About the Artists
At Commerce 360 we pride ourselves on our full circle 360, vision. An important part of that vision is to find artisans from around the world, who specialize in handmade products from their country. Find the stories of our artists here!
Antoinette Afi Dossou
My name is Antoinette Afi Dossou and I am the eldest in a family with eight (8) children. I was born on October 31, 1997, in Vogan, a city located Northeast of Lomé the Capital of Togo. My parents moved to Agnronkope, a suburb city of Vogan, after my birth. There I started school in an elementary school called Public Elementary School of Agovi until graduation. I then moved away to attend middle school as there wasn’t one int he area we lived. I attended this school until tenth grade (in Togo, there are 6 grades in elementary and 4 in middle school) but could not take the national exit exam due to problems the school was having, leading to its permanent closure before the end of the school year.
Thus, I had to go to a different middle school to finish the 10th grade. Unfortunately, I failed the exit exam and decided to give up school. After a year at home, I moved to Lomé to get a job with the intent to save a bit for apprenticeship. Once in the capital city, I was hosted by an aunt (my father’s sister). I then took few jobs in the market and saved enough for the apprenticeship. My adventure as a seamstress took off from there. Three of apprenticeship later, I obtained my certification and opened my own shop.