At the event, we were graced by a young textile designer and founder of Studio Vana, Rackel Odiwuor. She shared wonderful insights into digital Afrikan-inspired textile design, offering best practices from a global–local lens.
Written by: Teresa Nanjala Lubano
Date: 16th December 2025
MetaSkillz Contest 2025: An Honest Reflection on Process, People and Possibility
Preparing for the MetaSkillz Contest 2025 has been an ardent, thoughtful journey. We began this process in October, grounded in a desire to return to how UndaMeta started—by involving our creators meaningfully.
This year, our community included about 35 designers and close to 80 contributors and supporters across our UndaMeta WhatsApp group. From the beginning, it felt important to involve them directly. UndaMeta was built on a call to participate—to pioneer African surface pattern design—and that original vision remains ambitious and deeply personal to us.
Our aim has always been to help shape the African narrative around surface pattern and textile design towards a culturally responsive and sustainable future. As October 2025 marked our third year as a startup, it felt like the right moment to revisit that founding idea (of having a competition) and reintroduce it through a more intentional, structured format: the MetaSkillz Contest.
MetaSkillz is our way of paying homage to African surface pattern design—work created authentically by African designers, and also by designers inspired by the continent’s cultures, nuances, and possibilities. On 20 October 2025, we officially launched the contest. Unlike our initial open call years ago, this time we were clear: we were looking for quality, depth, and strong design thinking.
We centred the contest on Afrofuturism, asking designers to study the genre and interpret it through surface pattern design. Afrofuturism, for us, is not fixed in time. It can reflect the past, the present, or imagined futures. It may speak to politics, colonisation, traditional culture—or a blend of all these influences.
The response was humbling. We received 25 entries in the textile and surface pattern design category, and one entry in the fashion accoutrements category. While the latter was launched later in the competition, we remain grateful for the participation and see it as a foundation to build on.
What stood out most was the quality and effort behind the submissions. Designers entered from Kenya, South Africa, West Africa, China and Croatia. One Namibian designer, unable to register on the platform due to unstable electricity and internet connectivity, went out of her way to submit her work via email from her village. Moments like these reminded us of both the challenges and the resilience present across the continent.
We also encountered challenges: inconsistent connectivity, incorrect uploads, sleepless nights (trying to do everything branding last minute), inauthentic submissions, and more. We enjoyed the surprisingly good submissions. For some issues we couldn’t address sufficiently we took as learnings that will inform future editions of the contest.
With the help of two competent and talented judges, Dr. Joyce Akach and Dr. Ogake Mosomi, we were able to identify strong finalists. First prize was awarded to dip textiles from Ghana for the print Turkey. Second prize went to Ren Hong Yu, a China-based designer, for Savannah Wings. Third prize was awarded to Kenyan designer Beatrice Okumu (annaokumumbogo) for Afrika, Our Home.
We also selected two Public Choice winners Untidylines and Zainab Bello who, alongside the finalists, will enter the MetaSkillz Hall of Fame. In the fashion accoutrements category, the sole entry—The Repatriation Brooch by Zainab Bello of Nigeria—offered a compelling depiction of an African Benin mask and earned its place of recognition. This category was sponsored by (Admiral) Phillip Harrison of STEAM Extreme FFA.
We are deeply grateful to our community, our designers, and our judges. Surface pattern design remains a niche and emerging digital discipline on the continent, and every participant matters. Whether or not you won a prize, your work counts.
We invite designers to continue joining UndaMeta and showcasing their work, and we welcome buyers—fashion entrepreneurs, retailers, and interior professionals—who are committed to supporting African design narratives.
Thank you for being part of MetaSkillz 2025. We look forward to the next chapter: MetaSkillz Contest 2026.
— Be Metaordinary.