The genesis of Osei-Duro can be traced back to 1997, when two young aspiring fashion designers met and quickly became friends. Maryanne Mathias and Molly Keogh became acquainted in high school in Vancouver, BC, and maintained their friendship for the next 10 years while following divergent paths in the fashion world. Mathias completed a fashion
design degree in Vancouver before heading to Montreal tofound her successful independent line, Hastings + Main, which she ran there for 6 years. Keogh completed her BFA in Fashion Design in San Francisco at California College of the Arts and then moved to Los Angeles to work as a costume maker and stylist on a wide variety of projects, from films
to fine art to advertising.

Fittingly, it was a 10-year high school reunion that brought the two friends back into conversation. Mathias had just completed a trip around the world, designing mini-collections in a variety of countries, and was excited to further explore the possibilities of designing
internationally. Keogh quickly agreed to an exploratory trip to Ghana, where a good friend was willing to host the two, and where they knew that a rich textile history
awaited them. That first trip led to a small collection, and another trip, and soon sales to well-respected stores such as Creature of Comfort in Los Angeles, Two of a Few
in Vancouver, and pourporter.com online. Now 5 collections later, the pair maintain living and work space in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Accra, the capital of Ghana. They have expanded their textile experiments to include the introduction of silk to traditional dyers, tracking down
weavers of all regional traditions, over-dying by hand on the widely produced local prints, and even using local clay as a pigment.

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