Famous carpet business relocates after 62 years

AFTER 62 years at Shirvac Crescent in Mariannhill, Otto Hoffmann Handweaving are relocating to a new premises.

The company, which is now run by Dawie Venter and Marianne Hoffmann-Venter, is both internationally and nationally recognised for its quality and design, and has always been a huge family affair.

According to Marianne, her grandparents started the company in 1951 and her parents joined in 1952 from Germany. In 1951 two young men in their 20s, George and Josef Weinberger, adventurous and bursting with energy left their Homeland Bavaria, alpine Germany, and set off for the “dark continent” Africa. Some six months later their 22-year-old sister Elizabeth and their parents George and Anna Weinberger boarded the small engine aircraft in Frankfurt, Germany, bound for South Africa to join them. There to meet them were two missionaries from the largest Mission station in the world at the time-Mariannhill in Natal.

The Weinbergers followed a call by the Mission’s head, Bishop Fleischer, that went out to any skilled and adventurous people from his home country Germany, to emigrate to South Africa and help teach the indigenous people a craft, thereby assisting them in the noble goal of the Mission – to educate the local people and make them self sufficient.

The beginnings of the Weinberger/Hoffmann Hand-Weavery were set up in a rented house on the mission grounds. Two wooden looms and two spinning wheels which had accompanied the family baggage by sea were set up there and true to alpine style, the first SA produced “Fleckerl” rugs ( rag rugs) were born. Sourcing the raw materials proved somewhat of a headache at first, as the local textile industry was not yet well established and the existing nylon and crimplene materials were foreign to Europeans and not quite what the German entrepreneurs had had in mind. But the local women were eager to learn and assiduously cut up lengths of cloths clinching them between their hands and toes to produce many yards of “yarn”, balling it up, and spooling the multi-coloured textured yarn onto shuttles ready for weaving.

The Weinberger sons grew the business and soon-to-follow, son-in-law Otto Hoffmann took over the marketing and selling. It was time to move into bigger premises.

Two plots of land – side by side – were acquired from the Vatican on the outskirts of Mariannhill Mission. One plot was owned by the Weinbergers whose weavery began to specialize in wool articles and finer weaves, the other plot was to become the family estate of the Hoffmanns. Otto-Heinz and wife Marianne, had by 1956 a young family of their own with four children and needed their own home. It was their operation, starting off as a single room garage at the bottom of the yard, that was to become the family operated business still known today as Otto Hoffmann Handweaving.

As the product became better known also in SA’s other provinces, demand grew and production diversified into other accessories, and as South Africa’s wool production grew, Karakul wool rugs entered the production scene.

Elizabeth Weinberger put her fashion sense into action and created and produced woven skirt material with intricate borders (most fashionable in those days) while her sister, Marianne Hoffmann, and her mother, Anna Weinberger, were at their sewing machines churning out the ready made skirts, scatter cushions, tablecloths, table runners, place mats, curtaining material, ponchos, shoulder-sling-bags, wall hangings and more.

“Clients have described us as the Rolls Royce of hand-woven floor and designer rugs in South Africa. Still to date, we work with architects and interior designers and our rugs have graced famous homes such as the Oppenheimers and Game Lodges across the country as well as overseas,” said Marianne.

Marianne and husband Dawie took over the management of the family weavery in 2000 lending it their personal touch over the years. Dawie’s gregarious nature along with his PR experience and hands-on approach, matched with Marianne’s creativity and weaving experience complement the business. With further innovations, new textures and general techno-modernisations to adapt to the demands of their niche market, they stay on top of their game and live and breathe their product with a passion.

The company remains dedicated to its initial commitment – to teach the local people a craft that they can become self sufficient and earn a living for their families, while staying commercially buoyant, and in the process producing outstanding articles of beauty and excellence with the ancient craft of hand-weaving and spinning.

Otto Hoffmann Handweaving will be relocating to a new premises in the vicinity of the Pinetown area. Contact 031 700 2261, e-mail: ohweave@iafrica.com or visit their website: www.hoffmannrugs.com