Melrose Arch will soon become a melting pot of handmade goodness where slow-produced, sustainable goodness sets the stage at the 2023 Handmade Contemporary Fair.
Johannesburg, South Africa (18 August, 2023) — One of the continent’s most exciting artisanal fairs, the Handmade Contemporary Fair is coming up on 1 September at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg!
Not just a melting pot of handmade craftsmanship at its finest, the HmC Fair is also a celebration of women entrepreneurs and creatives across the continent lending their skills to more sustainable mindsets, with over 90% of the 100 artisans being women and the fair itself being fully women-run.
“Women play a significant role across a vast range of artisanry and craftsmanship in Africa, which is an essential part of the continent’s cultural and economic landscape,” Lesley Hudson, Head of Operations for HmC Fair explains.
“Over the last 17 editions of HmC Fair, we have witnessed a growing interest in handmade and sustainable products worldwide, a movement that is creating increasing opportunities for African craftswomen to access both local and international markets”, she adds.
The Hmc Fair is also a hub of opportunity for so many local entrepreneurs; with many recording that more than half of their annual turnover comes from the few days of the Fair.
This year’s HmC Fair encompasses ‘Where Handmade African Luxury Meets the Future’. The Fair advocates for the importance of protecting handmade industries and their ability to preserve culture and create wealth for communities that source or make the goods while recognizing that the tech advances like Ai can be a force of new-age creativity.
The Fair is on from 1 to 3 September, and you can keep up with the Handmade Contemporary Fair happenings here.
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