A curated collection of intricately handcrafted basket-ware, jewellery, handbags, photography, ceramics, furniture and other glorious examples of contemporary African design will be showcased and for sale in Plettenberg Bay this summer.
The Discoveries from Africa exhibition will showcase high-quality handcrafted items from Ghana, Rwanda, DRC, Tanzania, Mali, Ethiopia, Malawi, Burkina Faso and South Africa. It will take place at The White House in the centre of Plettenberg Bay, from 11 December 2019 to 31 January 2020.
A jewellery collection that combines finely woven pieces made by a Rwandan master weaver, Pelagie Nyirahabineza, further embellished by a South African jeweller, will be launched at the exhibition. A collection of beautiful Tanzanian Maasai jewellery, made entirely from white beads, from Sidai Designs in Arusha, Tanzania, will also be on show.
Kate Carlyle, who founded Mustardseed & Moonshine with its botanical-inspired ceramics, will launch a collection of brightly coloured bead necklaces as well as embroidered cushions.
Nyanzabijou, a Rwandan jewellery brand, will supply handwoven vegetable fibre jewellery mixed with silver.
The Painted Dog Conservation organisation in Hwange, Zimbabwe, will supply goods from their income-generating basket-making project. Baskets from People of the Sun in Malawi will be on show, and Baba Tree of Ghana, with their brightly coloured baskets and unusual organic shapes, will feature prominently too.
Akosua Afriyie-Kumi, a Ghanaian designer and entrepreneur who studied fashion design in London, will supply handcrafted, ethically-produced woven handbags. Akosua employs local raffia weavers and uses traditional African techniques to craft colourful creations under her AAKS brand.
Willard Musarurwa, founder of Feeling African in Cape Town, will contribute his well-known wire chairs, plus new furniture following a recent collaboration. This project was established in the Western Cape to encourage traditional Xhosa weaving in an urban area. Willard has supplied the likes of Google South Africa and Weylandts, while exporting to the USA and Australia. Furniture maker Richard Henley has spent most of his 40-year career in the Knysna area making furniture from indigenous woods, combining traditional joinery techniques with contemporary design. A cabinetmaker by trade, he studied for the City and Guilds of London advanced course in fine craftsmanship and design at Rycotewood College in England.
Le Ndomo, a studio and conservatory for natural dyeing techniques in Ségou, Mali, will supply various African fabrics, such as contemporary mud cloth. There will also be chairs from Ethiopia and the DRC, and Ethiopian crosses.
Ceramicist Theo Ntuntwana will also participate in the show. Ntuntwana has taken part in several exhibitions at the Cape Gallery, as well as the Irma Stern Museum. His work is in the permanent collection of the South African Cultural History Museum in Cape Town.
Well-known South African studio potter, Clementina van der Walt, is also taking part. Over the past four decades, Van der Walt has held many one-person shows and her work is represented in several South African and international collections.
Ruby Ovenstone will produce porcelain ware, while artist Myfanwy Bekker, whose work is collected by corporate and private collectors in the United States, Europe and South Africa, will create charcoal drawings.
A portion of the exhibition turnover will be donated to The Tikki Hywood Foundation. Founded in 1994 by Lisa Hywood, The Tikki Hywood Foundation is a non-profit, rescue, rehabilitation and release organisation. It strives to bring recognition, awareness and sustainable conservation action to lesser-known endangered species, such as the highly endangered pangolin.
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