South African hand-crafted goods

Experience The Diversity of South Africa ProjectZA’s mission is simple – introduce the world to the creativity and talent of South African based artists and designers. ProjectZA was born out of a desire to introduce the world to the beauty and wonderment of South Africa. We offer a diverse point of view from our selected group of artists and designers creating clever, imaginative, and original hand-crafted products. All of our merchandise and art are handmade and hand finished in South Africa by our amazing artists and designers. Many of our brands produce goods made from reclaimed materials or sourced from off-cuts of fabric and paper products used in manufacturing, providing a unique canvas for our artists and designers to create their original products.
ProjectZA’s goal is to support small businesses and fair trade organizations in South Africa in order to promote meaningful and sustainable employment. We can achieve this goal by partnering with vendors providing skill-building employment opportunities, enabling these artists and craftsmen to generate income and provide a better life for their families.
South African hand-crafted goods South Africa offers a diverse combination of nature, wildlife, culture, adventure, heritage and vibe. This diversity has spurred a unique intersection of creativity, social need, ability and expression within the art and design community.
Sootcookie Ceramics Ceramics with a twist ”Sootcookie ceramics,” derives its name from the Afrikaans word meaning “sweet biscuit.” The name reflects that this quirky range is “baked” in a kiln and draws inspiration from South Africa’s diverse visual landscape. Based in Hout Bay, Sootcookie was started in 2009 by Tanya Laing. Sootcookie ceramics offers a sculptural range of individual hand finished pieces, as well as a functional range linked by common themes and imagery. Discover how Sootcookie re-contextualizes everyday objects of the material world to create something fragile, precious, and reusable.
Sootcookie Ceramics
Ceramics with a twist
African Heart The People, The Art The African Heart collection encompasses high quality art and design, handcrafted in South Africa, including a wide range of products made from wire and glass beads, hand-knitted embroidery, telephone Scooby wire, and more.
With its unique mix of new and recycled materials, African Heart firmly supports social development and advancement through creative expression. Their passion is unrelenting and continues to push boundaries through creative conceptual design utilizing the extraordinary skills of Africa’s artisans.
African Heart
The People, The Art
The Wren Design Take a story with you ‘The WREN design’ is range of bags inspired by the possibility of materials and their stories. It started out of a want for a bag that had a story, was beautiful and not mass-produced. The need was for a bag that was simple and practical.
Materials that inspire are those that have already had a life (coffee sacks that have transported coffee beans all around the world or antique linen grain sacks woven between 1880 and 1910), or ones that could not fulfill their original purpose (cement packaging rejects). Where possible organic and/or natural fabrics are used to compliment them. These bags, as material, have the potential to continue on – for you to share in their story or them in yours. No fake materials or fabricated stories here.
The Wren Design
Take a story with you
Groenfontein Toy Project Changing lives one darn stitch at a time The Groenfontein Toy Project is a communitybased initiative focused on skills-development for the unemployed women of the Groenfontein Valley. They train women to hand-stitch beautifully crafted toys, uplifting themselves and their communities in this little valley in the Klein Karoo. Authentic and quirky, they’re the ideal alternative gift at baby showers, the perfect decor item for a child’s bedroom, and a happy addition to any home. Available in a variety of designer fabrics, ranging from neutral to vibrant, no two toys are exactly alike, with each reflecting an individual style and personal expression.
With their new skill of toy making, the women of the project are changing their lives for the better, allowing them to provide a better future for their children and a daily income for life’s necessities. Buying a toy keeps the women sewing and affirms their amazing efforts and beautiful workmanship.
Groenfontein Toy Project
Changing lives one darn stitch at a time
Ed Suter I am a photographer based in Cape Town. I was born in England but grew up in South Africa and after university went to live in New York for 5 years and London for 12 years. While in London, I studied photography at the London College of Printing and began my professional career taking on-set photographs in the television industry. In 2006 I returned to South Africa and since then have worked as a photographer for a range of local and international publications and private clients shooting portraiture, street style fashion and interiors. My career is a crazy blend of my own obsessions and commissions from great clients, and sometimes the line blurs. That’s the perfect moment, when both the client and myself are so in synch that we are obsessing over the same thing. I am inspired by the vibrancy of the street life I come across daily in South Africa and a few years ago I began shooting street style photographs of fashion, graphics and street art as a personal project while I travelled the country on assignment. These photographs were published in 2012 as a collection called “Sharp Sharp” which looks at great style on the streets of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
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I also use my images on a range of products and have designed tableware, fabrics and other products for some of South Africa’s leading retailers.
Ed Suter
The Unexpected and the beautiful
South African hand-crafted goods

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