Ondjaba Shop Art

Mewiliko Gift Shop opened for business in 1999 at the Namibia Craft Centre, and stocks a unique range and collection of affordable and useful gifts. The shop is owned and managed by Anna Hango, who takes a keen interest in the needs of her customers. On the shelves of Mewiliko are handmade products made almost entirely of natural materials and ingredients found in Namibia and a wide variety of unique wooden products from Kenya. Rare souvenirs made of bone, horns, ostrich shell and a range of cosmetics such as soaps, bath oils, body lotions and lip balm made with locally sourced natural oils. Anna Hango’s inspiration for her selection of gifts is the variety of high-quality, attractive craft items produced all over Namibia and she particularly favours ancient Namibian motifs, like the ‘White Lady’ rock painting in the Brandberg Mountain, north-western Namibia, which dates back 2 000 years.

The distinctive embroidery of Oasa Taradi is the result of years of careful cultivation and dedication. Unique, bold, eye-catching and well executed, the beautifully embroidered cushion covers, tablecloths, serviettes, aprons and placemats of Oasa Taradi are the finished products of underprivileged women in Namibia. ‘Oasa Taradi’ means ‘busy women’ in Nama/Damara, an indigenous Namibian language. The trust developed from a sewing project started by the Red Cross in 1989. The project engaged underprivileged Namibian women to sew and repair clothing using sewing machines donated by the Red Cross. The women involved with the project were unemployed, heads of their households, sole caretakers of their children and breadwinners of their families. In 1993, the Oasa Taradi Trust was established with the support of local and international volunteers who saw the project and the products had potential.

The quirky charm of Maid in Africa lies in its distinctly modern and rural African narrative. More than anything the everyday images, such as shebeens, bottles of Marmite and cans of sardines, carefully reproduced on the bright, hand-painted fabrics are accompanied by amusing and humorous African sayings, a tongue-in-cheek twist added to the regularity of contemporary African life. Andrew and Micha Weir started Maid in Africa in 2006 after their domestic worker, Priscilla, was diagnosed with HIV. They were forced to watch helplessly as her condition worsened even though Priscilla expressed a desire to continue being productive. Micha Weir showed Priscilla how to silk-screen paint and produce hand-painted fabrics. Tragically, Priscilla succumbed to AIDS in 2007 but her passing inspired the Weirs to spread a wonderful, celebratory message, including immortalising Priscilla’s smiling image as ‘Maidonna’ on a variety of surfaces and a range of beautiful.

The Kasupi Crafts exclusively retail ‘fashionable’ clothing, jewellery, accessories and selected apparel, like T-shirts, made or decorated by hand, almost entirely originating from the Namibian craft sector. Owner of the stall, Josephine Kasupi, formerly worked for 13 years for the owner of Tomcat, and later became the proud owner and renamed it aptly to Kasupi Crafts. She enjoys providing visitors with an experience of a ‘different’ kind of craft stall. Kasupi offers the adventurous fashionista leather bags made from flawless springbok and zebra hides which follow the design and pattern of mainstream handbags, clutches and shoulder-slings, yet conventional enough to take to the office. Kasupi Craft’s famous leather springbok fur sandals are often available in fashionable colours like bright greens and screaming pinks.