Laba Laba, the Yoruba word for ‘Butterfly’, is the first ever jewelry piece from us at Wandé Esan. This piece genuinely feels like a love letter to women and the city that inspired this neckpiece and where Tolu Esan started her journey as a creator, Lagos, Nigeria. The structure of this neckpiece is designed like a butterfly, and that’s no coincidence. There is a reason why butterflies are always fluttering through our designs, products, art, packaging, posters, etc. The Butterfly is the motif of Wandé Esan and an important element in our Wanduki Universe, a make-believe world where all Wandé characters exist and live in harmony.

The butterfly shape of this neckpiece was specifically chosen for its natural biological life stages, which Tolu Esan believes represent freedom, breaking out of the mold, the journey of becoming, and individuality. Like women, just as there are millions of butterflies in this universe, no two have the same wings. Even if they are of the same species, they don’t have exact identical wings. It is the same way all women share similar experiences, biology, stories, even our periods sync! Yet no two women are ever the same. Every woman has a special uniqueness in the way she navigates her world, a dream peculiar to just her, different backgrounds, and different stories that have shaped her into the woman she is now, and maybe not the most important, even different ways of applying our lip combos. Laba Laba captures this idea in one unforgettable neckpiece. As women, we are the same species but different wings.

At the centre of the wings of Laba Laba stands the monumental Ikoyi Link Bridge. Tolu took a munch from her secondary school biology classes and applied them here by replacing the thorax of the butterfly with the pylon of the Ikoyi Link Bridge and the butterfly’s head with the Wandé Esan logo. She says, for her, this bridge represents home, Lagos City and any part of Nigeria we call home, where our countless journeys began, where we were raised, the unpredictable city where we had crucial experiences that shaped us into who we are and gifted us a fighting spirit.
We carry the undefeated spirit of hustling and survival from home with us everywhere we go. “9ja babe no dey carry last” is true for a reason. Lagos isn’t called “the city that never sleeps” for jokes, it is how we were raised, and it’s the same ginger we women carry with us, ever evolving, ever hustling and never forgetting where and what we came from.

When you merge both ideas together, Tolu Esan says what we get is a piece that captures the spirit of the 9ja woman, free like a butterfly, molded by home and always finding a way to rise.

This piece lives in a shiny chrome box you’re definitely gonna fall in love with before seeing the masterpiece laying inside. The Laba Laba neckpiece is beautifully laid on the Nigerian Flag, which we think is really a full-circle moment. On the chain itself, Tolu sprinkled some stars on it for a little dazzle, as they are also an important part of our universe, while the tail end of the chain has the Wandé Esan logo dangling off it. That way, there’s drama in front and on the back.

The Laba Laba neckpiece is made with high-quality, non-tarnish, skin-friendly metal, because the woman wearing it? Definitely a woman of steel. (Get it? Haha.) We hope that every woman who comes across this story and this Laba Laba neckpiece realizes that she can fly as freaking high as she wants and stand just as tall as the Ikoyi Bridge. The skies weren’t made for the birds alone. Be a superwoman!

For us at Wandé Esan, pieces like this are important at a time when, despite the social issues in Nigeria, women are still soaring high and taking the 9ja spirit and creativity beyond the borders of Africa.
Just like the butterfly, there comes a time when we feel drawn into isolation to find ourselves, the early stages of flying might seem tricky, but the more you try, the more you push, the more you stand up after falling, the stronger your wings become.
You are a beautiful Laba Laba. Never forget that.
Stay fly, queens!