“WayaWaya will mend and sell fashionable leather bags for the Norwegian and international market. WayaWaya products will be made by women recruited from Kwenuha, an empowerment organization for former sex workers.”

WayaWaya is an expression from the Zambian language nyanja and means “African time”, “taking it easy” and is something the girls wanted to implement as a mantra in their organization and brand.

After working for a year in Zambia for Kwenuha, the girls saw how the women struggled to get proper work. They were trained in sewing skills, but stigmatization and high unemployment rates made the situation hard.

As a social entrepreneurial organization WayaWaya’s vision is to “fulfill dreams and strengthen the individual through sustainable work” and the key to their organization is a collaboration with Kwenuha Womens Association. The workshop will be based in Livingstone, Zambia and operate as an extended job prospect for these women, and will be a possibility for them to engage in an ordinary work environment. Bags and purses will be produced and exported internationally under the brand WayaWaya.

Whilst in Cape Town Merete, Iris and Brigit spent time at the Missibaba workshop in Woodstock working alongside the team to create their prototypes. With the help of Chloe, the girls drawn up patterns, cut out leather, glued and sewed, creating the outside shapes of their bags. Part of this journey has been learning and documenting the step by step process of how the bags are made and not only will the girls have prototypes to showcase but they’ll obtain the guidelines needed for their seamstresses in Zambia.

The Missibabas x

Changing lives

Chloe hard at work

Getting technical

The girls glueing the leather

In the run up to the special day we ran a Mother’s Day social media competition and invited our Missibabas to submit photos of them and their mums in order to win a gift hamper. The response was incredibly heart warming!

Stefania, Kirsten and Chloe

Bete Noir collection
Kirsten Goss

Cha ching madness!

Stefania Morland creations

Celebrations!

Mmmm Honest Chocolate

All of the beautiful mums and daughters who entered our Mother’s Day competition

The lucky winner!

The Missibabas x

Gourmet wors rols!

Kirsten Goss Urban Edge Collection

Kirsten tucking in!

We launched our new collaborative collection

A Fashion Friend team and Carey from Girl About Town PR

Happy cactus

Deluxe cocktails from The Orphanage Cocktail Emporium

Kirsten and Chloe

Fabulous fashionistas!

We’ve  launched an initiative dedicated to creative collaborations called Missibaba Kindred Spirits! The first collection entitled ‘I See the Sea and the Sea Sees Me’ encompasses three limited edition prints designed by Chloe Townsend of Missibaba, graphic designer Naomi Bossert and illustrator Mia Nolting.

Chloe loves in creative collaboration and finds seeing her craft through another’s eyes both challenging and invigorating. She decided to create a brand initiative dedicated to collaborations that would see collections with designers from all walks of life released throughout the year.

Bossert and Nolting have been experimenting with fabric prints and painting for some time and when Townsend invited them to take part in the first Missibaba Kindred Spirits project they leapt at the chance. The endless blue ocean and the way it connects us all together inspired the ‘I See the Sea and the Sea Sees Me’ collection. Bossert and Nolting are both foreign, originating from Holland and America respectively, and feel a deep connection to vast oceans that tie them to their homeland.

Each designer was responsible for creating one pattern that would be produced in three existing Missibaba styles – the Giant Scarab Purse, the Cha Ching bag and the Wild West Clutch. The limited edition collection retails for between R1850 – R2850 depending on the bag style.

The designers painted black dye in varying shades onto untreated, natural, locally produced leather. Townsend has found the black leather dye to be the most colourfast and all three designers agreed to stick to a monochromatic palate in order to accentuate the patterns. All of the bags were finished with a coat of varnish to prevent rapid wear although there will be slight colour fading if frequently exposed to light.

Townsend’s design was inspired by Japanese woodcuts, the scallop patterns inspired by the sandy homes of fan worms, eylashy eyes and fish scales. She first painted the pattern in a masking fluid to give it the look of a bleach print, and then filled in the scallops with varying shades of black dye before applying copper leaf to highlight the fish scales.

Bossert drew upon elements of reflection and illusion by using a pattern that could be interpreted in different ways through the use of repetition. The small fish that swim in the waves at the edge of the beach and the multitude of different reflections seen on water and in people’s eyes inspired her unique design. Using a calligraphy pen she was able to create sharper lines than those created by a paintbrush.

Combining abstract shapes and drawings of shells collected on Cape Town beaches, Nolting made use of a Japanese ink brush that enabled her to create lines in a variety of thicknesses.

The ‘I See the Sea and the Sea Sees Me’ collection is available for purchase from the Bree Street shop or online at www.missibaba.com.

We love collaborations!

Chloe Townsend Cha Ching Bag

Mia Nolting Cha Ching Bag

Naomi Bossert Cha Ching Bag

Good times!

Photographer: Alex Alfaro

Model: Jimmy Dean (Kult – Hamburg)

Clothing: Stiaan Louw

The Missibabas x

Missibabas x

The best of the best on Bree!

We are beyond thrilled!

The Missibabas

Fashionista Sistas!

http://www.cameronplatter.com

The Missibabas

Bigger the Better

The Missibabas

ELLE November 2012

Solange sporting Missibaba!

City Press iMagazine

ELLE

Glamour

Soft Lips Campaign

Grazia

House & Garden

VISI

 

Women's Health