PHOTO Jan Ras WORDS Tracy Greenwood
We have featured the bohemian creations of Juditha Sakinofsky in VISI before. Now, we’ve taken a fancy to her special take on the much-maligned soap-on-a-rope.
With more than 30 years’ experience in art direction, retail and media under her belt, inveterate traveller Juditha Sakinofsky was inspired by traditional soap makers in Syria to recreate her soap-on-a-rope concept.
Years ago, she moved from the local glossy magazine environment to Toronto and New York, where she honed her creative skills styling for magazines and television before moving into the gifting sector, where she began specialising in artisanal gifts made using materials sourced from as far afield as Turkey, Central Asia and North and West Africa. Tribal textiles are one of her great passions. Colourful, riotous prints adorn many of the textiles she uses to create the tote bags and smaller cosmetic bags in her range.
Now back in Cape Town, Juditha works with a small team from premises in Sea Point, creating gifts for local and international markets. Her latest offering looks as wearable as it is functional. Cubes of soap made exclusively for Juditha by Wild Olive African Artisans are gently coaxed into shape using the sharp edges of credit cards and bone-handled butter knives before being threaded onto cord or leather thongs.
“It’s a heady, therapeutic process of creation,” says Juditha. “The soaps can be slung around your neck and used in the shower, but they are just as good kept in their hand-made textile bags and hung in your wardrobe, where they will emit their fragrance for up to two years.”
They go for R495 a string at Africa Nova at the Cape Quarter and The Yard in the Silo District in Cape Town, and Ark Afrika in Franschhoek. For more information, visit juditha.co.za.
