Sister act

WORDS Georgia Chennells

By applying their creative vision to craft projects, Durban-based sisters Janet and Angela Shaw hope to elevate the status of master craftsmen in South Africa. VISI love the contemporary energy that they are infusing into Zulu craft.

“In Japan and Europe master craftsmen are revered. Here it is seen more as part of the traditional realm,” says Janet Shaw, who is one half of the Shaw Sisters duo.

Together with her sister Angela, the two have combined their love for craft and design with a vision to change current perceptions around what it means to be a “master craftsman” in South Africa. In their opinion, master craftsmen should be accorded recognition equal to highly specialised professionals. Not everyone is blessed with the level of skill and talent to qualify them as master craftsmen, and the sisters take great pains to find the best with whom to collaborate.

Working with a spectrum of crafters from ilala palm and wire weavers to wood carvers and artisanal glass blowers, the Shaw Sisters brand has been responsible for overseeing the creation, production and marketing of a range of beautifully crafted and original pieces. Janet’s seperate venture, the Zulu Beadwork Project, operates in the same way but with a focus on beadwork catering to overseas fashion buyers.

For Janet and Angela the process of creating an object, from the seed of an idea to the final item, is the most fun and yet challenging aspect of their involvement. Getting to know the craftsmen and their skills, developing ideas, drafting technical specs, workshopping prototypes, and the time spent with the crafter through to final production, can be intense and take months. The majority of these crafters work in their homes or small workshops dotted around KZN, and many of their family members, seeing the benefits, have become involved too.

“It’s really tough to get each item produced to spec and of the highest quality. Even master craftsmen can take more than one attempt to get there ” confesses Angela. “But when they get it right it’s amazing!”

Their challenging briefs and unwavering standards of quality set the benchmark for an expanding community of crafters in KwaZulu-Natal. The fresh eyes and original ideas of these sisters have cleverly redesigned well-known traditional items such as wooden platters, woven baskets and beaded necklaces. New techniques in dyeing and raw materials have also been employed, with inspired outcomes.

“There’s such a wealth of talent and skills in KZN that we needn’t look elsewhere” they agree. They are kept busy enough by their local projects, so much so that this year the two sisters are having to restructure their business, with Janet managing the Zulu Beadwork Project full time, and Angela similarly taking the reins of the Shaw Sisters brand. Their shared vision remains though.

“It’s about changing perceptions of handmade products: their value, and the craft and commitment it takes to produce them,” says Angela. “Essentially we’re applying a greater economic vision to these traditional skills whereby an individual can be economically independent and empowered, and sustain themselves by their own hand.”

shawsisters.co.za

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