Johannesburg – While Covid-19 is hitting businesses hard everywhere, Nobuzwe Mabona is on a mission to save jobs and create a unique and authentic African identity.
Mabona, from Bisho in the Eastern Cape has been running a textile business since 2013 that designs and prints textiles so that locals do not have to rely on ships bringing in fabric from Belgium in the year 2021.
“As the founder of Buzwe Bethu Textile and Prints, I was importing fabrics from Ghana, Nigeria and Mali. This is when I saw a need for prints to be developed locally,” she said.
The embracer of cultural influence through tribal art textile print, Mabona aims to create a modern and global trend that can be embraced on Heritage Day and everyday, instead of international prints, when Africans are fully capable of creating their own prints.
“As a fine arts graduate who can draw and paint, I decided to generate an income from the textile market with the aim to empower struggling young artists whose designs we print on different fabrics.
“From digital design and printing, we give free training to fight poverty while empowering young designers. “Some of our favourite products are Xhosa-inspired dresses , combs, furniture, storytelling T-shirts, hut print and landscape prints.”
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