Empowering African design through community art
October 2, 2017
At Darkie Designs we place great value on supporting the locals and their wonderful artistic talents which we are proud to display in our store.

We take great pride in selling home décor pieces and accessories which are not only inspired by the African landscape and culture, but created by those that live it, day in and day out. We believe that in supporting local talent we are opening our doors to the creative abilities of those who might otherwise go unnoticed in our neighbourhood.

As such, our team at Darkie Designs aspires to engage with our local community on a regular basis, inspiring them to create beautifully ornate, one-of-a-kind décor accessories and pieces. Through our engagement with local artists we aim to empower less fortunate communities, while offering a true piece of African culture represented in the many items sold in our store.

One such local artisan who Darkie Designs is incredibly proud of is our African art carver, Ray. A Nelspruit township dweller, the Darkie Designs team met Ray when he lived in just a shack – we are proud to say that through our ongoing support of his incredible talent, he has recently put down a deposit on his first home! Ray’s intricate and refined fish, giraffe and other carvings have become highly popular with our foreign clientele, while his talent has truly developed each year.

We are also proud to champion local NGO programmes, including an project based in Mozambique which supplies our store with beadwork. This NGO project is a drug addiction rehabilitation programme which we have proudly supported over the years, buying and selling their many gorgeous beadwork pieces.
 
Our Darkie Designs store also hosts its very own sewing room where we encourage and empower our staff to grow their skill set by bringing their creative ideas to life through sewing. Our eager sewers have been busy with a large demand for our range of scatter cushions, while upholstery work and repairs has also become highly popular in the sewing room.

Our many upholstery projects are supported by one of the largest sample library book ranges in the region, with over 100 sample books of upholstery for our clientele to choose from. We are so proud of all our sewing hands who have grown into fine crafters!

Our team vision at Darkie Designs is based on empowerment – we take to heart the talents of those who live in our community and pride ourselves on offering a good range of locally made products, affording equal opportunity wherever possible! Visit us today and take home a little piece of Africa.

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By Kyra Harper August 15, 2023
Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light.  For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
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