Township Patterns is an example of how showcasing by the V&A Waterfront Tourism Gateway has helped a small community project grow into a thriving, sustainable business. Non-profit organization ASB (Afrique du Sud Bisonvilles – which means South African townships in French) in 1997 set-up independent sewing cooperatives in Cape Town townships where previously unemployed women make a living by sewing Hessian shopping bags, known as The Township Bag.
 
A few months ago, ASB founder, Nicole-Marie Iresch, discovered the work of seven artists in an artist’s studio in Khayelitsha. Impressed by their work, she decided to display their artwork on a limited range of the shopping bags.
 
The V&A Waterfront Tourism Gateway granted the artists exhibition space that exposed them to buyers, enabling them to gain more orders and so develop the community focused business.
 
The artists are Samantha Douw, Patrick Holo, Lindile Magunya, Siyabonga Mateke, Luthando Lupuwana, Ron Poole and Gerald Tabata.

Photo: Self-taught Gugulethu artist, Patrick Holo, shows off some of his works that now adorns a shopping bag made by unemployed women in Khayelitsha.