Kudos to West Elm (with one gripe...)

I have on my desk a favorite piece of South African art, it is a papier-mache bowl made by the Wolani Nani collective. Wolani Nani, like many such groups in South Africa forges an intersection between art, craft and social upliftment.

To my delight, I was recently handed a West Elm Catalog, heavily featuring the work of South African Artists and Craftsmen/women.  Even better, it included work by Wolani Nani. I truly hand it to West Elm for stepping out of their usual comfort zone and not only selling the works, but also celebrating the artists who created them. There are so many great things to buy, the John Vogel Chairs  being a personal favorite, along with Shirley Fintz's Stoneware and Gemma Orkin's pillows.

Now comes my gripe. As far as I can tell, all but the Wolani Nani pieces were made by "artisans in China" and possibly elsewhere too. The South African artists were compensated for their designs, but West Elm turned to China for its cheap labor and factories ready to reproduce homegrown South African designs.

It makes me so happy to see the vibrant work that fills South African shops and homes given its due by a major American retailer. It thrills me to see South Africa represented by more than safari-based curios. I just wish they could have been made by African hands.

Despite my gripe, go and buy something, bring a little African design or whimsy in to your home and be happy to know that even if in a small part, someone in the Southern Hemisphere has a few more coins in their pocket as a result.