Meet Hanneli Rupert, African luxury pioneer

Hanneli Rupert may design luxury handbags for a living, but even she is not immune to the lure of a Tesco Bag for Life. "I'm always stealing them off my parents, they've got tons of them," she says.

This would be unremarkable but for the fact that Rupert's parents are Johann Rupert, the South African luxury goods mogul, and Gaynor Rupert, who breeds race horses. I would have thought they were more Fortnum & Mason than Tesco shoppers.

But the Ruperts are a resolutely down-to-earth family, and Hanneli is no exception. She talks freely of summer festivals - "I thought I looked quite chic at Glastonbury, until the first downpour. My jacket got soaked so I had to buy a fisherman's jacket and I looked like something out of I Know What You Did Last Summer" - and shaving all her hair off as a teenager - "I went through a few phases; I would wear all black and those awful Buffalo platforms". As she chatters away a hundred-to-the-dozen, telling silly stories about the time she semi-wrecked a pair of suede shoes by dousing them with the wrong kind of shoe polish ("I put a dot of polish on, realised I'd made a mistake, and instead of just stopping I stupidly decided I would do both shoes in the wrong polish, to even it up. I totally screwed them") she could be any other twentysomething Londoner.

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It's taken her a while to settle in. Moving to London from small-town South Africa at the age of 18 was a shock, sartorially and otherwise. "Cape Town is really laid back. I had a pair of cowboy boots which I wore for 10 years - I still have them - and flip-flops are a staple. Nobody ever wears high heels. It's almost considered tacky," she says. She spent three years studying fine art at Wimbledon College fo Art and navigating London's dress codes before she upped sticks and moved to Athens to work at an art gallery and continue to paint. "It was pre-recession, so it was fascinating. It feels more Middle Eastern than any other European city, quite ritualistic," she muses. Throughout the city-hopping, her style has remained relaxed. "I like oversized blazers because I'm a comfort-dresser, so I get those from H&M, and I have one from Chloé." She shops for jeans at Zara or Donna Ida, and wears shirts from Equipment and tank tops from James Perse.

In 2008, the motherland tugged her back and she launched Okapi, her handbag line, which is named after an African antelope. Launching on this month, there are seven styles ranging from squishy totes to dinky cross-body bags. Every facet is made and sourced in Africa. "I wanted to create pieces that were one-offs, made from organic, locally- and sustainably-sourced material," she says. "I've always loved horn, but I looked at what I could use that was a bi-product." That turned out to be blesbok - a type of antelope with supple, strong skin suitable for bags - and springbok horns, which make beautiful charms and cuffs. The chains are handworked and the skins heat-pressed to create an almost tie-dye effect.

In addition to the bags, in 2010 Rupert opened a shop in Cape Town called Merchants on Long. "I found this incredible space that I wanted to make the home of Okapi, but it was quite big. So I decided to bring in the best of Africa's authentic luxury brands," she explains. She's part of a new wave of entrepreneurs tackling less salubrious areas of the city. "We're on Long Street, which is not an upmarket shopping area - we're next to a KFC - but the whole city is being regenerated so it's nice to be a part of that renaissance."

It would be easy to dismiss her endeavours as a vanity project. Luxury brands the world over have a hard time convincing the sceptics that they can, on occasion, be a force for good. But spend five minutes in Rupert's company and it's obvious she possesses genuine passion for African design and craft. "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel," she says. "I'm not trying to copy European designs and teach local people how to do that. It's more about how to incorporate local designs into something that is internationally marketable - or maybe taking their skill sets and applying them to a luxury or ready-to-wear context."

On her best high street purchases

"I would only very occasionally buy a statement piece from a designer collection. I really prefer things that are a little understated, so if I'm going to buy a crazy skirt the likelihood is I will buy it from H&M and wear it until it's literally falling apart and needs replacing."

On being a hands-on designer

"I find the production process fascinating, and it really helps with creativity, being able to go to the tanneries. The last time I went I saw a pile of albino crocodile skins which they were throwing away so I decided to incorporate them in a design. I've also been insistent that we source local chains, but every manufacturer I spoke to said it was impossible. I didn't want to import them from China, so I decided to have them made by hand. It will probably cost more in the long term but I'm happy with how they've turned out."

On symbolism in clothing

"It's not superstitious, but I believe in the power of energies, particularly with jewellery. The springbok horn is a good-luck charm in Africa, a talisman to ward off evil. They have them in southern Italian culture too, and call them cornicelli, to ward off the evil eye. I like the cultural crossover."

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