Monday, November 25, 2013

The wonderful world of weaving...

I recently met two very nice young Malawians who take great pride in their craft. They sit along the side of the road quite near our house and create beautiful inexpensive pieces of furniture! I got talking to them one day on one of my routine exercise walks with my friend Bev, and they told me that the cane they use comes all the way from the lakes of Malawi! It's not plastic, but the genuine 'thing'.
Daniel and James are two very humble, well-mannered and friendly young men! They completed their training in Malawi and came to South Africa for a better life! James mentioned to me that he would love to live in the UK one day and make his furniture there. One cannot help admiring these two youngsters as they also have dreams and actually live a very sparse life under difficult circumstances, but are always friendly, humble and appreciative of the little they have.

I happened to mention that my young wolf had torn and shredded some of my cane furniture that stands on the patio and I was devastated about it! Thought I would be forced to dump or sell it for a 'song', but they reassured me that they were able to repair every piece and insisted that I take the chairs to them immediately!! Hmmmm!!!...... I'm not too sure about this, but it's worth a try.

Daniel (left) and James working their wonders!

The cane strips are soaked in water for a few hours to make them pliable and easy to handle.



See how badly this chair has been torn?



This one at the bottom and around the back!



Close up


The two-seater couch was torn on the seat part



Daniel started immediately



 They only use two tools....a knife and a metal hook that looks something like a tent peg!





Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow with more of our weaving wonders!

2 comments:

  1. What a lucky encounter because it is better to mend something you love than to replace it ,...

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  2. I couldn't agree more! Thankyou x

    ReplyDelete