Page 58 - Forbes - Africa (March 2020)

FORBES AFRICA
UNDER 30 • ZAZI NYANDENI

Nyandeni (right) with
model Boitshoko Mooketsi
doctor growing up because of her choice at her Constantia Kloof
home studio
of subjects in high school but still pursued
design to stay close to art. Thankfully,
her parents picked up that she was
artistically-inclined and gave her their
unstinted support.
In 2013, after high school, Nyandeni
took the plane out of South Africa and
went on to study fashion at ESMOD, an
international fashion design and business
school in Paris. She wanted to express
herself without saying a word, and found
her way. She spent close to six years
there, studying full-time for the first three
years and partially for the last two, whilst
freelancing and interning for various
companies in the glitzy city.
“I love to draw and not really to sew.
For my first freelance job, I went for a
company that would help me work on
my weaknesses; I went to Loon Paris
boutique and worked on my sewing
techniques. They were very strict and
meticulous when it came to sewing and I
learned a lot about technique,” she says.
The intense training meant that even
the inside of a garment had to be as

exquisite as the outside and if the hand
stitch was incorrect, she had to undo and
redo it all over again.
“When I asked ‘aren’t we wasting
material’, they would say ‘I’m wasting
their time’,” she laughs.
The eager fashionista was juggling two
jobs; the other was at a PR agency named
DLX Paris, which was sourcing brands
for international celebrities like American
singer-songwriter Kelly Rowland.
She soon came to a realization that in
fashion, there is nothing new, which is when
she moved to fabric store Boutique Malhia
Kent, a French manufacturer of haute couture.
Nyandeni has a soft spot for weaving. She
clearly adores fabrics, and this is apparent
in the weaving machine she has at her
Constantia Kloof studio, placed in a corner of

one of the work rooms.
She says her weaving differentiates her
from the other designers, as she compares

54 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2020 FORBESAFRICA.COM