Thabo Makhetha-Kwinana has been named the 2014 ImpACT Award winner for Design by the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT). Lesotho-born Thabo Makhetha-Kwinana started her own business in 2009 after graduating from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University with a National Diploma in Fashion Design.
Jacques Bessenger, Nolo Phiri, Thabo Makheta-Kwinana & Nkhensani Mdlonzo
She was named as one of House and Leisure Magazine’s 2013 Rising Stars. The Thabo Makhetha brand has showcased designs locally in various Port Elizabeth fashion shows, and nationally the unique designs showed[PJ1] at the Design Indaba in Cape Town in 2013. Makhetha-Kwinana was selected as a semi-finalist for the SA Fashion Week Renault New Talent Search.
Her label was recently invited to showcase the Spring/Summer 2015 collection in Canada, at the Vancouver Fashion Week. The Nelson Mandela Business Chambers have honoured Makhetha-Kwinana as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Achievers of 2014.
The Thabo Makheta brand plans to showcase designs on international and national Fashion Week runways. The company has already begun with plans to roll out an online store targeting the international market.
The 2014 ACT Awards ceremony is sponsored by Nedbank Arts Affinity, hosted by Sun International and presented in association with the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), Media24 Books, ClassicFeel Magazine and is supported by the Distell Foundation and Business and Arts South Africa (BASA).
Other ImpACT Award Winners include Bevan de Wet for Visual Art, Jade Bowers for Theatre and Nomfundo Xaluva for Music & Singing.
Each ImpACT Award winner receives R1500 as a cash prize and editorial coverage worth R25 000 in ClassicFeel Magazine.
For more information about the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) please click here.
The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) is South Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency. The primary aim of ACT is to increase the amount of funding available for arts and culture initiatives, and to apply these funds to innovative, sustainable projects that make a meaningful contribution to society. Through structured funding programmes, ACT provides support for all expressions of arts and culture, including literature, music, visual art, theatre and dance, and the support extends to festivals, community arts initiatives, arts management, arts education and arts administration.
Sponsor of the ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals, Distell Foundation, is one of South Africa’s premier producers of fine wines, spirits and ready to drink alcoholic beverages, and has actively been supporting the arts for more than forty years. Ongoing support is given to a broad range of creative arts development projects that build economic growth, artistic talent, create jobs and enhances excellence in the sector. For more information please click here.