Paula Thomson (left) and Karen Monk-Klijnstra forged a friendship which has its roots deep in KZN communities.
Durban - Two heads are better than one and two creative heads create a glorious eclectic fashion mix, fit for the cover of glossies and making memorable moments on fashion runways.
Paula Thomson, executive manager of Woza Moya at the Hillcrest Aids Centre, and award-winning fashion designer Karen Monk-Klijnstra have teamed up on many projects since they first met when their children were at the same pre-school.
Woza Moya is home to 350 registered Woza crafters, 170 local community bead workers and 1200 consignee crafters, all of whose work has featured as accessories to Monk-Klijnstra’s designs on a multitude of fashion platforms, thanks to the collaborations between Thomson and Monk-Klijnstra.
Yesterday they launched an exhibition at the Hillcrest Aids Centre, celebrating more than 16 years of collaborative work.
In 2002, Thomson started the craft project with two buckets, one filled with Aids ribbons and the other with Christmas decorations for sale, to help HIV patients and their families to earn an income.
When Monk-Klijnstra invited her along to the Fashion Indaba in Cape Town, their “journey of madness”, as they described it, began.
“Paula arrived with her suitcase, her money belt and beadwork. We’d also both had our second child and we took these tiny babies with us to the Indaba, and were rushing back and forth to feed them,” said Monk-Klijnstra.
The fashion accessories Thomson took to the show were a resounding success and she said this week: “We started in one little room, it was very grassroots with just 13 women.
“Karen gave us the first opportunity to show our beadwork and when it’s on somebody, that makes a massive difference. It also allowed us to experiment and feed off Karen’s garments.”
Since then, not only have their two families become close, the pair have attended 12 Indabas and collaborated on a host of fashion events, featuring on the front of glossy magazines and appearing in numerous television interviews, showcasing the talent of the many crafters from the valleys in KZN.
Monk-Klijnstra said they had been talking about doing an exhibition of their collaborations for some time, and as her studio was overflowing with garments, there was no time like the present.
With beadwork on many a garment, Thomson said, "every garment has a story behind it and lots of hare-brained schemes”.
While many of her designs will be for exhibition only, Monk-Klijnstra said some would be for sale.
The pair are also currently working together on a new project which has to remain under wraps, but Monk-Klijnstra confirmed it was a television project.
Providing a sneak peak, she said: “It’s going to be remarkable, we will be going behind the fashion and telling the story of people in the valley, a story of courage, hope and faith.”
The exhibition will run until the end of September and will also include workshops on, for example, how to make masks, a life of colour and drafting basic patterns.
For more information, email wozamoya@hillaids.org.za or go to the Woza Moya Facebook page.
The Independent on Saturday