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Craft, design fusion flowers

2 Apr 2009

For the past five years, SA Fashion Week and the department of arts and culture have worked together to bring the beauty of traditional African handicraft to the world of high fashion in a ground-breaking project called Fashion Fusion. Since its inception in 2004, more than 900 crafters and 40 leading designers from all nine provinces have collaborated to produce fashion that is proudly, uniquely South African.

Now for the first time, the fruits of their labour have been made accessible to a wider audience in the form of Nine Takes, a glossy new book that underscores how important the initiative has been for the fashion industry and the country as a whole.

The book, divided into nine chapters, features insights from the participants — both crafters and designers — including an essay by renowned designer Amanda Laird Cherry, reprinted here:

Impressions

There are so many incredibly interesting sides to South African culture, stretching from historic rural to fresh urban contexts. We have exceptional opportunities to explore and venerate them. In the past, I have been disturbed by outsiders who have visited and, with their huge technical production teams, exploited our music, film and fashion heritage — often doing a better job than we do, partly because of their experience working on an international level.

The answer is for us to delve into our history, to absorb it, and appreciate how far we have come. That way, we will be able to interpret the wonderful aesthetic elements that exist in our country. Whether we're inspired by the way a Lesotho horseman wraps himself in a blanket or the continued practice, dating back to the migrant workers building the railway, of wearing Mblaselo trousers, we can capture the essence of so many of these iconic phenomena in our work.
We have a history of superb crafting in our country. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by and drawn to buy local craft, especially when I can meet the artists. Many of the items are still made in the original way and have stayed true to their cultural references. They are amazing. However, I begin to despair when products have been made for a tourist market and not kept updated. It is the collaboration between artists, crafters and designers to produce superb work in the field of product design, interiors, clothing and jewellery that is so exciting now. The magic happens when a local craft technique is used in designs that are fresh and globally relevant, and allow the soul of South Africa to coast its way into homes around the country or around the world.

So many beautiful images swim in my head — the intricate beading worn for a marriage ceremony, energetic Zulu dancers in traditional dress, the use of metal studs mixed with beads in hip belts, or the rich, coloured fabrics wrapped around the hip of a Pondo woman. It is my quest to work with the Fashion Fusion Project to explore innovative ways of incorporating traditional techniques into new collections, retaining the essence of the culture from which they originate, embracing the haphazard naivety, yet tweaking the aesthetics and aiming to be world class.

Get the book

Nine Takes is published by Channel F Publishing and will retail at R120 through independent book and fashion stores, galleries, museums or directly through SSAFW on www.sanlamsafashionweek.co.za.

The book will be launched on April 2 at the Sanlam SA Fashion Week.

Source: The Times

Published courtesy of