URAFIKI

"The most honest connections are the ones that never needed explaining."

Urafiki — Swahili for friendship, the bond that asks for nothing and gives everything. A name rooted in East African culture where friendship is not casual — it is a commitment. To be someone's Urafiki is to be chosen, and to keep choosing them back.

URAFIKI is a large-scale naive portrait — direct, genuine, and utterly without pretence.

With solid and transparant inks on a fine poplar wood panel, the face emerges from the natural grain of the wood itself. Solid and transparent inks sink into the surface, creating depth that no canvas can replicate. The wood breathes. The grain becomes part of the skin. Over time, both the panel and the solid mahogany frame will deepen in tone — the work literally grows more beautiful with age.

At 100 × 150 cm, URAFIKI commands a wall. Not decoratively, but presently. This is not art that fills a space. It is art that defines one.

Hanneke van de Pol is a Dutch multidisciplinary artist and concept designer based in Arnhem. Her Naive Faces series draws on her earliest portrait drawings, remastered with over 30 years of artistic and design experience. Her work has been shown at Studio Des Bouvrie / Het Arsenaal in Naarden and selected design fairs across the Netherlands. Each work is made with love and created for those who still dream, dare to play, and wonder.

• Edition — Exclusive 1/1. 
• Signed by Artist on the back 
• Size — W 100 × H 150 cm / Framed: W 106 × H 156 cm
• Technique — Solid and transparent inks on poplar wood 
• Frame ready to hang — Handmade massive mahogany frame
• ​Delivery — Ships within 1–2 weeks.
• Shipping Costs — not included

The wood and frame naturally deepen in colour over the years — making URAFIKI a work that becomes more itself with time.