FRANCISTOWN: A Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) International Business graduate, Lesego Oahile has been using the creativity and knowledge she acquired at the institution to sell her tapestry crochet skills in order to make a living.

The 39-year-old Mahalapye native said art is her God given talent but tapestry crochet has been her bread and butter after graduating in 2017. She started doing art during her primary school days and continued with the subject in secondary school.

Oahile also said when she joined tertiary, she wanted to do something different because art was already in her blood.

“I chose to study something business related because art was already in me. I knew at some point I will use my skills to start up a business but then I needed to acquire skills to market and sell my products on the international market,” said Oahile.

She thanked LUCT for the creative studies and other modules, which she says have helped her think outside the box during his artistic journey. She described crochet tapestry as a combination of creating pictures or patterns while creating a fabric. The fine artist said she also has

been dependent on the Presidential competitions now known as the National Art Festival competition prize money to get bulk materials for her crochet tapestry business. She said she makes her crochet tapestry by creating art with yarns.

Oahile indicated that she creates her crochets by making loops and stitches to create an elaborate three-dimensional fabric piece. The talented Oahile said she is interested in tapestry crochet because it was not common in Botswana. “Crochet tapestry is not as popular as weaving tapestry across the country and people are not familiar with the concept,” she added.

She hopes that artists will give it more attention as they mostly focus on crocheting clothing, blankets and shoes. She said the embroidery skills can be used to create tapestries that tell stories reflecting their culture and history.

Tapestry crochet is a type of crochet colour work where at least two contrasting colour yarns are used together at the same time. It is important for the colours to have good contrast for the design to show.