the ReFab Diaries: south african craft
Showing posts with label south african craft

This refabber was very quiet Nov-early Jan because I was home in South Africa for the first time in over a decade! It was an amazing trip ... restorative and inspiring. And I took a ton of "refab" pictures to share with you! The first set focuses, obviously, on upcycling. It's everywhere! It always has been ... people living below the poverty line (with no capital) create things using found materials. Free materials whenever possible. In the past, most of this stuff was sold on the side of the road. Today, it's easily found in more formalized settings ... everywhere from flea markets to high-end "souvenir" stores in Knysna and Cape Town. Soda and tin cans are an obvious, go-to material. So you'll see a lot of things created from those. But there were some surprises!

Scroll down for inspiration and tutorials... 

"Mielie" is, officially, the Afrikaans word for corn/maize.  But it's also the word all South Africans use for corn (and its by-products), no matter what language they happen to speak. Now, "Mielie" is a small business after my own heart. Employing over 50 artists the mission is "to design and produce innovative, export-quality hand-crafted products using reclaimed materials - with the aim of creating employment and restoring dignity and financial independence to South Africans".  The Mielie Peeps work out of their homes, sell across the planet, share a community garden and create the most amazing things using strips of t-shirt fabric!!







The items pictured here are the tip of the Mielie-berg.  I cannot begin to capture the variety and creativity of these folks.  Wanna learn to weave like a Mielie Peep?  Follow the links to the two free tutorials... after the jump.
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