Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.
Popular Clips
Makers and elegant persons. La Sap was about dressing up to look good, to look elegant. It was also about the ambiance, the glow that you, the sappler, in your fine beautiful formalwear brought into the world. In one of Papua Wimba's songs, Aissa Nasoa, he has a line that's become like a creed to the sapphors. It goes like this. What was he like? Well dressed, well shaved, well perfumed. That little hymn became shorthand for a much bigger philosophy or sappology. Unlike Papa Wemba, most Congolese Roomba fans couldn't really afford a closet full of silk shirts and designer suits. But the saporas believe that if you could find a way to dress expensively, the world would treat you like an expensive person, whether you were a famous rumba musician or a construction worker. Here's Papa Grief again. Clothing changes a person. We recognize student are student by their uniforms. We recognize professional athletes by the jersey they wear. We know lawyers by the ropes and doctors by the courts. You know a soldier when you see them because of the uniforms too. This is how you know who someone is. To the sapor's fine
