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For the love of it : Lisa said she uses author Tom Robbins as inspiration for her messages. She said people respond well to word motifs as they can often relate to them. -
For the love of it : Handbags or "pockets of love", as Lisa calls them, are the most recent addition to the Molo Mimi product range. -
For the love of it : Molo Mimi's upcycled chairs are reclaimed and done up with fresh paint and a cheerful hand-stitched seat. -
For the love of it : Molo Mimi incorporates "red beams of positivity" into many of their handmade items. -
For the love of it : Lisa Nettleton or Mimi, as she is known. -
For the love of it : Another Molo Mimi creation made from upcycled furniture and fabric. -
For the love of it : Molo Mimi tea lights are made from upcycled wedding dresses and are extremely popular here and overseas.
WORDS: Remy Raitt
Lisa Nettleton, or “Mimi” as she’s often called, approaches all she does with a good dose of love and an infectious positivity. Under the banner of her creative enterprise, Molo Mimi, she produces handmade artworks and products from off-cuts of material – embellishing them with free-stitch patterns, illustrations, encouraging words and a touch of humour.
Molo Mimi (“hello Mimi” in isiXhosa) was born five years ago and has grown into a thriving venture under the guidance of Lisa and her four employees. Based in Port Alfred, Lisa says that Molo Mimi products reflect the wholesomeness of the Eastern Cape. Bright colour and an approach which Lisa describes as being “fun and game-like” come together to form artworks, “pockets of love” (handbags), furniture and lights.
Ninety percent of the material Molo Mimi uses is upcycled from outdated fabric-house mood books, old clothes and wedding dresses, but Lisa says when she comes across an exquisite new fabric, she’ll buy a bit to incorporate into her products. “I’m environmentally conscious in a practical way. I can’t throw anything away and am gobsmacked when people do throw certain things out.”
Lisa uses a technique called free stitching to create her design items. “This is achieved using a sewing machine, by disarming the settings and using the darning stitch. The needle roams the fabric with the guidance of one’s hand.” Fine detail can be achieved in this way. Without realising it, Lisa and her team have been developing new methods through trial and error.
Through a connection with the Department of Trade and Industry, Molo Mimi has exhibited at three Decorex and two Design Indaba expos, and received a great response each time: “People have come to my stand at Design Indaba, stood there for a while and then explained that my stuff is special because it’s made with so much love. And they’re right.”
And it’s not just South Africans that want their share. Molo Mimi has a following in Europe – particularly in the Scandinavian countries and Greece – and in America, while stores across South Africa can’t get enough of the love invested in the items.
Lisa says perfection is impossible to attain in the Molo Mimi product range – a fact she had to get used to, as she’s a perfectionist by nature. “When things become too perfect, they lose their beauty,” she says. Also, she says it’s important that Molo Mimi stays small. “If we get too big, we’ll lose our grip and things will become too chaotic. I need to keep calm. Greed doesn’t lend itself to what I’m doing.”
Positivity, on the other hand, does. On many of the Molo Mimi products, a cross motif is present – the red cross, in Lisa’s words, being “like a Star Wars beam, shooting out positivity”. Bright colours are also important: “I’m inspired by colour and pattern, and I like playing around with the two, like a puzzle, testing out options. But I always know when the puzzle is finished.”
Lisa says she likes to see how far she can push her creativity. At the moment, each Molo Mimi product is made by hand and therefore a once-off piece of art from the Eastern Cape brand.
Lisa is convinced that a love for handmade products among consumers will never fade. “People want soul. They want real.” And that’s something that Molo Mimi certainly gets right.
For more information, visit www.molomimi.com, email molomimi@mtnloaded.co.za or call 046 624 5722.
