Bohlabela Arts Hub

— BUSHBUCKRIDGE, MPUMALANGA

Bohlabela Arts Hub

A shared studio where emerging makers learn the craft and find their voice.

Set in the heart of Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, Bohlabela is a vibrant hub offering a platform for emerging artisans across three disciplines — weaving, leatherwork, and ceramics — under one roof.

Eighteen artisans are currently in residence, each working alongside a master mentor through a paid two-year cycle. For many, it is the first proper studio they have ever worked in.

By year two, most apprentices are running their own small lines — placed directly into Kulani retail, market, and wholesale channels, with their name on every piece.

The Story

From a borrowed room to a working studio with three kilns and a loom.

Bohlabela began the way most good things in the lowveld do — slowly, and around a table. A handful of weavers and leatherworkers had been meeting in a borrowed church hall, sharing tools and trading techniques, long before there was a name for what they were doing.

When Kulani arrived, it did not arrive with a plan. It arrived with months of listening. What the makers wanted was not charity, but a room of their own — a place to practise, to fail quietly, and to learn from someone who had walked the path before them.

Today the hub runs three disciplines side by side. Apprentices sign on for a two-year cycle and are paid a monthly stipend while they train, so they can give their full attention to the craft rather than the next meal. The room is rarely silent: a loom clatters in one corner, a kiln ticks as it cools in another.

Every piece that leaves the studio is named and dated. It carries the maker’s name, the studio they trained in, and the year they joined — a small act of authorship that, for many, is the first time their work has been signed at all.

“Working as a group helps us learn from others. Here I am not only making — I am becoming a teacher too.”

— MASTER WEAVER, BOHLABELA ARTS HUB

The Makers

The people behind the work.

Three of the artisans who shape Bohlabela every day — named, profiled, and paid directly.

Master Weaver · Mentor

Mavis Khoza

Fourteen years at the loom. Now leading the weaving studio and mentoring six apprentices through their first cycle.

Leatherwork Apprentice · Year 2

Thandi Nkuna

Joined in 2024 with no formal training. Her first bag collection now sells through the Hoedspruit market.

Ceramicist · Studio Lead

Grace Mathebula

Runs the ceramics kiln and teaches glaze chemistry. Her tableware lines anchor the hub’s wholesale catalogue.

Every artisan name & portrait shown publicly is used with written consent.

Goals & Impact

What Bohlabela sets out to do.

i

Provide steady, dignified income for eighteen artisans in residence.

ii

Preserve weaving, leatherwork, and ceramic traditions of the lowveld.

iii

Build financial literacy and business skills alongside craft skills.

iv

Route every finished piece directly to retail, market, and wholesale.

v

Graduate apprentices into independent makers within two years.

vi

Expand regional access to sustainable materials and eco-friendly studio practices.

Impact Since 2022

42

artisans mentored through a paid cycle since the hub opened.

Traceability & Transparency

Every piece, connected to a person.

Every product from this project is connected to a named artisan and a specific place. As Kulani’s traceability system develops, each piece will carry a QR code linking directly to its full origin story.

Bohlabela pieces are stamped with the studio, the maker, and the year the apprentice joined the hub.

Traceability Stamp