Meet a Maker: Edition 23

Meet Victoria Ajoku

Learn about her fan making and business Fan the Glory with Tori.

1. What is your craft and how did you get into it?

Fan making, specialising in ‘fan assembling’. Although I was always aware of ‘Chieftaincy fans’ from my childhood, I got into folding fans during my college and university days. I studied set design and props on stage and when I travelled around Europe, and was keen to acquire memorabilia items of places I had visited. From here, fans became a natural keepsake item for me and I unknowingly started my own mini fan collection without realising it.

2. What is one interesting fact about you?

I was a fairly good rugby player during my secondary school years… something about the sport was natural to me. I was a pretty good runner and recall scoring goals for my team!

3. How long have you been making?

I have been professionally making fans under the name ‘Fan the Glory with Tori’ for six years, but 2025 marks 10 years of professionally and proactively making as a whole. I actually started in jewellery making and swiftly transitioned into fans. Fashion accessories are definitely my thing. In a lot of ways my works are bold statement pieces, but are also cherished as stylish add-ons for celebratory and everyday fashion wear.

4. Who are your favourite makers?

I admire all the unknown, unnamed wood, paper, textile and fan makers in my craft that live and work in severely challenging areas within our world, with little, to no recognition for their immense talent and hard work. They deserve a platform of praise! But if I had to choose actual individuals it would be Sarah Ashton and Martha Gamble, who were female fan makers in the 18th Century whom I feel made a groundbreaking change, enabling printed paper hand fans to be made by women and accessible for purchase to a wider range of people with various financial pockets. This was all at a time when England had a mass market for hand fans.

5. What is the most challenging skill/technique you learned in your craft?

Double sided fans! Pleating the papers is already a really tricky task, but when making double sided fans both templates must be crafted and made to be identical. The pleating process requires a steady hand, lots of patience and practice.

6. What is your favourite part of your craft?
I personally find the gluing of the pleated leaf/ves to the wood frame to be therapeutic. Once the two guard sticks are mounted, you begin to see the framed outline of your creation. It’s at this point when your hand work starts to form the shape of an actual fan. Its super encouraging, as you then know your craft work is almost complete.

7. What project are you most proud of and why?

There are many! Certainly my 2023 exhibition, ‘Marble Arch: Marbling the Arch’, which stands out as a pioneering project as it’s the very first exhibition workshop of its kind (that I have seen) to combine fan making and paper marbling! I really wanted to create a public experience that extended fan making into another craft on the endangered list. The exhibition showcased a selection of marbled hand fans I made using three different unconventional marbling techniques. The collection toured across three community centres, admired by locals and tourists in those areas as vibrant, inspiring art works, which helped to boost mindfulness and positive wellbeing, particularly for minority and vulnerable groups.

Additionally, ‘all-aged’ fan making and paper marbling workshops took place in each hosting venue. This gave participants a unique and special opportunity to make their very own marbled paper using modern methods. The training and preparation I underwent for the project stretched me as an artist to learn new skills, including how to be a curator of my work for public display. Reading the visitor comment book for the exhibition was highly rewarding and reassured me that the objective of the project was highly fulfilled.

8. If someone who knows nothing about you and your practice could know one thing, what would it be?

Hand fans cover such a wide range of cultures and styles. The fixed type of fan is not only used as a cooling device, but also for agricultural and ceremonial use too. I was recently gifted a fixed fan from Africa, a woven style made from banana skin. The fan is traditionally used as a type of sieve for corn and nut making. Who would have thought of hand fans in relation to food? Fascinating!