite Marche (LPM). They are gradually taking their place in the Nigerian fashion industry.

They were encouraged by people such as Ituen Basi and Nike Ogunlesi. They hope to someday have a retail store for readymade clothes and accessories of African prints in Nigeria and which will hopefully spread worldwide.

We (Pulse.com.ng) believe and support them. After viewing these pictures, I think you will too!

[caption id=«» align=«alignnone» width=«475» caption=«Tionni Slippers»][/caption]

[caption id=«» align=«alignnone» width=«480» caption=«Tionni Sandals»][/caption]

[caption id=«» align=«alignnone» width=«480» caption=«Tionni Sandals & matching purse»][/caption]

[caption id=«» align=«alignnone» width=«480» caption=«Tionni Slippers and matching bag»][/caption]

[caption id=«» align=«alignnone» width=«480» caption=«Tionni bangles»][/caption]

Tiene, Affiong And Ini Are TIONNI ACCESSORIES

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