All of Mahatsara's creations comes from organizations (integration firms, cooperatives, associations...) concerned about developing and forming employment for disadvantaged populations in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
The creations are conceived, produced and marketed within the respect of fair trade principles.
Mahatsara, throughout its activity, fully commits itself towards a fair trade, ethical and sustainable development approach.
Mahatsara's commitments:
- to refrain from negotiating the prices with the craftsmen, artists and designers with whom we work;
- to make sure the money comes back to the communities and to favour a partnership with organizations which have a good social practice with training, housing, education as well as health;
- to finance 50% of all the orders in advance;
-to favour the distribution and creation of products which mainly come from local and renewable resources, natural or recycled material;
- to establish a long term partnership with the craftsmen and designers whose productions it distributes, thus contributing to the promotion and development of their work;
Mahatsara signifies “which does good”, in Malagasy language.
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OUR PARTNERS
MAGDA VAN DER VLOEDSouth African designer Magda van Der Vloed's favoured materials are, among others, telephone wire and springbok skin. She draws her inspiration from nature.
Flowers and birds fill her creations, may they be decoration objects or jewelry, just like the wire and telephone wire birds or the brooches in tinted springbok skin...
Magda is at the head of a small insertion firm where she educates and employs young craftsmen.
Known for her creative and educationalist talents, she regularly leads product development workshops, under the aegis of the American NGO Aid to Artisans. THE FORWARD GROUPThe "Forward" group, originally named "Phambili" meaning "forward" in Xhosa language, was launched by South African Margaret Woermann in June 2005 as a platform for a group of craftswomen attending embroidery and appliqué workshops.
The women, many of whom are HIV/AIDS affected, come from regions as diverse as the Eastern Cape, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Congo. United by their skills in the Forward group, they are genuine artists. Each one of their creations is a one-off collectable piece to be considered as an "Haute Couture" artwork.
The Forward group involves more than 60 women artists who are now able to generate an income and gain confidence in moving ahead with their lives.
The group's founder Margaret Woermann runs one of the most respected Arts & Crafts galleries in Cape Town. For years she has been promoting the work of organisations that truly care about training, employment and the creation of an artistic profile for disadvantaged people from townships to rural areas in South Africa.
THE MASIZAME PROJECT & DESIGN AFRIKAThe Masizame Project was launched in 1998 in Coffee Bay (Eastern Cape Province – South Africa) with the objective of creating jobs for women of this region throughout the development of craft industry and by exploring the art of weaving and the richness of Xhosa culture.
Since 1999, Binky Newman, founder and designer of Design Afrika, has taken interest in this project with the idea of developing a new collection of contemporary baskets within the respect of ancestral Xhosa techniques...
All the women of the project, for the most part illiterate, accepted the challenge with enthusiasm and open-mindedness, and created this surprising range of organically shaped weaving work...
Her passion for basketry in general and African baskets in particular, brought Binky to travel all over Southern Africa, where she often participates to artisan groups, especially in the framework of object development workshops under the aegis of the American NGO, Aid to Artisans. VONDELING OPTEL CRAFTLocated in the Eastern Cape Province, Vondeling is an informal settlement made up of only 29 families and which infrastructure consists of a primary school and a church hall. The town used to be connected to the outside world by train.
Thus in 2006, with the aim of reconnecting this community to the outside world and to contribute to its visible regeneration, the social enterprise Vondeling Optel Craft was set up. Run by 13 women and 2 men, this project specializes in creating and producing crocheted wire angels named after the person who created it.
Each angel produced tells the story of Vondeling people and makes their isolation from the world receding.
“We once felt isolated and excluded from possible participation in any economic activity in the country. Through the creation of beautiful handmade objects and the running of our own business, we now have hope and growing empowerment of our people”
Vondeling Optel Craft is now recognized in South Africa for the quality and beauty of their unique angels
QUAZI DESIGNFounded in Swaziland in 2008 upon the initiative of British designer Doron Shaltiel in partnership with a local magazines distributor, Quazi Design is a cutting edge craft company that transforms waste magazines into original eco accessories and interiors.
A project with a strong environmental and social they make use of innovative techniques and all their products are handmade out of recycled magazine paper.
In addition, Quazi Design contributes to improve the economic and social status of Swazi women by training and employing them.This young insertion firm already hires 10 artisans on a full-time basis.
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