Upcycling: Balthazaar Designs

WORDS Cheri Morris


Young South African designer Jessi-Jean Havemann of Balthazaar Designs creates bespoke, high-end handbags using upcycled vintage carpets.

Founded in 2015, Balthazaar Designs aims to promote awareness around recycling and upcycling by creating once-off, quality handbags from carpets that would otherwise have had little use. The current camel saddlebags are from Pakistan, are individually handmade by Pakistani women and embellished with beads, shells, tassels and woollen pom-poms that were originally intended to protect their husbands on their long desert journeys.

Balthazaar Designs offer a range of camel saddlebags, leather slings and clutch bags, all made from Middle Eastern carpets and traditional Moroccan materials that Jessi-Jean sources herself. Each are individually handmade and naturally dyed. The emphasis is on the importance of curation from current resources and the economical upliftment of the women who make the carpets she upcycles.

This year, Balthazaar Designs has spent time training staff from townships surrounding Cape Town in efforts to support the local workforce and make a positive impact on the local economy.

The bags cost between R1 000 and R3 500 and are available online at Balthazaar DesignsBAGMEE, Out Of This World at the V&A Waterfront and Shana Morland on Kloof Street in Cape Town.