about us

Created by Angolan Tchinessole Martins Pinto de Andrade, Tchini is the result of a love affair... A love affair with people, with nature, with fabric, with design.

I am pretty certain my earliest memory is that of me playing in the sewing room with my beloved Antonica Maria (maternal grandmother) in Huambo. She was sewing away and I was making big plans with the bits of fabric left over. I knew exactly what I was going to do with those leftovers'... They usually ended up as a plan for one of my many wedding dresses... I must have been 3 or 4 and I already knew that a wedding dress had to be special... I was born a romantic.

Design is in the family. My mum was by all accounts a champion at crotchet (I get my love of romance and white from her). Her mother - Antonica Maria - was always with her crochet kit nearby... They both loved their sewing machines as my Tia Paula. My father just loves all things art related, he recently confessed to me that he has always wanted to paint... You still have time my beautiful papito...

I was born in October 1975... A crucial time in Angolan history as in November 1975 independence was declared after over 500 years of Portuguese colonization... There was a wonderful energy in the air when I was growing up... Pride, national pride was drummed into us... and this national pride made for great stances...

Soon after independence Angola found itself in a long and bloody civil war. As a child I remember seeing beautiful, tall, stoic men and women wear their military uniforms with pride... As they say in slang, they owned their uniforms! I am so proud of all those characters who without realising it were in my mind participating in my very own runway... My father and a cousin, Ruca, looked particularly handsome I remember in their uniforms. Tall, strong... Proud... A doctor, Ines Primo, I remember admiring as she walked in her uniform.

I loved trips to the "Hospital Militar" (Military Hospital) because the place would be flooded with uniforms - army, navy, airforce... Doctors and patients; all 'Owning their uniforms!' Beauty in such an ugly context or "Cold war magic" as I like to refer to it!

More recently I have found that an enormous contributor to my eye for design, in particular my love of fabrics, were/are the older ladies... My great grandmother, Tete, wore "panos" wrapped around fabrics... Again the big love of my life, Antonica Maria (who I would sit and watch for hours) I seem to remember often had a lenco (a piece of fabric on her head)... She died before I was born, but often I hear stories of my dad's mum being a woman of panos... I have an image of a strong, loving, bold woman in her yummy panos...

So, with all this culture and history running through my veins, I was plucked aged 5 and placed in Knightsbridge, London... Early eighties and therefore introduced to the Princess Diana look and Great British tailoring.

Fabulous!

So, having said all this, who are we?

We are a young, vibrant, ambitious, passionate brand that is on a journey to contaminate the world with the love, and beauty that one woman has experienced from the moment she was born... Tchini is a celebration of glorious journeys, great heritage and magical lives.

My mum and sisters tell a story...

They used to say "Que lindo" everytime they saw something they liked... which according to my gran was VERY often. So fed up with the expression she would say: "Que lindo, que lindo! Olo josso que lindo!" Translation: How pretty, how pretty! Everything you see is pretty!

Well, our hope is that our customers will find themselves indulging in, over indulging even, in that expression when seeing, buying and wearing our things.

Altogether now, Que lindo!!...