The National Arts Festival offers opportunities for small businesses from all over South Africa and beyond to descend on Grahamstown and parade anything exotic – and this year was no different.
The National Arts Festival offers opportunities for small businesses from all over South Africa and beyond to descend on Grahamstown and parade anything exotic – and this year was no different.
The bustling streets have been filled with artworks, including beadwork, bags, traditional clothing and unique art pieces. Owner of Jomah Crafts, James Kimane, came to South Africa from Kenya 10 years ago.
Art was always his passion and he realised it was something he could make a living from.
“I started doing something that I learned in primary school,like a bit of drawing and painting," Kimane said. "I noticed that in South Africa it is something I could do for a living so I started to create real art."
It is Kimane’s first time at Fest and he admits he expected better sales.
It's not quite been how people had described it would be for small businesses, he said.
Kimane sells a variety of beadwork pieces and sculptures whose materials he sources from countries such as India and the Seychelles.
His most expensive work is a sculpture of a Masai woman, which will set you back R1 500. But he has pieces such as key-rings as cheap as R10.
Another talented artist who usually has his sculptures and paintings displayed in galleries is Ric, from Grahamstown and Bathurst. Ric is no stranger to markets, where he sells some of his smaller pieces.
However, it is his first year at Fest.
He prefers to describe his entrepreneurial activities as an extension of his passion, rather than as business.
His cheapest items are medicine bags (R30), but he has sculptures for R20 000 each.
Much older to the Fest scene are the owners of Orion Arts and Crafts, entrepreneurs based in Cape Town. They've been coming to the Festival for the last few years and know about sales highs and lows.
They say the Festival has helped them spread word about their business, leading to sponsorships from companies.
They specialise in beaded artwork and paintings, with prices ranging from R50 to R600.
Nompilo Mncube and Nandi Majola are part fo the Future Journalist Progamme (FJP) 2013, at Rhodes University.
