African Crafts Importers Announce New Online Gift Store

Furniture World Magazine

It s a dream come true, says Bert Stakenborg when describing a new import business that offers online buyers the opportunity to own authentic, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind arts and crafts imported from Southern Africa. My wife (Liz) and I first considered the viability of such a business back in 1991. It s taken that long to bring Pride of Africa Crafts to reality. The partners, who both grew up in Africa, visited countries like Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa earlier this year to do their inventory buying. We believe it s important to do business directly with the artisans, explains Liz. They get the direct benefit and we can ensure the quality of the products. Building reliable supplier networks in Africa is the biggest challenge in this line of business, she adds, and that s a responsibility we prefer to fill ourselves. Extensive research targeting retailers, many of them interior designers and proprietors of furniture and gift stores, played a key role in establishing what products Pride of Africa Crafts would offer. We are selling at the wholesale level although there has already been such an interest in our products that it also makes sense for us to provide consumers with an online store , Bert explains. Inventory for the new business arrived in late September and the new website has been a work in progress ever since. We ve created a site with a homey, exotic theme which we think people will find both enjoyable to visit, as well as educational in terms of the product information it provides, says Liz. Our products include stone and wood carvings, along with a very wide assortment of other home accent pieces, personal accessories and novelty gift items. We ve kept the product range and price points very broad so there is something of interest for everyone, she says.