Arts and crafts in the Eastern Cape are set to receive a major boost as the department of sport, culture and recreation moves to formalise the industry.

This will be done by turning an idle Mthatha factory into an “arts and crafts hub” where people will be taught how to do arts and crafts for commercial and export purposes.

The department has budgeted about R1-million for the pilot project, and will launch it in Mthatha next Thursday

“We want to create an arts and crafts hub with an extensive range of products to where tourists can be directed,” said sport, recreation and culture head of department Bubele Mfenyana.

Based on the pilot project’s viability as a commercial venture, Mfenyana said three further hubs would be established in Port Elizabeth, East London and Queenstown.

Tourists would be able to buy various arts and crafts items including clothing, ceramics, African curious, wire and basket work, visual art, hammocks, pottery, handmade soaps, toiletries, woodwork, needlework, glass work, iron and steel work, mirrors, jewellery, knitwear, paintings, puppets, shell work, plants and cacti, dried fruit, leather work and traditional woven Xhosa tapestries.

Skilled people, he said, would be employed to train people who currently do arts and crafts on a small scale and sell them next to the road.

“Quality will now matter a lot as some of the products will be exported. We are sick of people who pay little for our crafts and go and sell them at very expensive prices elsewhere. We are encouraging crafters to take charge of their future, and participate in the economy,” he said.

Informal research had shown that tourists had an appetite for African arts and crafts, he said, and this could be seen at the annual Grahamstown Arts Festival, the Wild Coast cultural festival and the Stutterheim festival.

Philippa Dyson of Scrapbook Nook, a Walmer company which creates arts and crafts out of paper said: “That sounds like a good idea. I see no reason why they shouldn’t go ahead with the project.”

David Vorster of Afro Dizzy Arts and Crafts said the industry could benefit from more skills, specifically in manufactured crafts.

“People don’t know these techniques. This will also help crafters to create arts and crafts which are in demand during a specific season.”

He said perhaps each hub could create a single product that would bear the corporate identity of that specific area.

“This could go a long way towards marketing and branding our cities,” he said.