Beloved Beadwork

Founded in 2009 in Cape Town by Anna Richerby, Beloved Beadwork is a company of twelve women committed to the preservation and elaboration of the beadwork tradition.

They do, as their name suggests, make beloved items of personal adornment, using hours of loving labour and perfectly formed, tiny pieces of glass.

“We don’t think of our work as African craft, but rather human craft. A love of beads is a universal phenomenon, devoid of ethnic divisions. For true beaders, the ability to bead comes from within. It is a deep mental ability to predict pattern and form, to weave a bead whilst thinking six beads ahead. Beads are a wonderfully democratic medium, they appeal to people from every walk of life, and wearing them makes people feel simply beautiful.”