Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times - Sunday, 28 December, 2003
Bobby Jordan and Edwin Lombard
They're light bulbs made by a group of 16 HIV-positive women, who use the money they earn from the venture to buy antiretroviral drugs.
The colourful, limited-edition designer bulbs have sparked a shopping frenzy across Europe, particularly in Paris, where some department stores have run out of stock.
Last week mink-coated Parisians literally jostled for the last few boxes in some stores, while others placed Christmas orders for stock only expected to arrive in mid-January.
"It's just huge, huge - sometimes I can't sleep because of all this pressure," said flabbergasted French designer Cyrille Varet, who started importing African artefacts as a business sideline 18 months ago.
"At the time I thought I would just sell a few - I didn't know it would take off like this. Now I'm not really bothered about my own furniture or designs any more - I want to concentrate on this," he said.
In Cape Town, Rina Swanepoel, who works for Magpie, the company that sells the bulbs overseas and co-ordinates the Khayelitsha women, said the project had made a huge difference to their lives.
"You see the changes they go through from the time they start in the project. It is not just about the money, but the way it builds their self-confidence."
Swanepoel took a 23-year-old HIV-positive woman from the Khayelitsha project to an auction of bulb prototypes and drawings in Paris last month. Endorsed by the French Minister of Culture and Communications, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the auction raised 50,000.
When this woman came to us, she smelt bad because of the conditions she was living in, said Swanepoel. And her two boys always had ear and eye infections.
"She has now bought herself a new house in a better part of Khayelitsha. She is supporting her family as well as a big extended family," said Swanepoel.
And at the auction, everybody wanted to interview her. "She had become a spokesman for the women in the project," added Swanepoel. The money raised at the auction will fund anti retroviral drugs for the women.
Varet said the light bulb bonanza all started in Barcelona where, by chance, he met a South African designer, Scott Hart, who had worked with the women for a few years. They were soon exporting a variety of glass, metal and beaded items to French stores.
Within two months Varet had 40 shops clamouring for his first batch of 2,500 bulbs, as the French warmed to the colourful designs - and to the idea of joining the fight against HIV/Aids.
But that was nothing compared with the demand for his next brainchild - limited edition designer bulbs conceived by 34 of France's top designers, then produced in the Khayelitsha studio and distributed in shops across Europe.
The designer bulbs, called Ithemba bulbs, sell for around R140 each, of which a generous percentage is paid to an association in charge of funding drug therapies for the crafters.
The famous Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville department store gives all its proceeds to the association. Hence soaring sales translate into a sizeable nest egg for the women in Khayelitsha.
The store took delivery of new stock last Saturday and sold out the same day. Its public relations spokesman Juliette Lesquerbeau confirmed this week that BHV had once again ordered new bulbs to meet the demand.
Since the project started, 16,000 bulbs have been sold. Varet said some French shops had already placed orders for Valentine's Day. Next year's distribution would include at least two New York shops, he added.
"A small object like a light bulb is a symbol, a way to bring a message into people's homes, rather than to just talk about Aids figures or death.
"It also shows that when a lot of people become involved with something at a small level, it can become very big in the end," said Varet.
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