THE SIJWA PROJECT
We are so excited to share with you what we’ve been up to in the North of Namibia in March 2022 with The Collective Boutique and Africa Monarch Lodges. The Sijwa Project has a broad vision of empowering the local community by creating jobs, preserving traditional knowledge, teaching skills and conserving the surrounding environment through a variety of proposed recycling and innovative activities.
I trained the 9 ladies of The Sijwa project hand embroidery onto fabric. The ladies are currently busy with hand embroidery on the fabrics we are using for our SAFW show. It looks incredible! We are so excited about it - it's a labour of love. It's a meaningful project to uplift and empower women of the community into artists and entrepreneurs.
Here is a link to more info: https://www.africanmonarchlodges.com/sijwa-project/
The Sijwa Project colab x South Africa Fashion Week SS22
The Isabel de Villiers best selling Kimono Jacket is a firm favourite at The Collective Boutique and is now proudly shared with The Sijwa Project. Isabel started off by teaching the ladies how to take body measurements to customize garments for clients. The ladies were then taught to draw up the pattern for the kimono jacket. Isabel taught the ladies how to lay the pattern out on a linen blend fabric and how to cut the fabric pieces according to the pattern specifications.
The kimono jackets were produced from start to finish using the sewing machines sponsored by Avril Payment Solution, Myeisha Namibia, Collective Boutique, Rix Transport Namibia, Paramount and Urban Lens Photography- June vd Walt.
The ladies are learning new techniques and finishes as the uniquely unforgettable whiskey soaked vibrato of Nina Simone, Isabel’s favourite jazz singer, fills the creative silence of the sewing workshop.
Photographs by Nikita Rix-Venter