EXPLAINED: Teaching value the creative corners lesson for fashions future | Rare Historical Photos

On Saturday mornings at Holy Infant School in Yaoundé, Cameroon, a classroom of teenagers gathers around raffia fibres, leather, weaving looms and shoemaking tools. These are not lessons in trend forecasting or digital design. Instead, students aged 13 to 17 learn where materials come from, how they are transformed by hand and why every stage of making matters.

A raffia handbag begins not with a finished product but with the raffia plant itself. Students prepare the fibres before weaving them into fabric. Shoes are taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece. Jewellery, printmaking and leatherwork are taught by local artisans whose knowledge has been passed through generations.