To take in The Botterblom Collection is to take in a world. A world that deep down you know about but you also don’t know how you know this world. If you have ever been to the Karoo this may be something you felt the first time you stepped into that ancient land. The Botterblom Collection by Frances VH Mohair Studio in Prince Albert is an unashamed proclamation of all things Karoo, all things mohair and all things story.
Twenty three (of 31) mohair tapestries from The Botterblom Collection created by the Frances VH Mohair Studio are on auction at Strauss&Co until 24 February 2025. Photo: Luke Houba
When I was six years old, I was chatty and so to occupy my mind and to close my mouth, I was handed my first pair of knitting needles. What I knew for sure, then, was that mohair yarn was the most special of all and my tiny hands that made crooked rows were not allowed to even think about working with it. It was my mother who taught me how to knit – and thus managed to carve out some quiet time for herself after lunch on a Sunday afternoon. On a winter’s day, thirty six years later, I opened a box that contained eight of my very first balls of mohair yarn. Yarns delivered straight from Prince Albert in the form of a care package from the Frances VH Mohair Studio. You see, I had come to learn that my mother was living with Alzheimer’s, meaning that the person who had taught me about the preciousness of mohair was beginning to forget how to knit one, purl one as we did for so many afternoons together.
For this tapestry, titled ‘Potted Luck Framed in A Window’, the studio played with the idea of paper maché. Photo: Verity Fitzgerald
To take in The Blotterblom Collection is to participate in the story of connection. The connection between the creator and creation; to bring home the understanding that there is no yarn without a farm, no farm without people, no people without land. The Botterblom Collection tells us that there is a connection between the known and the unknown; the proven and the magical, and ultimately the connection between our humanity and our sense of home.
Frances VH Mohair Studio is a women-led textile studio based in Prince Albert. Gizella Arense is one of the artisans who created The Botterblom Collection. Photo: Luke Houba
Through the 31 pieces in this collection, we come home to Botterblom Straat [Street] – a road in Prince Albert in the Karoo, South Africa. A collective of 11 woman artisans working in the Frances VH Mohair Studio created tapestries from the various forms of mohair. What you see is an anthology of poems, a proverbial pile of love letters, snippets of journal entries, echoes of gossip that float from mouth to ear. Woven into each tapestry are the stories of the people of Botterblom Straat and the stories carried by each artisan.
You are first struck by the names given to each piece, each one already invoking a question that only you can answer:
Who is the “Jaloers Bokkie” in my world?
What are the “Bottled Feelings” that inform how I look at each of these tapestries?
When was the last time I truly stopped to take in the magic of “Summer Moon”?
Where do my “Pipe Dreams” lie and in what state might they be?
How do I remind myself that “Ek Is Mooi”?
To take in The Botterblom Collection is to acknowledge the vastness that lies in the simplicity of the everyday. It is a celebration of all that is tiny – the change in texture in the weave of the textile, the slightly imperfect ways in which pieces of a tapestry are joined together because once you notice that; you begin to see that each tapestry is both a landscape and an entity of its own.
The tapestries intend to encapsulate the concept of home and how that looks, sounds and feels for each artisan in the studio. This one is titled: Titled ‘Cathedral of Everyday Arrangements’. Photo: Luke Houba
It is my hope that you will take home a tapestry not because you want to own it for the sake of owning something but because you desire to be connected to the work of artisans who have created a body of work “…for the front doors of friends, family a distant cousin and that friend-of-a-friend that you greet, but who has never invited you to stoep sit”. Proceeds from a selection of tapestries will go towards establishing a Fund for Women Artisans that will be managed by The Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT).
To take in The Botterblom Collection is to be reminded that we – you and me – are woven together through our stories. Stories that make us sing, stories that makes us smile, stories that baffle. Big and small stories – that is who we are.
Mary Gumbo opens mohair for the weaving of the tapestries. Photo: Verity Fitzgerald
Frances VH Mohair Studio
Frances van Hasselt
Katriena Kammies
Maria Lekay
Lina Bronkhorst
Monique Bitterbos
Gizella Arendse
Roos Lenders
Fabienne Gehrmann
Mariaana Konthea
Annie Mtonga
Mary Gumbo
Tessie Mgemezulu
About the author
Nwabisa Mayema is a global citizen who leads with purpose and has a zest for life. Whether building a venture studio from the ground up or designing a new non-extractive debt instrument for funding partners, Nwabisa always connects with doers and dreamers. Her work is a reflection of her belief that the future is happening right now. As an ecosystem enabler, Nwabisa remains insatiably curious and open-minded.
Watch the short film about the making, the people and the stories behind The Botterblom Collection:
- Strauss & Co is auctioning 27 of the 31 handwoven tapestries, created by the artisans of the studio
- The online auction is open now and closes on Friday, 24 February 2025
- Bid for a tapestry at Strauss & Co
- A series of events will accompany the sales, including a walkabout with Frances van Hasselt, the founder of Frances VH Mohair Studio, on Sunday, 16 February 2025 at 10am, followed by a screening of a film documenting the making of The Botterblom Collection
