About two hours outside of Cape Town, South Africa, you’ll find a modest building with the name Kapula Candles on it. Inside, women artisans, are hand-crafting the candles, meticulously painting designs on each one.
“I think most of us here are single parents,” Charlotte January says. “In South Africa, the work is really scarce for people. For me to have my work is a privilege.”
The women there are creating art that, chances are you’d never see, if not for two dear friends. Their friendship spans four decades and halfway around the world.
Becky Reiss lives in Sylvan Lake… Kris Engel in South Africa. Kris and her husband are entrepreneurs who moved overseas years ago. In South Africa, Kris fell in love with the people.
“People here, they don’t want to beg. They don’t want something for nothing. They want to be able to provide for themselves,” Kris says.
Kris noticed many of the men and women had artistic skills, some artisans selling their hand-crafted items at markets, others employed by factories where their artistic abilities could shine.
“Kris said ‘there’s so much beautiful artwork in South Africa that doesn’t have a way to the U-S market,’” Becky says.
They wanted to change that, so they came up with a business plan, and in 2012 Thumbprint Artifactswas born. They buy products directly from the artisans, paying them upfront, so the men and women don’t have to wait until the items make their way to the United States and are sold.
The items run the gamut from hand-crafted candles to beaded wire animals, to dishes and table runners. Every artisan has a story, and Becky and Kris share those stories on theirwebsite next to each hand-crafted item. The items are also sold in 250 gift shops, art galleries and museums around the U-S, including the Smithsonian.
Making a difference
The tagline for Thumbprint Artifacts… making a difference though handcrafted gifts… and that they are.
“At the end of the say, we sit down and say, ‘wow, this is what I did, and I’m so proud of my job,'" says Ronnie Daniels, a woman who works at Kapula candles.
