Lupane Women’s Centre
Looking like they have been swirled with delicate watercolours, this gorgeous range of traditionally handcrafted baskets is the result of a partnership between the Lupane Women’s Centre in Zimbabwe and the Kingston University Design School in the UK, bringing a contemporary edge to traditional African design. The initiative entitled, Kingston Project Africa was created to facilitate the exchange and support of knowledge between both regions, and led by Professor Catherine McDermott utilises the expertise of academics, industry practitioners and curators across various projects and collaborations. This particular project saw the head of the design school, Simon Maidment sharing his expertise, running a series of workshops in Zimbabwe over a period of two-weeks. The partnership saw the exploration of ways to make, transport and market the baskets, which are mainly sold to tourists visiting the country, but have also made their way into international retailers stores such as the Conran shop and Anthropologie. In recognition of the skill and creativity in production the baskets have been exhibited at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, as well as the London Design Festival and Design Indaba in Cape Town. Drawn from the disciplines of graphic to product design; students from the business and design schools of the University were also involved in the project, challenged to come up with effective solutions to help solve the problems faced by the women in producing and marketing the products. The ideas generated by the students were presented to the women producing the baskets during the workshops.  

Located in Matabeleland a region lying two-hours outside Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, the Lupane Women’s Centre is a not-for-profit rural-based membership organisation that was founded in 1997 ‘for women by women’ in a bid to help members generate sustainable incomes through the provision of a range of skills, business and leadership training and support. The Lupane Women’s Centre currently has a 3200 strong membership, of which 2667 are women; the Centre also assists those who are marginalised, regardless of gender. In addition to basketry members are also involved in programmes including, gardening, candle and soap making, and bee keeping. A restaurant and conference facility for public hire helps generate an income to keep the Centre running. As a boost to the Centre the success of this project has meant continued funding from the British Council.  

Batonga Stools
Bursting with colours that are right up my street, Australian retailer Safari Fusion is always guaranteed to lift my spirits, and yesterday as the view outside my window gradually disappeared under a rather depressing blanket of mist and fog, unexpectedly finding myself on the site provided the perfect antidote. I love joyous happy colours and the brighter the better, so was instantly taken with some colourful Batonga stools, that are hand carved in Zimbabwe by the Tonga, who historically reside in the Zambezi Valley region to the West and North West of the country.  

Carved from a single block of wood Batonga Stools are best known in their natural wooden state. The addition of a colourful coat of paint gives them a contemporary makeover, making them perfect for modern home interiors, dotted around the space, as handy extra seating or side tables.

Pepper & Stew
Sky Living TV channel in the UK is currently running a series called Cooks to Market. The concept of the show is to get budding cooks and food brands onto retail shelves, and see two different brands going up against each other and selling their product in food market and win the chance to pitch their idea to a panel of leading food UK experts. Of the two episodes I have managed to catch, both featured African food brands who  both outsold their rivals to go on and make impassioned pitches, which has landed both brands shelf space in Partridges, one of the UK's most prestigious food retailers who have the honour of being the Queen's grocers. Pepper & Stew was one of the brands featured, introducing their range of African cooking sauces to a new audience.

Pepper & Stew was founded by Zimbabwean Racquel Mafura, and Araba Jane who wanted to create a quick and simple way of cooking African food and bringing it mainstream. The product range is comprised of four sauces in the following flavours: Cape Malay Curry from South Africa; and Egusi Stew, Jollof and Palm Nut from West Africa. In the first stage of the programme the brands go through a consultation stage on what they need to do to prepare for the market challenge and although advised not to Pepper & Stew chose to go ahead with rebranding their products, I am glad they did. The end result is simple yet stylish contemporary packaging, with a single solid colour highlighting each sauce and a band of geometric pattern to reflect the African heritage. The duo will be launching some African Spices Kits, which will come with step-by-step recipes, a shopping list of ingredients needed and the spices which are sourced from the different parts of the Continent. Going from strength to strength since filming the series, Pepper & Stew's sauces are now stocked in four deli's across the UK, and the Egusi Sauce recently won a Great Taste Gold Star award.

Additional information:
Sauces on the website are priced at: £4
For further information about Pepper & Stew visit: www.pepperandstew.co.uk
For further information about Cooks to Market visit: http://skyliving.sky.com

Pepper & Stew will be retailing their products from Maltby Street Food Market in Bermondsey, London, which is open on Saturdays 9am-2pm    

Gavin Worth
It took me a heartbeat before I realised that what I was looking at was not in fact large-scale line drawings on a stark white wall, but instead freestanding wire sculptures that look like someone just took a pencil and started sketching in mid air. The evocative, three-dimensional drawings are the work of artist Gavin Worth, whom I came across a few days ago courtesy of Aphro Chic.

Gavin was born in Zimbabwe, grew up in New Mexico and currently lives in Cairo where he is teaching at the American International School. Self-taught, Gavin cites a life long passion for drawing, scultpure and painting that began when he first saw the 'Head of Leda', a work by the Italian Renaissance artist, Michelangelo in a library book. You can see the influences in the fluid strokes and detailing of the images created. 

Through his work Gavin seeks to capture simple human moments; moments that are both beautiful and unguarded, and often fleeting such as a breeze gently lifting an arm, or a woman brushing her hair back. The sculptures are created to engage and draw in the viewer, viewing from different angles can bring forth changes to the initial viewpoint; as can the subtle effects in the surrounding space, such as shifting natural light, can affect the mood.

It is hard enough trying to sketch on paper; bending wire to achieve the same effect of minimal fluid strokes comes across as quite a difficult, labour intensive process; however, a short video on Gavin's blog gives a glimpse into the process of creating his seemingly single stroke sculptures. Mounted onto a base, the nature of the sculptures allows for flexibility within interior and exterior spaces; as unlike static drawings you could move the sculptures around maximising on different backdrops and thereby constantly updating the feel of the space.

Raymond Masara
Like a pieces of string squiggled across a page, innovative Zimbabwean furniture designer, Raymond Masara creates a colourful, range of stools, tables, lamps and lounge chairs from steel rod wirework techniques. Raymond's colour choices are inspired by nature and the intriguing twisted shapes reflect and connect him to a childhood growing up in pain and poverty. Born in Malawi Raymond is now based in Cape Town, and was named the 2011 emerging creative designer at Design Indaba for his sculptural yet functional furniture pieces. Although the twisted effect comes across as being busy, look at it closer and you will see that the designs themselves are quite simple in style relying on the shapes cast by the twisted wire to add depth and interest. Still a young artist, Raymond is developing his style and has caught the attention of design critics who are keeping a watchful eye on his progress.