Nomphumelelo Dlamini

Swaziland

Year(s) attended: 2009 (Tintsaba Crafts without an artist), 2010

Supported by Tintsaba Crafts

Basket Weaving (including Jewelry)

Tintsaba Crafts grades Swazi baskets into five different grades:  trainee, market, craft, gallery and master weaver. Out of 400 basket weavers, 40 weavers have been developed by Tintsaba as master weavers. Grading is done by thickness of coil, fineness of cotton, shape and strength, base and ending, and the pattern’s originality and symmetry.

Nomphumelelo Dlamini is a master basket weaver. She uses the traditional concentric design motif featuring diamonds and triangles on hand-spun sisal (photsa) that has been dyed. Nomphumelelo was the prizewinner of the 2009 competition sponsored by Tintsaba Crafts.

Basket making goes back hundreds of years among the Swazi and is part of the Swazi homestead tradition. Over the last 50 years, baskets have been improved by adding color. Training is largely mother to daughter. Skills taught include hand cleaning and spinning of the sisal. The spinning into thread takes as long as the basket weaving itself – 30 to 40 hours.