TUFT LOVE IS TUFTING TO HEAL TRAUMA
January 2022 update from Geoff co-founder
I can't express my gratitude enough for all of you Tuft Love fans and family for making this possible. I wake up everyday and feel an overwhelming sense of privilege to be able to help people heal from trauma through Tufting.
Through the sale of our tufting machines and kits from our home base in Colorado USA we have been able to change lives in Cape Town South Africa. We hire and train survivors of gender based violence and provide them the stability of a paycheck and the vision of a better future.
We now have 4 survivors of gender based violence FULLY EMPLOYED from the sale of our Spider tufting machines. Every month when I process payroll I feel such appreciation towards the "Tuft Love Family". In helping heal others we all heal ourselves.
You are not just buying a Tufting Machine you are changing lives.
Thank you Zahier for your constant hard work teaching and training our team in South Africa.
A little more about our story:
Tuft-Love is a sister company of SPINNEKOP (spin‧ne‧kop) - Weaving the Webs of Social Change -
Zahier and Geoff are childhood friends using tufting to create employment opportunities in the Cape Flats. Spinnerkop creates and distributes rugs globally made by our team of "Spiders" in Kensington, South Africa. Training and employing locals in Kensington that have been survivors of gender-based violence.
Zahier, a social activist in the "Cape Coloured" Community in South Africa, and Geoff, who's passion is training and uplifting people through employment training, wanted to create jobs for community members that have been survivors of gender-based violence in the Cape Flats community of Kensington. We believe a living wage and job stability are the first step in healing trauma.
We found tufting and thought this could be a great way to employ and teach people the art of carpet making. Like many of you, we ran into trouble sourcing a safe a reputable supplier for our tufting guns in South Africa. We once were flat-out robbed for hundreds of dollars. So, we partnered with a good friend to ensure we have supplies for our project in South Africa. Realizing that we could further fund the South African project we launched Tuft Love, Colorado.
We honor one of the founders of modern day tufting the late Mr. Mohan Lal Saini, thank you for making all of this possible for the world. Artists around the world sing your praise every day by making rugs. - Geoff Wanamaker -