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WEZANDLA CRAFTS

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SEWING FACTORY IN KWAZULU-NATAL

Since 2011, TRUSTED CRAFT DESIGN has worked closely with a small sewing shop in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains, located deep in Zululand. The unemployment rate in this region is almost 80%, making the work in the sewing factory (there are about 25 women employed there), and the work done at home, which mainly consists of glass beadwork and embroidery, a substantial contribution to the well-being of the local population. At Wezandla Crafts, child labor is explicitly forbidden and not tolerated, because the neighborhood children attend a school near the sewing factory. 

Siggi Dedekind (Elandskraal, Kwazulu-Natal) and Judith Singer (Verden/Aller) have been working together weekly for several years to create new products that are “African Chic” for the local South African market, as well as the European, especially the German, market. They are very conscious of using local fabrics, particularly the original Shweshwe fabric from the company Dagama, as well as linoleic and hand screen printed fabrics from various smaller manufacturers. The fabrics are used to produce skirts, bags of all kinds, textile jewelry, and, soon. Together they strive to constantly produce higher quality products.

A serious interest in Africa as a country of production is concealed behind the label “TRUSTED CRAFT DESIGN.” This German-South African partnership produces a new and innovative creativity. The design, the love of handmade details, and the simplicity of the fabric color combinations merges the work of many to form the multicultural mix that the customers, especially the German ones, enjoy greatly!  


Women of Wezandla

Flip through the picture gallery to learn more about the faces and stories behind Wezandla Crafts.