“The most well known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane” – see the picture below and  click here if you would like to see more on the intricacies of origami.

Japanese paper cranes

The art of origami has also found its way into the African craft space in the form of paper sculpted ornaments, flowers and light pendants created by the Shaw Sisters, newly featured on our website this month.

Origami protea - Shaw Sisters

Origami light cluster - Shaw Sisters

Origami diamond - Shaw Sisters

Beautiful aren’t they! Visit our website to see more of their creations.

Coincidentally I also read an article from Design Indaba this week that featured the concept of origami in a very socially responsible way!

The Cardborigami is Tina Hovsepian from Los Angeles’s innovative solution to problems of urban homelessness. Her design uses standard corrugated cardboard that has been treated to be waterproof and fireproof, so as to create an instant disaster relief shelter.

The cardboard can be folded and unfolded to be easily transportable or to create different sized shelters. Neat, practical idea!

Cardborigami shelter

Cardborigami shelter 2

The Wonderbag (TM) is a heat-retention cooker that can significantly reduce fuel use and save costs, be it in a suburban kitchen or around a rural paraffin stove. The bag is hand-made by people involved in community projects, but it is also so much more, helping to improve the lives of the people who receive it in numerous ways.

One of the main drives of the project is to obtain corporate assistance to fund the introduction of the Wonderbag into poorer communities, who will immediately and directly experience the financial, environmental and health benefits of this ‘new’ but strangely traditional way of cooking. The benefits to the company employees will undoubtedly be in the pleasure and satisfaction of the giving!

Read more or contact us to discuss the exciting corporate opportunities inherent in this project!

The Wonderbag

Wonderbag sizes

With corporate branding

The first product is officially an olive bowl with space for the pips, but unofficially it can be used for a multitude of snacky purposes!

Both the olive bowl and pen holder can be made in red or white clay and will then be hand painted in either white, pastels or bright colours.

Contact us for prices or for custom orders.

Olive bowl

Pen holder

“Waste Not, Want It is the latest in a series of specially commissioned art and design projects created for Bloomberg Philanthropy by consultancy Arts Co. It challenged artists and designers to create furniture, lighting and installations made almost entirely out of Bloomberg’s own waste for the news agency’s London office.

Faced with mountains of cable flex, cardboard boxes, keyboards and computer mice stored in Bloomberg’s off site warehouses, the different makers have come up with surprisingly desirable designs.”

Read the whole article to see how the artists made the pieces below!

Kaross’ pieces truly reflect Africa, both in their traditional animal and floral designs and in their ‘social commentary’ pieces reflecting people at work and play.

At the same time, whilst staying true to their roots and background, Kaross is constantly striving to be contemporary in their designs. This is evident in this year’s new range of long cushions that will fit comfortably into any contemporary home.

The focus is on less detailed, more geometric embroidery in neutral colours on neutral backgrounds, with some very striking accent colours, such as bright yellow, turquoise and paprika. Each design is hand-drawn which, together with creative colour combinations, results in each cushion being unique.

If you like these, contact us or order them on our website under Products_Soft furnishings.

These bags are hand-crafted from plastic strapping and are woven in various colours, in one or two colours, with matching ribbon detail.There is huge attention to quality and the end-product is something to behold!

They are made by African Soul, a community upliftment project based in Thembalethu community outside George in the Western Cape.

See more info on African Soul and order the bags on our website. Please note that lead times will apply on orders, so sooner is better.

It celebrates the diversity of the people and cultures of South Africa, as seen through the eyes of the crafters, within a somewhat “retro” style. Each face is hand-drawn and unique, and is entirely a product of the designer’s imagination.

I love them for their quirkiness – who says the rainbow nation cannot have green faces?

Order them on our website under Products_Soft furnishings.

The ACFS provides a daily meal to thousands of impoverished children who would otherwise go hungry. Even more than that, they have created initiatives to empower the parents of the children to become economically self sufficient so as to be able to provide for their own families and not be reliant on the feeding scheme over the long run.

Greatheart is one such scheme. Their beautiful hand crafted products are suited to corporate gifts but the heart or custom designed products may also be purchased on regular order.

Each Greatheart product has a felt heart or custom felt design attached to it. The felt pieces are hand-crafted and are then sewn onto various products. Each felt piece is completely unique and designs may also be customised to convey specific messages or themes.

Beautiful products originating from big hearts!

See more of Greatheart and order their products on our website.

In this instance, recycled billboards were used to make a bag for a fold-up table, a braai grid cover and a cover for a bin that was used for baking bread in the fire. Even though the covers themselves may look a bit used after a while, the main thing is that they protect the car from ash and dirt and the billboard fabric is thick enough to prevent dents and scratches to both the car and the camping equipment.

With these important features it follows that a good billboard product to make is the storage bin pictured below. These bins are very handy for storing anything from charcoal to camping and sleeping gear.  Braai grid covers are also very useful products that can be made out of billboards.  These covers protect both the grid and the mode of transport, especially if there is no opportunity to clean the grid beforehand.

Getting creative, we also had a tent bag made from these billboards for storing our tent on the roof rack during a long camping trip. This ended up being a great idea when some diesel from a jerry can accidentally leaked onto the bag: instead of ruining our bag, tent and camping trip, we simply wiped the bag clean and carried on camping!

These products are hand-crafted by Waste2Wow, a Johannesburg based employment creation initiative. Billboards that are past their campaign life are donated to the project, helping to reduce costs and create beautiful, affordable products.  The great branding opportunity this provides should also not be underestimated: Instead of simply adding a company logo to the product, the use of a company’s own billboards suddenly turns the whole product into a promotion!

The outdoor product possibilities are endless, be it a cover for a tent, spare wheel, table or even a bread pan. Product development is ongoing, so contact us if you have a good idea for a customised outdoors or indoors product!