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Elize van Aardt, Product Owner
 


Elizwe Ceramics

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Hundreds of years ago the interior of the Eastern Cape was home to  nomadic Khoisan hunter-gatherers who named the area some 150km from the modern-day city of Port Elizabeth after the red clay-rich ridges in the area.

Later settlers tried to translate the Khoisan name into Dutch. Then English settlers anglicised the Dutch name and, ever since, the little hamlet has been known as Cookhouse, although its name actually has nothing to do with food or cooking.

Just outside Cookhouse, vivacious Elize van Aardt lives with husband Acton on a sheep farm aptly called Fairworld. The 25-year-old graduate of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University moved to Fairworld after marrying Acton last year. Early in 2009 Elize started Elizwe (a play on her own name and the Xhosa word for “nation”) A classmate of hers from university, Xoliswa Christians, had been out of work for some time so Elize arranged a house for Xoliswa in Cookhouse and the two set about getting Elizwe off the ground.  

Almost immediately after graduating, Elize had started a project on her parents’ farm near the town of Cradock, teaching local women something of what she had learnt while training to become a ceramicist. At Cookhouse she was determined to do the same thing. “I believe that everyone who has been fortunate enough to get a university education has a responsibility to pass on skills to other people, to empower their communities,” Elize says to explain the philosophy behind Elizwe.

There is no industry in tiny Cookhouse and unemployment and HIV/Aids are rife. Elize decided that meaningful local upliftment might as well start with her. In the space of only three months Elizwe has trained 22 unemployed local women, none of whom previously had any experience in ceramics. When pieces are sold – at local farm stalls, markets, at festivals and through garden clubs in the area – the women get paid directly.  Four people, including Elize and Xoliswa, formally work for Elizwe and on Thursdays and Fridays four or five women come to the studio on Fairworld to learn from the two graduates and friends. The studio has two kilns and a wheel, although as yet none of the women undergoing training have yet graduated to “throwing”.

The studio produces a range of decorative bowls, platters, dishes and decorative ceramic canvasses. Their patterns and colours are inspired, says Elize by “the diversity of the people of Africa, the landscapes and, particularly, textures”.

Elize herself is gaining a growing reputation for her wall-mounted canvasses, on which she combines ceramics with recycled glass and metal. Xoliswa’s trademark products are mostly green and yellow vases and jugs modelled on squashes and pumpkins.

Recently Xoliswa landed a well-paid job creating and training in the Western Cape and soon Elize will be on her own. “This job is a great opportunity for Xoliswa,” says Elize, “and I can’t hold her back. She’s played her part helping me to get Elizwe off the ground and now I’ve got to take it to the next level, so that we can employ more and more women.”

Elize says that apart from passing on pottery skills, she and Xoliswa encourage the women to express themselves. “We want them to be proud of their tradition, their language, of themselves.”

Still in its infancy, Elizwe has a long way to go in reaching markets beyond the immediate surroundings of Cookhouse. She is about to embark on a major marketing outreach to craft shops and a website is currently under development. “We really want people to be able to order 10, 20 pieces at a time, so that we can, as I say, offer more opportunities to more women. That doesn’t mean, though, that our pieces won’t continue to be handmade and unique.”

In reaching out to the rest of South Africa and the world, TEP has “been a great support”, says Elize. “They’ve arranged, for instance, for us to be interviewed and to be profiled on their Hidden Treasures DVD. Hopefully they can help us to attend events like the Decorex exhibition. With organisations like TEP and others on our side, the sky’s the limit for Elizwe.”
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