| July 10 2002 at 09:22AM from Cape Argus, SA | |
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Ten years ago, retrenched and down in the dumps, Ilse Appelgryn hauled out the candle-making equipment her aunt had passed on to her, and began experimenting in a back room of her house.
Ilse began making candles to keep herself busy. A retrenched teacher, she was feeling depressed and useless. "There's not much to do in Bredasdorp," she says with a smile. Friends and family began taking an interest in what she was doing, and bought the candles as gifts. Then a gift shop in Bredasdorp took some on consignment. "My interest was not in manufacturing, but decorating the candles, as was my aunt's," she says. "I wanted to attach to them an African feel. I love colour and design." Ilse hired an assistant to prepare moulds and pour candles while she experimented with decoration.
So she began importing pigments from Germany. "That was it! Colours galore," she says. Her small home industry began expanding. She had 12 people working from her home, three making the candles and the rest painting them. Then an American agent discovered her candles in a shop in Johannesburg in 1995 and their first big order came in. They made their first sticker - and found a name. Kapula, she says, is a play on "a couple of". The "couple of" candles had grown to a lot more, and husband Andre, a personnel manager, left the corporate world and joined her venture. "I'm a people person, I hate administration and management. We needed structures and middle management. He had the experience." They began gearing their production for the export market. "We heard about Department of Trade and Industry incentives, and started attending local trade fairs, where we learned a lot," she says. "We realised you have to put yourself out there. And so we attended the 1998 Singapore trade fair." Matching specific packaging requirements - such as packing 150 000 candles in boxes of 30 - they had to develop their packaging. Quality control became important. Today Kapula produces about 250 000 candles a month, each beautifully decorated by hand. Their slogan is "the warm art of Africa". "Our label is 'handmade in South Africa'," says Ilse. And that's important to her, especially with 40 percent unemployment in Bredasdorp. There are two essential skills in candle painting, Ilse explains - applying background colour and painting on the design. "Both are specialised." Kapula now occupies four buildings in Bredasdorp Industria. In one, the candles are made, most by hand. In the others, they are decorated. The Kapula Gallery, an old barn, is used to display the colourful candles and is open to the public (and you can also get an excellent cup of coffee here). Did Ilse ever think her dabbling in candles would lead to the success she's had? "No, it's bizarre," she says. "It's such a growth process, you just keep going, and it's difficult to stop." For the past two years the Appelgryns have had a German partner, who has set up a candle shop in Berlin which is hugely successful. In South Africa, they provide candles to many large stores, customising their merchandise according each one's needs. "But we work by hand, and so our customers have had to get used to the fact that not every candle will be exactly the same." Kapula is no longer simply the name of the business, it is a concept. "It's sophisticated African chic," says Ilse. The Kapula design is now being applied to ceramics, textiles, clothing. Manufacturing of these products is outsourced. The biggest challenge in the business, says Ilse, has been learning that you can't please all the people all the time. "If we lose customers, I feel such a failure. I like to keep people happy." But, she says, there's no stopping now. "I don't know where we will end up," she muses, "but it's my life." |
