Peter has a fast growing business. It’s a small family business and the business has taken over, not only all the rooms in the house also the small areas outside the house. Artisans are welding, cutting, painting everywhere under Peters supervision. He is suppling metal craft to eight containers going out of Zimbabwe every year with handmade metal craft, going to Europe or Canada.
Meet Peter Chafidza 51 years old from the Shona tribe, married late, due to lobola and has children and one grandchild. Used to spray paint cars before he began his craft company.
Tell us more about your craft:
Peter: We do up cycled metal birds and flowers. We use different tape of metal from scarp plates to drums. Our speciality is to paint them in bright colours. We have been doing it for about 10 years but not with great success to begin with!!!
Why not? We did the same as everybody else did and tried to do it better and cheaper. It was not enough. It was only when we found our niche that it turned around.
What was the turning point for your business?
Peter: It started with the painted flowers going to the Nederlands. We could fit in many thousands of painted flowers into a container and the motives and colours are unlimited. After the flowers came “the small painted birds“
Peter: The key for us was a relatively cheap product, well made and cheap to transport and the right customers.
Who are your employees?
They are small scale producers most of them. Many have worked on cars or as painters for painting companies, but all of them have patience and are willing to learn new. We have been very lucky to find them.
Whats your relationship with HVH Africa:
HVH Africa has been a customer the last 5 years and have assisted us with many new ideas and quality control our painted birds which has helped us refine our products to the European marked. They are taking a lot for the Fairtrade- and the Worldshops in Scandinavia.
What is it about the lobola (bridal cost)?
– Agnes and I met when were young and we fell in love and wanted to get married, but her family asked for more than when I could pay. Luckily she was pregnant so I had to marry her the traditional way, and we could start our family. So only when the business took off was I able to pay Agnes family the remaining lobola and we could get married in the church.
See Peter Chafidza’s products
The handmade labour of love of Peter Chafidza can be
purchased here along with many other in our Metal category.