2010…Still work to be done…

2010 has been an unusual year, we have taken nothing for granted this year and we are going to end it on a high note with some large carpet orders - two for US clients and one for a new Johannesburg home.  The latter being a special tapestry rug which is based on a Tibetan Tiger pattern that requires subtle colouration that gives the rug an old world feel.   We have been weaving for two weeks and are half way through.

The retail market in South Africa is currently very stressed – the traditional Christmas rush of orders has not happened, and the clients I have supplied for many years with fabrics have not ordered.  Stores are full of stock which has not sold and many small businesses have closed down or have had to retrench staff.  

Fortunately we have work to take us until we close and when we re-open in late January, we have orders.  One can never be complacent about where the next order is coming from. 

This year one of the bobbin winders, Phindele has learned to weave and is now beginning to weave orders.  It is a slow process, and one needs to be meticulous and methodical in order to be a good weaver.  Our modern ways that leave us rushing from one thing to the next are at odds with the slow pace of preparing a loom, choosing the correct yarn and creating hand made fabric.  I constantly need to check myself, to stop rushing and cutting corners and rather channel patience and enjoy the process of getting the colour/texture/weave right.  It is a balance between how much time you can spend achieving near perfection (such as it exists in hand weaving) and running a viable business. 

2010 has been a creative year, joining Mohair South Africa’s Signature Collection has been stimulating and fun.  We have a piece on the loom which is designed to be a shaggy throw, (sustainable) animal-like, tactile but not too heavy.  I have combined mohair with cotton, twine and calico to create layered textures and to lighten it.  Mohair is a dense yarn (unlike wool) so the challenge is to make it light, yet substantial. 

This collection will be launched at Maison & Objet in September 2011, this gives us time to test our new designs, put them through their paces and assess their suitability.  For me, it is always function first.  It must perform, last, behave and work before anything else.  Of course it has to look good too, but we do not trade one for the other.

As I write I look at the scene on the “deliveries” bench outside my office:   two rolled up cotton bath rugs, one is about 10 years old (I bought it before I became involved with the company) – still clean, soft cotton, the other is about a year old, they have been washed and are lying next to a bunch of bananas and some new carders.  I will take the rugs home and lay them as though they are brand new and hopefully have another 10 years use out of them.  This is what we are about: long lasting, quality products in classic designs that look good with anything…even bananas!