Many fishermen living on Lake Malawi know how nets secure their lives. But Jaqueline Ngulube also knows how to use knots to make beautiful household items and even clothes.
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00:00Anyone can make nets here, as it's important for survival.
00:05But can knotting also be fun and beautify the home?
00:09That's what this young woman wanted to find out
00:12as she tried to figure out the ins and outs of the art of macrame.
00:17When I was first given the code, I didn't think of anything.
00:20I was like, ah, no.
00:21But then after I moved here, because then I didn't have much to do,
00:27that's when I thought of using the code.
00:30I was thinking of making a wall hanging, like deco, simple house deco.
00:35And it came out so beautiful, and I was so in love with the wall hanging.
00:40I was like, oh, this is interesting.
00:43Many of us balk at the thought of macrame,
00:46thinking it's unfashionable and out of date.
00:49How did Jacqueline Ngulube, from the remote village of Usisia, northern Malawi,
00:54realize that intricately hand-woven knots
00:57could create an artistic lace that could uplift her community?
01:02The first thing I made made me so interested, like, to do more.
01:07I posted it online.
01:09Then people were so interested in it.
01:11So then I was like, maybe I can do more.
01:14First of all, I employed one of the ladies that helped me from the community.
01:19And I also buy some of the products that I use for macrame from the community as well.
01:27The outfit that I'm wearing, I made it myself,
01:30starting from the bag and lace and, yeah, everything.
01:35For Jacqueline, this, her decision to do macrame, has had consequences.
01:40Although the cultural and creative industries contribute more than 3.4% to Malawi's GDP,
01:47many young people in this sector work outside of formal structures
01:51and therefore receive little or no government support.
01:55How easy has it been for Jacqueline to turn her passion for knots into a profitable business?
02:01The first person who wanted it was my sister.
02:03So I sewed her the one wall hanging that I made for her,
02:07same like the one I made for myself.
02:10But then from there, I ran out of gold,
02:12because it was just like a small amount of gold that my grandma gave me.
02:16And I was like, where am I going to get this gold?
02:19So that was a big challenge for me, because by then people have known me,
02:23like I started posting online, like I sew macrame.
02:27So I had a few orders, but I didn't have the gold to use.
02:30So then I started searching for the gold, and I couldn't find it in Malawi.
02:36And I started looking outside of Malawi as well.
02:39So I finally found it in South Africa.
02:42Apart from that, because I'm so remote, I stay here, which is very far from everyone.
02:48That's also another challenge.
02:51But yeah, but that's not like a big challenge,
02:53because I always communicate to my customers when they should expect a delivery.
02:58Macrame is an ancient art form of knotting rope
03:01that some researchers date back to the Babylonian and Assyrian empires.
03:06Its popularity has waxed and waned across the world over time.
03:10What has changed to give macrame a modern makeover,
03:13so that tying knots is back in vogue?
03:16Basically, we met Jacqueline online on Instagram.
03:19We've been following her for a while.
03:21And then there was Art in the Park last year,
03:23and that's when we got to physically meet her and got to see her products physically.
03:28And we were really, really, really inspired by the products that she does,
03:31because they can make the house look beautiful without having to buy any expensive products.
03:36And the most popular products are actually the hanging baskets,
03:40where people use fruits or they just hang them in the corners of their houses and all that.
03:45My biggest client is Eldridge, she's from Blantyre.
03:50She bought loads of things for me,
03:53starting from plant hangers, wall hangings, bed liner, basket, hanging baskets, hammock.
04:03So she bought almost 70% of my products, like one, one, one, one each.
04:07She has almost everything that I make in her house.
04:10For decades, the ancient knot-tying technique was only popular with grandmothers.
04:16Is the young Malawian now ahead of her time, or is she lagging behind the trend?
04:21Macrame wasn't very popular in Malawi until I started making it,
04:25because a lot of people didn't know macrame and they don't know what macrame is still today.
04:29I like people that are knowing it day by day, like when I advertise it and people ask me what it is,
04:35and when I explain it to them and they're like getting more interested.
04:40So for me, it's not just like, I don't just focus on clients,
04:44because it's not like I always have clients all the time.
04:47I just love doing it. It's just so healing.
04:52You know, it helps me calm myself, like makes me think about things.
04:57Jacqueline has given the ancient art of macrame a new sustainable relevance.
05:02By working with the community, this life-giving knotting technique is creating jobs
05:08and sustaining the many, while adding a little beauty to everyone's lives.