22.03.2008
22.03.2008
Friday, October 7, 2005
Chris Chaplin, owner
of Scatterlings of Africa, shows an embroidered cotton wall hanging made
by members of the Shangaan and Tsonga tribes in the Mpumalanga area of
South Africa.
JAMIE SMITH For the North County Times
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Africa may be the second-largest continent, but the shop
that brings this part of the world to Carlsbad is small. However, it has an
ever-growing collection of unusual, functional and decorative items made from
the blending of ancient and beautiful skills with new and zany ideas.
Scatterlings of Africa, which opened nine months ago in the La Costa
Towne Center, was born out of a love for a continent, and it was named
after a song about people from Africa being scattered all around the world ----
a song made popular by Johnny Clegg, a South African musician, and his band.
"I won a green card in a lottery six years ago,"
said Chris Chaplin, the founder and owner of Scatterlings. "When I came to San
Diego, I was a software product manager. But my heart remained in South Africa,
where I was born. I wanted to move back, but it just wasn't the right thing to
do. My wife, Jenny, had more opportunities in this area in the biotech industry
than she would have had in all of South Africa."
So Chaplin decided to put his heart back in South Africa, at least part time, by
traveling there several times a year to bring African products at affordable
prices to the American market. He buys products from all over the continent in
different marketplaces all over South Africa.
He opened a store in Sorrento Valley, but after six months, decided to move to
Carlsbad, where customers have been commenting in his guest book about his home
decor, arts and gifts with "Wow," "Never seen anything like this before anywhere
else," "Bravo," and "Superb choices."
"I feel as though I am really helping to make a difference in the lives of so
many people in Africa," said Chaplin, explaining that although part of his
inventory comes from individual artists, many of whom are world-renowned, more
than half is purchased from nonprofit organizations throughout Africa that
employ women who work from home while looking after their families.
"The nonprofits help teach, train and encourage these women, many of whom
dropped out of school at an early age," he continued. "They are learning how to
stand on their own two feet."
For instance, in Swaziland, where basket-weaving skills are handed down from
mother to daughter, more than 600 women in one rural development project produce
baskets and jewelry by cleaning, dyeing, spinning and fine-coiling sisal ----
all by hand.
The Masai women of Kenya, whose families had been devastated by a drought that
ended in 2001, are making Zulu grass jewelry interlaced with hand-blown Czech
glass beads under the name, the Leakey Collection. Through the nonprofit group
Monkeybiz, more than 250 women in rural areas are creating beaded dolls and
animals and learning business skills. Others are twisting discarded telephone
wires into colorful baskets. Depending on the size and pattern, these sell
between $12.75 and $180.
At Scatterlings, you will also find washable hand-embroidered and hand-painted
linens; hand-carved wooden birds and hand-carved jacaranda, blackwood and
mahogany bowls, some of which take up to four years to dry; cutlery with clay
handles; mohair shawls; raffia and banana-leaf purses; handcrafted and
hand-painted candles ($1.99 to $75); framed artwork and wall hangings; masks;
skirts woven from raffia palm leaves; crafts by Barbara Jackson, a prominent
ceramist; furniture (patio and an 80-inch sandstone table that sells for
$3,000); and a variety of glass art, from small animals to a chess set to a
$3,850 flower arrangement by internationally recognized flame-worker, Haegar
Schultz.
"Since everything is handmade, no two items are totally alike," said Chaplin.
"It is so exciting to be able to bring these unique and innovative treasures
here from Africa, a continent with its own energy and time. It really is a
beautiful part of the world. Artists have taken the colors and vibrancy that
Africa is all about and molded them into new forms and shapes."
Design Finds
WHAT: Scatterlings of Africa
WHERE: 7720-G El Camino Real, Carlsbad
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday
CONTACT: (760) 479-9872 or visit www.scatterlingsofafrica.com