Mr Price Home Weaves its way into the future
of St Lucia
The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is South Africa's first World Heritage Site
and the oldest conservation area in Africa.
The cultural and ecological
treasures of the region are so great as to defy the normal rules of sentence
construction: 220 kilometres of coastline and beaches; 100 species of coral; 8
inter-linking ecosystems; the major swamp forests left in South Africa; 3 major
lake systems including Kosi Bay, Lake St Lucia and Lake Sibayi; zero other
places in the world where the world's largest terrestrial mammals (elephants)
range within kilometeres of where the world's largest marine mammals (whales)
swim; 8 major game reserves in the broader Maputaland; 105 years of conservation
(the St Lucia Park was declared a game reserve 3 years after the Yellowstone
National Park and is Africa's oldest protected area); all of the Big Five; the
highest number and density of black rhino in any place on the globe; 105 red
data species; 5 species of turtles; the highest number of frog species in
southern Africa (35 of which 2 are endemic); 36 species of snakes; 526 bird
species (the greatest avifauna diversity in Africa with 50% of South Africa's
bird species & 25% of Africa's); 80 species of dragon flies; 110 species of
butterflies on the Eastern Shores of St Lucia alone; more than 2000 species of
flowering plants; all 5 of South Africa's surviving mangrove tree species; 25
000-year-old coastal dunes, among the highest in the world; 700-year-old fish
traps, commented on for the natural and cultural beauty by early Portuguese
explorers; 5 cultural groups: Zulu, Swazi, Shangaan, Tonga and relict group of
Gonda speakers.
This fragile combination of natural beauty and social diversity has elevated
the St Lucia Wetlands to the status of an icon in the history of environmental
struggle in South Africa. As former President Nelson Mandela himself put it
during a speech marking the historic 2002 reintroduction of elephants to the
Eastern Shores of the Wetlands: "The Wetlands Park must be the only place
on the globe where the world's oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the
world's biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the
world's oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world's biggest marine mammal (the
whale).
So what does that have to do with the Mr Price Home chain of home ware
stores?
The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is a large park that has many communities
of people living in and around it. To ensure the sustainable coexistence of
these communities with the environment, many projects have been initiated. One
of these, the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park craft programme, combines
traditional weaving skills with modern design and marketing systems to ensure
that weavers can play an active part in the global economy and earn a decent
living.
The challenge of establishing and maintaining a positive benefit flow between
poor rural and rich urban areas lies at the heart of successful rural craft
development. Seeing the potential for generating income for hundreds of people
from linking traditional skills to urban markets, the Wetland Park Authority
designed an intervention to build the capacity of crafters to produce and sell
crafts in a range of higher value markets. The programme organised 400 crafters
into 24 groups. Building on existing skills and materials, and using market
information to guide the product development process, the programme gradually
improved the design, quality and diversity of the craft product.
The product development training was aimed at developing saleable craft. The
Programme recruited prominent South African product designers (Marisa Fick
Jordaan and Richard Sparks) with well-established links to both South African
and international markets, to design and develop products that increased
crafters' access to high-end décor markets.
The programme quickly recognised that superior product design and development
was necessary but not sufficient for sustained income generation. It is just as
important to provide training to crafters in craft enterprise skills and product
development. The programme focused on costing, pricing, marketing, economies of
scale in materials, transport, producing volume (co-operating to bring down
costs and deliver goods), negotiating with buyers, and producing and delivering
orders.
From the beginning, the Craft Programme set up marketing links based on the
principle of fair trade between the crafters and markets. As part of the
training programme, each craft group made a marketing trip to Durban, where they
were introduced to buyers and learned to know the city- where to stay, how to
get around, where to buy materials, and where to sell their products. These
trips practically demonstrated the sessions on pricing, quality and market
differentiation. When groups received orders they traveled to Durban to deliver
their products.
The programme provides ongoing support for crafters. Many of the challenges
facing craft groups arise because of the power relations that emerge between
people in resource poor areas. Product developers are frequently called on to
work with the social and institutional issues that constrain craft groups'
progress and success. The craft learning groups benefit from frequent visits
from product development and organisational development specialists.
The programme's approach is developmental, participatory and learner centred,
placing the self-reliance of crafters at the centre of the programme strategy.
The craft programme aims to build the self-esteem and self-reliance of crafters
through developing their creative and analytic capacity. In every one of the
thirty successful craft groups involved in the programme, crafters organise
their own materials, negotiate with buyers, produce and deliver orders, and
receive payment independently of the Wetlands Authority.
Training product developers
As a poverty alleviation project rather than a business, the craft programme
soon recognised that the people who are currently able to contribute towards
high quality craft development in resource poor rural contexts are
over-stretched. A much larger cadre of product developers is required to make a
significant impact on the craft sector, and these opportunities for new careers
in product development (as well as new business opportunities for entrepreneurs)
are also a source of job creation. There are four critical areas of skill
required for effective craft product development in resource poor rural
contexts:
- Knowledge of market demand and design trends and an ability to develop
products that meet these.
