ARTS & CRAFTS - THE GARDEN ROUTE

The Garden Route boasts exceptional artists and a wide range of arts and crafts are available in the area.

There’s a lot of new work in traditional media, with artists constantly developing exiting and new products. These range from pretty tableware, wooden products, embroidery to the simplest of items, such as keyrings and candle-holders.

In addition to the standard materials such as beads, grass, leather, fabric and clay, pieces are made using telephone wire, plastic bags, petrol cans and bottle tops – even food tin labels are used to create brightly coloured paper mache bowls. Wire products come in all forms ranging from representations of the globe to cars and motorcycles – which are capable of manipulated movement – to joke cellphones and working radios.

South African beadwork, once the insignia of tribal royalty alone, has today found a huge range of applications, from the creation of coverings for everything from bottles and matchboxes.

With characteristic inventiveness, South Africans have adapted every possible medium to a market that sells to both locals and tourists. Shops, markets and collectives dealing in arts and craft are thriving and provide much needed employment and income to the local community.

ARTS AND CRAFT INFORMATION IN THE GARDEN ROUTE

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ART INFORMATION OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA