Toronto-based Diarra Bousso Niang learned her craft in the luxury retail market in Paris before partnering with local Sengalese artisans to create a modern twist on traditional leather goods. (Bouswari is a play on the founder’s middle name and the Bassari people, an ethnic group hailing from west Africa.) African python skins are vegetable-tanned, and part of the label’s leather is sourced from Sengal, before being cut artisanally by traditional knives and embroidered with local techniques. Niang aspires to open more workshops for Sengalese craftspeople to share the beauty, culture and heritage of her roots with Canadians.