- An ability to apply design skills to the production of marketable product
ranges.
- An understanding of rural development and an ability to work in
partnership with craft producers.
- The ability to train, mentor and transfer skills effectively.
In the experience of craft programme managers, it is very rare to find
product developers who currently have all of these skills. Most product
developers in the sector are white and many cannot speak the languages used by
rural crafters. Because training in design does not cover the developmental
aspects of working with resource poor people, design graduates have not been
exposed to the poverty and development debate. Designers from other creative
design fields do not always understand the constraints of the craft sector and
may not be able to design products to meet market demand. The capacity to mentor
effectively is not innate - it needs to be developed.
In 2003, the Authority hosted a 9 month full time learnership (NQF 6 in
Product Development Practices) to train nineteen young designers from around
South Africa as product developers. Five product developers, drawn from the
graduates of the Learnership, are currently employed by the Wetland Park
Authority to work with the craft groups. Our product developers work with
crafters from first product concepts to successful delivery of well priced, high
standard products. (Wetland craft products are often featured in design
magazines such as House & Leisure and Elle). Crafters are assisted to cost
their products realistically by taking into account the time spent making the
product, the cost of the materials and the cost of transport. The product
developers have an excellent understanding of rural development and are able to
work in partnership with crafters. A large part of their work is supporting
groups to become effective organisations so that they can manage the production
of large orders (meeting deadlines and producing consistently good quality
products). The product developers support crafters by training, mentoring and
facilitating effective skills transfer between individual crafters.
Poverty in rural areas is created and increased by distance from resource
flows and lack of synergy. The Craft Programme works with the associative
strength produced by partnerships within and between craft groups, with
consultants and funders, and with government departments and the private sector.
Once all these steps were in place, the project had achieved a level of
stability and productivity that was attractive to the home ware retail group, Mr
Price Home. The Mr Price group of companies have currently exceeded the R1
billion rand per annum turnover mark, so attracting attention from such a
company signalled the entry of the Craft Programme into the big league.
How the partnership works
Mr Price Home's commitment to supporting South African designers and
producers is reflected in the fair price the crafters have negotiated for
their products. Crafters will sell their products directly to Mr Price Home.
There will be no middleman. This means that crafters will be able to get
better prices for their products. SJ Wholesalers, a long standing supplier
of Mr Price Home, has agreed to play the roll of 3rd party partner as part
of their social responsibility. SJ Wholesalers will deal with quality
control, pay crafters, and pack and deliver product. This cost is carried by
Mr Price Home. The large orders Mr Price Home is able to place will allow
crafters to earn a more consistent income, encouraging increasing attention
to quality and innovation.
The first order
Eleven of the 24 small producer groups from around the Wetland Park have
produced a first order to the value of R84 000. And they did this in only
two months! The first order put pressure on the crafters to perform. It
pointed to areas for development, and thus improved production capacity.
Groups that had never produced a big order before successfully completed
their allocation, to deadline. This sets the scene for further, larger
orders in the New Year - when more crafters will be drawn into production.
The prices are right, the craft groups are enthusiastic, and the Mr Price
team, like the Wetland Park product development team, is young, keen and
committed. The challenge of establishing and maintaining a positive benefit
flow between poor rural and rich urban areas lies at the heart of successful
craft development. We are confident that this creative three-way partnership
will show South Africa a practical way to achieve this, while encouraging the
further development and production of beautiful hand made South African
products.
Branding of the Products
The following branding information shows the mind set of the project.
Rooted.
Root n.
1. the organ of a plant that anchors the rest of the plant in the ground
person's sense of belonging in a community, place
2. the sources of or reasons for one's longstanding emotional attachment to a
place, community, etc
3. origin or derivation
4. the essential part, or nature of something
Rooted, adj
1. Firmly established
2. Deeply felt (Collins Concise English Dictionary)
Rooted. in the wetlands
Wetlands are an essential support system for life on our planet. Weaving the
land and the sea together, they are home to a myriad of birds, fish, and
animals. Woven from isikhonkho and ilala palm fronds, these deeply traditional,
absolutely contemporary products bring the colours and textures of the Wetlands
into your home.
Rooted. in nature
Harvesting within nature's limits, this product is made of sunshine, earth
and water. Nature renews these plants each year. We balance the conservation of
a precious resource with life giving benefits to rural people by weaving
nature's gifts by hand into products that bring classic form and natural texture
into your home.
Rooted. in African heritage
The result of an unbroken transmission of the traditional skills and techniques
of the Wetlands, passed from warm hand to warm hand, weaving patterns and
stitches into high end décor at home in the city. Our past, our future.
Rooted. in community
This product was made in a circle of laughter and conversation as old as women.
We've taken our lives in our hands. We weave our sense of belonging into these
patterns. Our common ground. Your home.
Edited by Dr Garth Cambray from information provided by Joseph Fataar and
Bronwyn James
More information:
Craft Project Manager: Bronwyn James - wetlandseed@iafrica.com
or on cell: 0823768694.
http://www.mrpricehome.co.za/
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