Jobs, crafts and London
Lucille Davie
9 April 2002
Recipe for creating jobs with indigenous craft skills: take a traditional grass basket, dye it dark brown, close the top, reshape it so that its middle curves inward, enlarge it by 40 centimetres, market it in London as a coil stool - and watch it sell.
This is exactly what craftswomen in KwaZulu-Natal are doing, in collaboration with top British designers from Sotheby’s in London, with sponsorship from the province of KwaZulu-Natal and the national Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.
“This is a case of taking a traditional skill and adapting it to what the market wants,” says Carole Hoch, deputy director of poverty alleviation projects within the Department. The purpose of the programme is poverty alleviation through the creation of jobs, with “poverty nodes” targeted around the country.
And sell it has. Some 85 items were taken over to London and exhibited in five Sotheby’s
galleries, and were snapped up. The team is back again, with new orders.
Sally Story of KhumbulaZulu is the brainchild behind the approach to Sotheby’s. Khumbulazulu is three years old and is affiliated to the 15-year-old Siyazisiza, a non-profit company established to revive traditional art forms and techniques and create sustainable jobs.
Another example of re-designing a local product for the international market is an ostrich shell that, instead of being painted in ethnic designs as is common in local markets, has a V-shape cut out of it to make it function as a candleholder.
These items went on display at the 6th Contemporary Design and Decorative Art Exhibition in London, organised by the LOSA (London-South Africa) Trust. The designers spent a week with craftspeople in KwaZulu-Natal exploring possibilities for new South African designs.
The products are not restricted to grass baskets only. Felt and mohair blankets, throws with beaded circles,
woven wire bowls, beaded belts with horn buckles, silver beaded cufflinks, wooden waste paper bins and beaded jewellery are also being made.
Some of these products are being made in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. So far some 500 jobs have been created in KwaZulu-Natal, approximately 100 in the Eastern Cape and two in Mpumalanga.
The aim of the project is not only to apply modern designs to traditional crafts, but also to teach business skills – how to price the items and not reduce prices under pressure and how to market the products, with the aim of becoming self-sufficient.
To this end, the Department reduces its funding over a two- to three-year period, once the skills have been learnt.
“It is important that the designers do not impose ideas, but rather they work together with the craftswomen – they do not dictate to the women,” says Hoch.
The Council for Industrial Research is also involved in the project, tackling the question: how do you make a
product better and quicker?
It doesn’t stop at crafts. The Department is involved in a project called Cultural Tourism in a further effort to create jobs. This involves equipping local people to become guides and information officers in their areas, to allow visitors to appreciate South Africa’s diverse heritage.
An example of this is the historic old Moravian Mission Station near Genadendal in the Western Cape. A craft centre is to be built adapting the existing structure, and some of the historic houses will be restored to provide bedding for visitors. The provision of water to the town will be upgraded, partly to drive the wheel of the restored watermill in the town. Walking trails will also be developed.
Allied to this is a programme called Music in Public Spaces. Upcoming artists are given a platform at “Concerts in the Park” events. The first event was a concert held in Guguletu, a township of Cape Town, in December 2001. Other concerts were held around the
city in February 2002, and more are planned for March.
Public spaces include spaces in government buildings, railway stations, airports and public parks, to be used as venues for live music. Scouts go out looking for talent and the marketing is paid for by the provincial governments.
This programme aims to teach performance skills. Each province holds local competitions and the winners are trained to polish and sharpen their performance skills so as to perform in lodges and other tourist venues. The performers also receive advice on costumes, basic business skills and the dos and don’ts of the performance industry.
Hoch says that she recently hosted a visiting Flemish group interested in local crafts. They were shocked to see that local crafts were being changed for the international market, and in the process losing some of their indigenous tradition. But Hoch replied: “There is no place for art for art’s sake, the more important thing is the creation of jobs. We
have to make jobs where we can.”
And in the process, she says, it is hoped that a cultural pride will be re-established, returning dignity to people.
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