While they were packing up their old house, I received many treasures from parents, including this beautiful book, Folk Costumes of the World by R. Harrold and P Legg. It reminded me of one of the talks on the TED website by Wade Davis in which he makes a case for the preservation for the disappearing cultures and languages of the world - listen to it here. TED is one of my most exciting recent discoveries.
I am fascinated by notions like culture, belonging and skills that are handed down from one generation to the next. It seems to me that every stitch on every dress has a story, that every colour has meaning.
By the way, Zanele and I will be visiting Finland early next month to take part in an exhibition at Fiskars Village. I can't wait to be greeted by Outi, our Finish distributor, in her beautiful folk dress!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Thembisa made these exquisite fluff balls last week. They are filled with a pilates (gym) ball, making them easy to transport and re-inflate.
Besides being one of Mielie's butterfly queens, Thembisa is also very adept at sewing up Mielie bags, and also at stitching in linings. She also makes beautiful felt, but draws the line at actually weaving a Mielie product! We encourage our crafters to acquire more than just one skill, so that they are still able to earn an income even though one stream of orders has slowed down a bit.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Remember to visit our Organic market every Friday at Montebello, between 9.00 and 1.00. All proceeds go towards establishing Mielie's food garden, which is coming along beautifully, thanks to Mielie's enthusiastic weavers, Richard and teacher Ben of Urban Harvest and his team of helpers. We meet every Wednesday and in the past two weeks we have even had some Mielie friends from Germany who were happy to muck in and help - thanks so much, Veronica, Philip, Claudia, Melanie, Christoff, Emma, Lilly, Fannie and Lila!
We hope to be planting our first seedlings next week.
So, if you want to:
1) eat the most delicious organically grown veggies
2) support a community garden in Khayelitsha
3) help us establish our Mielie food garden
... then see you on Friday morning!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
We have just received an order to make these large ottomans. They measure 45 cm x 75 x 75cm, which is good, because it means there's lots of work to share amongst our weavers.
This week we'll prep the hessians, next Thursday the weavers will begin to weave, and if all goes well, the week after next we'll sew them up, so you'll have to wait till early next month to see them in their full woven glory, ok?
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
By pure coincidence Noseko, Marina, Felicia, Zanele, Phumza and Nosipho all arrived at work wearing delicious shades of spring green. We thought that this would be the perfect excuse to wish everyone in the Northern Hemisphere a happy spring. Oh, and little Buhle features because he's so darned cute.
In Cape Town we're enjoying the most exquisite balmy days... long may they last!
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Happy easter everyone - rest, eat, laugh and then eat some more!
These letter flags are a very popular Mielie side-line. They have a button on one side and a button hole on the other, so that you can just button your word together. The boy under the flags is mine... Niki, the family entertainer.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Zanele made this masterpiece of an ottoman this week. It's on its way to an exhibition in Potchefstroom - more info to follow. Zanele is a true artist, in my opinion.
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
* click here
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
We had our first organic market at Montebello on Friday morning and it was a great success. We found some beautiful veggies at an organic co-operative farm in Khayelitsha, and the idea is to sell their veg and use the proceeds to establish our own Mielie Food Garden in Khayelitsha. Hopefully we will soon be selling our own produce - we start planting in two weeks time!
Thanks to all who helped set up and spread the word, especially the Mohr family, who arrived en masse to help, as well as Debbie and of course the very capable Richard, who will be running the organic market in the future.
It was heartening to see how many other Montebello crafters supported us - both with encouraging words and by buying our produce.
Next Friday is Easter Friday, but we'll be back on the 17th. Now, I promise the after tomorrow's blog entry, I will not mention the words organic or vegetable for at least two entries. ok?
| [ 0 trackbacks ] | related link
Back Next
Archives
