About The Wild Coast Trading Company

The Wild Coast Trading Company sources beautifully handmade products including jewellery, natural beauty products, traditional Xhosa clothing, wire craft, home decor and pottery directly from crafters and artists that are mostly based in the Wild Coast area of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. 

By showcasing all these products in one convenient online store/market place, it enables you to purchase a wide selection of products with just a few clicks, and top notch security – only one payment and one postage fee, and all of your products arrive together – hassle free!

Why a Creative Collective? 

Because at The Wild Coast Trading Company we ensure that all artists receive a high percentage of their sales and we work on Fair Trade and Co-Operative Principles. 

Furthermore, the artists mostly keep their own stock which enables them to sell in other locations – unlike many large online stores our artist's are not required to send a lot of stock to us which they don’t get paid for until it is sold. By working closely with the artists, collecting stock once you have decided what you love, we ensure that they are not out of pocket.  

While all of the artists can focus on creating beautiful products, we deal with the marketing, selling, packaging and posting of their products.  We work within each artist's capabilities for producing their wares (please see expected delivery times on each product clearly stated).

The aim of The Wild Coast Trading Company

....is to offer an equal platform to all artists from street crafters to internationally exhibited artists, we provide a space for all! Product development with rural and street crafters is a major future goal for us going forward.

We hope to directly improve the lives of artists and their communities by offering a wider platform to them.  The Eastern Cape can certainly benefit from any generation of direct and indirect economic benefits. Every other professional involved in the site, whether graphic designers, assistants and more are only employed from The Eastern Cape. 

All items are handpicked and vetted for quality before being showcased on The Wild Coast Trading Company.  We love them, and if you have any feedback we are always open to hear from you!

How did this all come about? 

On a trip back from London, I was helping friends with their business over a busy, seasonal market period, when I realised just how much demand there was for local products from both South African and foreign tourists. Knowing the local market scene well, I was also aware of how difficult it was for some of the artists to make a living during the rest of the year, even though out of towners couldn't praise some of the local products enough (and continue to purchase from them year on year when on holiday here). 

I started off with the idea of building an online store for just one crafter/artist, then another was added, soon becoming a full blown website with multiple artists!  My background in marketing and an interest in web development, coupled with a real passion for art, handcrafted products made me decide that this was the perfect opportunity to move back to beautiful South Africa.   

I am always open to feedback, have huge ideas for improving the site (another 30 or so artists in the pipeline!) and appreciate every bit of support for these wonderful artists in the Eastern Cape!
Love Lisa xxx