The Ubuhle collective helps rural South African women achieve financial security by creating bead "paintings" using traditional skills and personal themes.

The Zulu beaded jewellery she redesigns has been selling well over the past two years. The necklaces are priced at R400 and the bracelets go for R150.

Diane Fitzgerald uses beads the way an artist uses color. She buys a palette of beads that she likes and begins to assemble them – incrementally, so the piece evolves as it’s designed. … ...

As the collective is formed of Xhosa and Zulu women, cultural differences can also be seen in the styles and artistic choices in the beading.

Zungu believes that the impact is positive, that there is a level of “assimilation” involved in Zulu beading, stressing that beading is a dynamic craft, which, even when passed down from ...

In the Zulu culture, people express their feeling using colourful beads which they make into accessories their loved ones can wear.

POLOKWANE – In the Zulu culture, people express their feeling using colourful beads which they make into accessories their loved ones can wear. It’s a tradition that is well known and as old ...