Spaza's hand made home textiles and gifts from Cape Town, South Africa.
Spaza developed from a hand-knit cotton kitchen cloth called 'a lappie' in South Africa. On a visit home to Canada in 2009, I was reminded of how wonderful knitted cloths were to use in the kitchen. When I returned to my life in South Africa, I got a knitting group started knitting the cloths on the outskirts of Cape Town; the Cape Flats.
Then I began dreaming up more products that I would like to use and how they could improve the lives of other women by allowing them to work in their homes. A whole range of home textiles developed and soon I had transformed our 1940's garage into a little shop and studio. The neighbours starting teasing me saying that I had 'a spaza' - another South African word meaning; a shop from home in the townships and that is how we got our name.
In October 2014 we were invited to open a little market stand in Cape Town's new home of design, The Watershed. It has been wonderful to meet like-minded people and they have inspired and reaffirmed my idea that through craft we can create items that will take the place of mass-produced plastic disposable household products.
Today we have three home industries producing Spaza products. Self-employed women working from their homes, employing their relatives and neighbours, making a better life for themselves and creating products that help us all consume better and live a less wasteful lifestyle.
