Product Description:
Since its inception in 1985 the management of Abacus Beadwork has had a strong belief in the empowerment
of the rural population of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Initially owned by Jane Bedford, now by Mike and Hazel Bartlett, Jane's compassion has been passed on to this new management team. The suffering in the rural townships from disease and malnutrition resulting from mainly unemployment and the resultant poverty, affects mainly the women and children. We believe that if we nurture the creativity and talents that exist in their age-old traditional beading capabilities, we can offer them the gift of being able to maintain their pride and self-confidence by enabling them to provide for their families whilst keeping these traditions alive.
By offering them a market for the fruits of their labour, we are opening doors to a better lifestyle for these people, and, by improving the quality of the raw materials they use for the beadwork, as well as teaching them modern styles to bring them up to date with fashion trends, we can assist in the creation of more demand for their products, particularly in the international arena.
The brash colours and use of inferior trade beads which the various tribes of Africa traditionally use to create their beadwork has limited appeal, and is really only bought as souvenirs by tourists to the country. By providing the best beads on offer on the international market, and designing products in styles and colours that appeal to a wider market, we are increasing the demand for these products and thus are able to offer earning opportunities to more people. We are assisting them to produce contemporary jewellery with appeal to women from all walks of life and from all countries, in this way we believe that we can best help them to help themselves.
The quality demanded by international customers has forced us to teach our staff the importance of absolute attention to detail and strict quality controls; the deadlines imposed by these customers is teaching them to move away from the rather slow-moving pace of life in Africa, which in itself is showing them that the more goods they produce, the more they can earn.
Our beading staff have realised the opportunities we are offering to them, and, because they recognise the earning potential of the beading industry, they are continuously training the young girls from their villages to take up the craft as a career.
At present we employ 3 full-time studio ladies who assist us with product development, teach the new skills learnt from this product development to teams of beaders, assist us with quality control, and all the other daily requirements of our busy little company. We have 35 contract beaders who are producing products for us on a regular basis.
Company Contact:
Contact Name: Hazel Bartlett
Company Name: Abacus Beadwork
Email:
Tel: +27 31 563 3801
Fax: +27 866 592 727
Street Address: 1 Beachway Durban
North 4051 Kwazulu-natal South
Africa
Website:
http://www.beadwork.co.za
Member name: AbacusBeadwork
Country:
South Africa
Member Since: 01 January 2009
Total Leads:
1 AbacusBeadwork Import Export Business Leads
Business focus: Beadwork, Beads, Contemporary Jewellery, African Beadwork
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