Aunt's small gift a designer's breakthrough

Eunice Masie | Thursday January 23, 2014 16:26

 

Letshwiti’s love for arts and crafts began in childhood.  'My mother has a huge library of books from her Bibles and songbooks to anthologies. I recited every poem and studied till I could atleast comprehend most of them. In a way I interweaved poetry and apparel designing as a way of expressing myself,' she says.

Letshwiti began designing and making clothes about a decade ago when she started recreating garments for her dolls out of her clothes.  'I'd ruin my old clothes and dress my doll and this made me feel good. I wished that I could make ‘stylish’ clothes for other people and this went on until my aunt gave me a P100 to buy a starter box to make earrings for the ladies at home, which she sold at work,' she adds.

This was the breakthrough that Letshwiti needed. It went from recreating clothes to actually making them from scratch. Her range also grew to include hand bangles, beadwork neckpieces, ladies’ pencil skirts and purses.

“About a year ago, I invested in a sewing machine and now I have moved from handcrafting my pieces to using the machine something that is a big achievement for me,” she says with pride. Letshwiti is proud of the fact that she was able to perfect her garments without any formal training. “Passion has pushed me to create garments for my clients without any kind of formal training.

It is only just recently that I bought a book on how to perfect my sewing skills; it’s a big achievement for me.'

She describes her works as random, rooted and complicated and finding a source to inspire her is never an issue as whenever she looks around something has to come to mind. Letshwiti is driven by perfection; being her own boss is and her number one critique.

'I am my own boss, if I do something wrong I shout at myself. There is no other person who can do that better than me,” says Letshwiti.

Encouraging her to move on is what her mentor once said; ‘The moment you were born, you stepped out of your comfort zone’.

Letshwiti took part in the Gaborone Fashion Weekend as a young designer alongside Tefo Senwelo of FouSweedy. 

They work together on a regular basis and are also well known for the unique handbags made out of musical records.