Behind the Design: Meet the Artists Who Created the Nomadix x The Sarara Foundation Collection

We partner with organizations doing work that matters, on the ground, every day.

The Nomadix x The Sarara Foundation collection supports the people and places protecting Kenya's wildlife and communities together. The Sarara Foundation backs community-led conservation across Northern Kenya, work built and run by the Samburu people who call this land home. One of their biggest efforts is Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, opens in a new tab, the world's first Indigenous-led, African elephant sanctuary. All of Reteti's keepers are from the local Samburu community.

Reteti was founded in 2016 to give orphaned and abandoned elephant calves a second chance. Some lose their mothers to drought. Some fall into wells while searching for water. Some are found alone in the bush, too young to survive without help. The keepers at Reteti, almost all of them Samburu locals, bottle feed these calves around the clock, sometimes for years, until they're strong enough to be released back into the wild. It's slow, hands-on work, and it's also a livelihood for the community protecting it. Reteti employs local women as keepers, a first for elephant conservation in Kenya, and reinvests in the surrounding communities that share this land with the wildlife.

When you shop this limited edition collection, $5 of every item goes toward that care, and toward plans to build a second sanctuary.

We opened up a worldwide call for artists to design this collection, and hundreds applied. Two Kenyan artists were chosen: Yael Orlovsky, opens in a new tab and Andréw Kibet Cherutich, opens in a new tab, who turned the landscapes, wildlife, and people of Reteti into the towels, totes, and blankets you're holding.

We sat down with both of them to talk about their process, inspiration, and what it means to put your own work behind a cause this big. Here's what they had to say.

1. Share a bit about who you are, where you're from, what you do, and your design aesthetic.

Yael: My name is Yael Orlovsky and I was born and raised in Kenya. I really enjoy playing around with different mediums, especially oils, gouache, and acrylic markers. I feel like my style changes quite a bit depending on the subjects I'm painting and the setting I'm in. When it comes to painting animals I usually go more onto the "realism" side, but when I'm working on a landscape it's a lot more loose and playful, since they're usually painted from life, where it's all moving and changing.

Andréw: My name is Andréw Kibet Cherutich, born 1997. I'm a visual artist living and working in Nairobi, from the Kuona artist collective. I practice wood carving and screen printing as a full-time career. My design aesthetic for prints leans toward flat color field painting, whereas my sculptures are more earthy in subject and aesthetic.

2. How did it feel when you found out you'd been chosen to design this collection? What did this opportunity mean to you?

Andréw: It felt like a big win. I felt really lucky to have been chosen to design this collection, from designing the Original Towel to the Pocket Tote, and finally the collaboration with Yael was amazing. Everything felt like it had aligned itself. I'm honored to have contributed my talent, time, and skill into pushing Reteti's story further.

3. Which products did you design, and how did the concept come together? What was the inspiration behind the design(s)? Were there specific themes, colors, patterns, or elements from Samburu culture, or from Reteti and its work, that were essential to include?

Yael: I designed the Kanga towel. A kanga is a traditional cotton fabric worn all over East Africa and Kenya, and I've always been drawn to how vibrant, fun, and beautiful they are. So I thought there would be no better way to represent Kenya, and the Samburu specifically. They're also called the butterfly people, because of the colorful fabrics and beads they wear, so it felt fitting.

Kangas are traditionally designed with flower patterns, so I stuck to that original style but added Ipomea flowers from the Morning Glory family. They bloom after the rains in the arid landscape around Reteti and can look quite striking. For the border, I added elephants of all shapes and sizes walking in a line, the way they do when leaving to feed in the bush or coming back to the orphanage to drink their milk, always accompanied by their keepers. The orange kanga is inspired by the colors of the land, and the blue one by the sky.

Andréw: I designed the Original Towel, the Pocket Tote, and collaborated with Yael on the Festival Blanket. After looking through most of the photographs of Reteti, the elephants, the kids, the guards, the landscape, the milk mamas, I wanted to honor the guards who watch over the elephants 24/7. For my subject I chose the symbol of the Samburu warrior, and for the composition, a tile repeat pattern was the best option, especially for the towel. For the tote, we agreed to use a former print I had in my collection that actually depicts warriors in the bush.

Starting off, I did rough sketches of elephants until I realized I could highlight the guards rather than the elephants. The guards being the inspiration, I pulled from photographs of Samburu warriors, who really love bold, bright, flat colors. I chose that same vibrancy for the tote and OG towel as an ode to them, pulling from the warrior aspect of their culture. Without these people who watch and protect Reteti's elephants, none of this would exist.

The collaboration with Yael on the Festival Blanket was super smooth. We designed it in one afternoon. The bouncing of ideas between us was extremely satisfying.

4. How do you stay inspired and keep pushing your creative boundaries?

Yael: I love being outdoors, whether it's underwater or walking in the bush, just studying different colors, textures, animals. It's hard not to get inspired by the wildlife and landscapes here in Kenya.

Andréw: The interchanging of media in my practice is what keeps me inspired. Changing the media opens up new connections and ideas. I find that after moving to wood carving, I find solutions for screen printing, and vice versa. Traveling is also a profound inspiration boost, since interacting with new information widens the mind.

5. What's next for you, and where can people follow your work?

Yael: I want to start doing painting safaris, where people can join me for days at a time in the bush or on the beach, and I'll guide them through painting and sketching these beautiful spaces and animals.

You can follow me on Instagram at @yael_orlovsky_art, opens in a new tab and check out my work on my website at https://www.yaelorlovsky.com/, opens in a new tab. 

Andréw: My next objective is to develop a body of work and showcase it. You can follow me on Instagram at @_andrew_kibet, opens in a new tab to check out progress shots of upcoming projects, events, and shows.

Yael and Andréw didn't just design a collection, they gave Reteti's story a set of colors and patterns that couldn't have come from anywhere else. Every kanga stripe, every warrior silhouette, every elephant walking the border of a towel carries something true about this place and the people protecting it.

Shop the collection, and $5 of every item goes straight to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, funding elephant care today and a second sanctuary for tomorrow.

Shop the Nomadix x The Sarara Collection to support.