Nadia Meer
interview, Meer brought with her an exotic aura. She had a powerful presence. A colourful, reversible shawl slung across her shoulders, made a bold statement.
“This was part of an initiative called Afrikhadi,” she said. “Khadi is the traditional handspun, handwoven fabric of India and was at the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s movement to promote an ideology of self-reliance during the struggle for independence from the British.”
She said the British banned spinning and weaving in India, reducing the country to a mass market for British goods. Master weavers in India sometimes had their fingertips cut off so they could not ply their trade, she said.
“Gandhi learnt to use the spinning wheel, as this was central to self-sufficiency and a network of interdependence between cotton growers, carders, weavers, distributors and consumers.”
Inspired by India’s khadi movement, Meer launched Afrikhadi in 2003, a collaborative development initiative for young designers and traditional artisans in both countries.
“Our Indo-xhosa range was showcased at the opening ceremony of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival and we were invited later that year to present a collection in Delhi during President Thabo Mbeki’s inaugural visit to India. I design real clothes for real people.”
Meer said her aunt, Fatima Meer, came to play a significant role in her artistic life. “My aunt cut up a family heirloom, a carpet-sized tapestry of Islamic calligraphy, entrusting me to stitch it together again. The family were horrified that such a project should be given to such a little girl, but my aunt simply told them that I was very capable and had such neat stitches. It now hangs in the living room of my house.”
Her aunt’s creative writing and poetry workshops, embroidery, doll making and other craft projects, Nadia Meer with her installation at the Durban Exhibition Centre, part of the UIA conference. Right, Meer with her parents, Farook and Rashida Meer; her sons, Suhayl and Sameer; and her brother, Bilal.
working at Khanya Training
Centre and the Institute for Black Research, all influenced her life.
Meer said she had some of her own drawings published, which received praise and recognition. By then she was vice-president of the Black Students Society at Howard College.
“We cut stencils, and did silkscreen-printed posters to advertise our mass rallies and on T-shirts for campaigns.”
Her heart was captured by India after winning an Indian Council For Cultural Relations scholarship, but then Ashraff Jooma, who she had already met in South Africa, won a scholarship to get a master’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Kansas, US.
Although torn between the choices, she joined him and marriage followed. She also continued her studies there, gravitating towards the love of handicraft, Native American
beadwork and pottery techniques, and American traditional handquilting.
Returning home to Durban with two small children, Meer began producing art and crafts in her own bedroom. She presented these paintings, basketry and beadwork at a fair in Dijon, France. “I sold out within four days of a weeklong event.”
Her stand was voted the best on show and soon she was working with international designers, but it became obvious her small group of painters, beaders and weavers could not keep up with the demand.
Meer had declined a large order placed by a French design house, but Ben Ngubane, then the minister of culture, persuaded her to accept it. The ministry supported development training by her small team to train other producer groups.
She registered Ukusa Designs
in 1997 and it grew through a “train-the-trainer” process, exporting handcrafted beadwork jewellery and accessories.
Marketing these designs took her from trade shows to the top fashion ramps of the world.
Working with the Eastern
Cape Development Corporation on a provincial handicraft sector development strategy, led her to the
East with ventures in Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, the
Kingdom of Bhutan.
She was selected to represent South Africa at the World Fashion Showcase at the Shanghai World Expo.