"KxK - Korai for Kente" comes from the intuition of two young Sicilian organisations: Korai - Territory, Development and Culture, a Sicilian all-female cooperative, involved in the enhancement of Cultural Heritage and territories, and Ghana Sicily Business Forum, the network for the internationalisation of Sicilian firms in Ghana.

KORAI

Korai is a cultural and creative industry, operating since 2011 in the field of the enhancement of Cultural Heritage and territories. The team, "made in Sicily", relies on the synergy of different and complementary expertises ranging from architecture to the preservation and enhancement of Cultural Heritage, from marketing to communication. That allows this group of young professionals to design integrated "planning strategies " in the field of Cultural Heritage. From 2013 Korai cooperates with Ghana Sicily Business Forum to promote the Ghanaian culture and the relations between this country of West Africa and Sicily. KxK is their latest project, created to enhance Kente, an ancient African fabric, as well as the creative and manufacturing excellences between Ghana and Sicily. To tell stories, techniques, places and situations of the protagonists of a "know-how" belonging to the tradition of two distant countries. In the name of integration and innovation. Through the concepts of beauty and identity.

"Since 2011 our commitment to the enhancement of Cultural Heritage has been producing projects of research, documentation, use, promotion and communication where we integrate our different skills and specialisations. Recently, the scope of our work has been extended to design objects that tell places, communities, traditions, involving networked makers and designers working on issues of sustainability and the recovery of local cultural identities. Our last project, in collaboration with Ghana Sicily Business Forum, is "KxK - Korai x Kente", the eco-craft and eco-design draft for the enhancement of Kente: through the cloth of the Ashanti Kings - that is an expression of the cultural identity of Ghana - KxK meets the tradition of the Sicilian culture in unique and innovative design objects, designed by ourselves and by a group of designers that we are expanding. The project, based on the themes of inclusion and social innovation, is aimed at creating a network, called "KxK Network Lab" and composed of Korai, the extraordinary weavers from the Ashanti villages in Ghana and the Sicilian makers (Sicilian eco designers and artisans for the manufacture of the products). Korai x Kente has become a brand. It is supported by a platform that will contain the profiles of the "KxK makers" and an e-commerce to promote the link between the diffusion of culture and the production of economy. The digital medium is the instrument through which we'll lead the cybernauts to virtually visit the places of the traditional production, the territories, and the shops, rediscovering techniques, listening to the stories of old and new protagonists of a "know-how" that is likely to be forgotten "(Korai - Territory, Culture and Development - Co-operative Society).

GHANA SICILY BUSINESS FORUM

Ghana Sicily Business Forum (GBF) is the network for the internazionalisation of Sicilian companies in Ghana. It stems from the namesake event held in Palermo in 2013 and supported by the Ghanaian Embassy in Italy in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center. GBF has supported the creation of the KxK Network Lab. The project is also supported by the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Ghana in Sicily.