Ruth Girmay is a leather product designer and the founder of Shamrock Leather. She studied educational planning management in special needs education at Addis Ababa University. With five years of experience working with leather, Ruth is dedicated to advancing and supporting the disabled community in Africa by providing women with leather product design training to help them generate income.
Ruth was awarded Most Commendable Designer for the second consecutive year for her design, ‘Overfishing Bag’. Her design was recently displayed at the International Real Leather. Stay Different. Award ceremony in the US Embassy, London and will also be recognised at the Africa Showcase later this year.
The bag was created to raise awareness of environmental protection, inspired by the Nile perch—a fish native to Africa that is rapidly declining in numbers due to overfishing. This increases greenhouse gases and disrupts the ecosystem by disturbing the balance of species. Ruth’s design aims to highlight these issues, and, when viewed within the context of her entire collection, advocates for the preservation of aquatic life and the need to combat overfishing.
Not only has Ruth been recognised for her designs this year, but she also received the title of Most Commendable Designer in 2023 for her design, Diversity Bag.
Explore 2024’s Africa Showcase Shortlist designs HERE.
