On Saturday Mielie hosted some German Journalists who were on a tour of South Africa as guests of SA Tourism. It was great to tell them the Mielie story and show them how we make our products - Zanele, Sheila and Mzo were on hand to demonstrate and answer questions. Unfortunately I was too busy talking to take photos, but afterwards Erick of SA Tourism invited us all out for lunch at Kwalapa organic restaurant, where I snapped these pics of the team just about to tuck in. Also pictured is Mawethu, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time!
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Blog entries have been a bit scarce over the past month or two, so I thought I'd remedy things with a double feature. First up is the first sampling of our new Paisley design. It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a new design. Every single one of them is exquisite, and the weavers did a brilliant job - thanks, Manenikazi!
Zanele looked uber smart at work yesterday, in lacey black with a contrasting cream bag. The occasion? As a member of her son's school governing body, she's been invited to attend the Grade 1's graduation ceremony. "I love wearing black, it makes me feel confident." Doesn't she just?
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Remember Phumla, Mielie's soccer playing tomboy? Well, she got married last week in her hometown of willowvale and came to Mielie dressed in her full Makoti regalia. For the next six months or so she will wear a black headscarf, traditional shweshwe fabric skirt and blanket tied around her hips, a special outfit that signifies that you are a new bride and that you respect your elders. Phumla has also been given a new name - Sinoxolo, which means "we have peace".
Congratulations, Phumla/Sinoxolo!
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This week, Manyawusa made this special order orbit bag for a customer in the US - I would never have thought to put those colours together, but I have to admit it, they really zing together!
It was also Ntsaphokazi's first day back after she had her baby two months ago. Isn't he a cutie pie?
Finally, we've stocked the shop with a beautiful selection of 100% locally grown & made mohair socks - knee highs, thigh-highs with lace tops & silicone backing so that they stay up, special wellie socks that have extra ribbing so that they stay put and don't creep into your boots, dainty mohair and bamboo leg-warmers... all in time for the cold wet weather predicted for this weekend!
Happy Friday and Womens' Day long weekend, everyone!
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Alison joined Mielie a couple of months ago as our marketing, branding and operations guru, but more importantly as a partner in the business. It's been fantastic to have her on board - she's organised, committed to making a difference in the world, and is bursting with great ideas for growing the Mielie brand. Nice bag, Ali!
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Phew, what a day. The only word to describe the Mielie loft today was C-H-A-O-S. It was Mielie mamma Thursday so there was the usual noise and laughter. We also had a very wonderful client in to check progress on a very wonderful and very huge job (lips sealed - but it has something to do with those crop circles I posted a couple of weeks ago). To crown it all we also packed dozens of boxes today for 3 big orders leaving in the next day or so.
But as that clever Mr Jung said:
In all chaos, there is a cosmos, in all disorder there is a secret order.
Sentiwe, Nomelikhaya, Lindiwe and Bongs seem to concur that this little corner of chaos creates some pretty awesome bags. These will all be hopping on a plane for Germany tomorrow.
One person who must be singled out for illuminating the secret order in the Mielie chaos is Mzo, who just keeps calm, keeps tabs and keeps going. Thank you so much, Mzo.
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With less than a month to go, the World Cup is South Africa's no.1 topic at the moment. Here at Mielie things are no different. We've selected Mielie's finishing team to represent us in all matters footballish. Whenever we send a product out into the world, we always write the name of the weaver on the label, but there just isn't enough room to include the names of the finishing team who
- sew the bag up
- stitch on the handles
- sew in the lining
- sew up soccer balls
... and much much more.
So here's to Thaka, Luyolo, Richard, George & Malibongwe;
Mzo, Phumla, Mawethu, Thembisa & Nomalungisa.
We think you're champions!
The balls are a special World Cup order and will be on sale in major airports in South Africa.
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Meet Lucy Adams, who has spent the past month volunteering at Mielie. Lucy had arrived from the UK, and offered to share her (pretty impressive) organisational skills here at Mielie while she was waiting for her South African work permit. She helped us develop planning systems and production plans to help us foresee any hitches long before they become a crisis.
Enkosi khakulu, Lucy!
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For the second year running we celebrated our annual staff party at Muizenberg beach with fish & chips. It was a blast - literally and figuratively - the wind pumped, but this didn't seem to dampen any spirits!
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