Q&A: Carrol Boyes

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

As Carrol Boyes celebrates 25 years of creating highly collectible homeware and tabletop accessories, we caught up with her to chat sculpture, design and business.

She has 21 of her own stores, 6 franchise stores and 2 international stores, and is an icon in the local art and design landscape and beyond. Since Carrol Boyes started out in 1989 making crafts from her home, she has become widely known for her signature aesthetic, combining sculpture with functionality.

How do you keep yourself artistically challenged?

The art form and the business are so entwined, and each is dependent on the other. The business is always demanding and hungry for change and newness. So it is essential that creatively we come up with new ideas, processes and materials. We are creatively challenged every day. The business allows me to try a wide range of materials and processes that possibly I wouldn’t have been able to do in other circumstances.

How do you balance your personal creative needs with the demands of the marketplace?

It is a constant balancing act. Sometimes I just want to play. One would think that at this stage of my life I would not feel guilty about playing, but I do. Then I remind myself that allowing myself to experiment is essential for the wellbeing of the company as well as my own wellbeing, and then I get back on track creatively again.

I understand skills development and investment in staff is an important part of the business…

We have devised an exhaustive workplace skills training programme that looks at creative as well as business skills. Mentoring the next generation of artists is very close to my heart. We also donate office space to the non-profit Monkeybiz Bead Project, which provides a source of income to more than 450 families in the local township communities.

What do you think South Africa needs in order to grow more design and art brands into world-class success stories?

The teacher in me believes that it all has to start at school. Of course I know that maths and science are the subjects that children should study to grow our economy and keep us competitive in the international arena. But I also believe that art and culture enrich us and good design adds delight to even the most mundane of things we do. So if we expose our children to beautiful art and great design then they will become discerning adults who will demand creative excellence and we will have artists and designers who would have honed their skills and developed a sophisticated eye.

To view more Carrol Boyes designs, visit carrolboyes.com.