Henri partners with Dwi Iskandar from Bali, Indonesia, Dwi Iskandar, who designs and creates different garments. (Nigel Henri, Facebook)

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(Seychelles News Agency) – A rFamous visual artist and painter from Seychelles, Nigel Henri, has ventured into fashion in partnership with an Indonesian designer to improve the sale of his products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Henri who specializes in acrylic paintings on canvas by recreating Creole and underwater scenes now produces clothes from His paints. He will highlight its new collection at the Seychelles Fashion Week scheduled for the first time at Dubai EXPO March 16-18.

Seychelles Fashion Week is an annual event held for four years in the island nation in the western Indian Ocean. It merges creativity and culture bringing fashion lovers from all over the world to Seychelles.

Henri told SNA last week that he has a partner in Bali, Indonesia, Dwi Iskandar, who designs and creates different clothes, some of which were shown at Seychelles Fashion Week last year.

Like other local artists, Henri had to diversify his creation after encountering difficulties in selling his products with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had to think outside the box and to showcase the new products I created I participated in Seychelles Fashion Week. I not only wanted to sell artwork that people will put on their walls, but also earning money on the side by making the clothes basically exploring different possibilities to showcase my works and my creations”, explained Henri.

The painter added that his partner, with whom he has worked for 15 years, is a professional designer who decides and is the one who decides with which material to create and with which fabric and design are best as a shirt, skirt, sarong, bikini or bag.

Henri said the products will be available for purchase online.

For the Dubai event, Henri will have mixed themes which will include his ancestors.

“I found them in the archives with some of the pictures I managed to draw and that would be important in my collection,” he said.

Henri has been recognized as a professional artist on the local and international scenes for 35 years.

He has exhibited in more than 45 international individual and group exhibitions and countless local exhibitions. Internationally his work has been exhibited in many African, Asian and European countries and locally his painting hangs in the arrival hall of the airport, in banks and in hotels.

Henri has six works of art on permanent display at the Zündorfer Wehrturm Museum in Cologne, Germany.