NAMIBIA CRAFT CENTRE

Grit Bottcher, a master goldsmith, started Ekipa Gold Design a little more than thirteen years ago. The designs found at her stall are very intriguing styles, combinations and compositions of handmade jewellery pieces, indicative of a particular aesthetic which has proved tremendously popular and enduringly stylish. Grit is a perfectionist and this quality manifests itself in the perfect geometry and smoothness of many of the jewellery pieces. Her particular aesthetic also lends itself to extremes and opposites: a sensuality incorporating the tactile and soft in material, combined with the cold hardness of silver, bronze, aluminium and gold. Her love for all things naturally Namibian lies at the core of every piece of jewellery, for example an enticing selection of fur-rings, springbok and Nguni hide fur-pendants, ostrich-shell pendants, seeds and recycled glass beads all set in either silver, aluminium or gold make for eye-catching, interesting jewellery with a fine.

Namibia Italy Gems was founded by Sergio Chiesa, specializing in design and cutting of exotic pieces of handmade jewellery. Initially the company started with Makalani palm nuts sculpted into the iconic ladybirds, later moving on to cutting and polishing Namibian gem stones. Sergio mainly employs young and needy men and women, vulnerable unemployed youth and teach them to create intricate designs with Makalani jewellery and gem stones.

Petra Naruses is the creative mind behind a range of wired, beaded and recycled light-fittings, lampshades, mobiles and decorative craft for the home. Using recycled material such as beer-bottle tops, caps, wire, bicycle tyres, makalani shells and old zinc sheets, Petra creates a remarkable variety of popular lampshades and light-fittings. Combining rural Namibian colour palettes (earthy browns, rusty reds, sandy tans) with bright, shiny wire-mesh or dulled rusted wire, lends an almost otherworldly ‘look and feel’ to the mobiles and light-fittings. The handmade light-fittings in particular are versatile enough to stylishly compliment the interiors of both chic urban and elegant, rural farmsteads. The natural materials (acacia seeds, old zinc, pips, pods, and driftwood) combined in the making of the mobiles, a welcome addition to any home, betray an artistically-oriented patterned organisation.

Bertha Pakarae started off as a saleslady for several shops, and when her employer returned to Germany she had the opportunity to start her own business, Hunotjari. She has a wide range of bespoke babies ‘clothing made in unusual funky African fabrics, as well as ladies’ skirts, tops and handbags. Every single item is hand made with loads of love and attention to detail and designed and produced right here in Windhoek, Namibia. In addition to African clothing, Hunotjari stocks hand-made jewellery from Tameka and Heike Lukaschik, two renowned Namibian jewellers.

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.

Sara Basson, from Leonardville, produces useful, decorative pieces which are a variety of bead-edged doilies, dolls, placemats and mobiles. Sara was taught by her mother, which served to guide her entire life and its course to date were shaped by her skills at crafting. After moving to Windhoek, she initially sold her handicraft on the streets of the city before applying successfully for a stall at the Namibia Craft Centre. The curios and crafts at her stall reflect Sara Basson’s distinctly rural Namibian aesthetics, almost untouched by her urban surroundings, an innate sense of proportion (small dolls) and an endearing quest for quality as shown by the pristine finishing on her handmade doilies and knitted items. Sara vows to continue producing handmade craft until the day she dies because she enjoys working with her hands. Each item at Saras Sara’n, the name of her stall, is handmade and entirely unique; the singular manifestation of one brave, rural Namibian woman’s inspiration.

In 2003, American citizen Valerie Garber started an NGO, Work of Our Hands, in Five Rand Kamp, an informal settlement of Okahandja, Namibia. It currently supports 13 formerly disadvantaged women with skills transfer and craft education. The women are taught the art of making jewellery using wire and beads; and also crocheting wire to make attractive, durable adornments for the wrist and the neckline, in colours and hues compatible with the most sophisticated of wardrobes. The ceramic beads used to make the jewellery, earrings in particular, are also handmade by the women of the project making every item a unique piece of art. Each handmade item of jewellery is accompanied by the name and a small photograph of its creator, adding dimension to the beautiful items. The income generated by sales of the jewellery benefits the disadvantaged women involved in the project, to purchase raw materials, pay rents and sales staff.

Kabo Craft is a magnet for creative minds and untrained hands. Minds that draw inspiration from Namibia’s stark environment; its cultures, its spaces of a vast nature and the vibrant cities. (Hands, that shape arts and design out of every material available, from mopane wood and desert sand, to newspaper and beer cans). It is this passion for the land, aesthetics and the people, which you can see in the product that are truly Namibian ranging from papier mache, metal and woodwork, printed fabrics and toys. Located on Krumhuk farm near Windhoek, all products are hand-made by Namibians trained under talented creative eye of Katrin Bockmuhl.

Rita Bankie, a qualified teacher from Ghana started to explored her innate appreciation for vibrant colour, quality fabrics and established Lord ‘J’ Dyeing House in 1996. With three seamstresses and coupled with a steely determination to present customers at the stall in the Namibia Craft Centre with high quality products, Lord ‘J’ Dyeing House offers an array of fabric-based goods unique and rare in design. In addition to fine kente cloth from the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana, they also stock a variety of hand-painted fabrics, carefully selected by Rita, who utilises her trained eye to identify outstanding talent and workmanship. The fabrics are either sold per piece or value-added with decorations, cut and sewn into dresses for children, utility bags, cushion covers, table runners, tablecloths, potholders, placemats, shirts and apparel for adults. Lord ‘J’ offers a fascinating variety of African fabrics and high-quality, 100% cotton products.