"In villages around Limpopo Province, it is the women who decorate the homes with traditional and borrowed symbols, integrated into wall paintings, using colour oxides, and lime and battery acid and mud mixtures.
 
In 1983, 23 women from Mbokota village, former Tsonga/Shangaan Homeland known as Gazankulu, got together to develop a simple textile process incorporating these patterns into fabric designs. Tlakeni Textiles Co-operative members who offered space for initial training in their workshop also supported the project. Later, the co-operative assisted women in gaining business skills and developing a co-operative structure.
 
Initially, production was organised by members from four homesteads in the village during 1984/5, with sales figures building up to an average of R3 000 per month, which covered payment within the group and costs of raw materials. Then, with assistance from a service organisation (ITSUDU), Twananani raised funds for building a workshop in the village.
 
Currently Twananani has 24 women producing batik-type cloths which are dyed and sewn up into garments, or just sold as n'chekas (traditional Tsonga/Shangaan sarongs). Twananani – Bring African ethnicity into your home! Different Tsonga/Shangaan Traditional motifs are applied onto a variety of textile products. The character of Africa is indelibly stamped onto the products using a block printing technique.
 
A range of cushions, handbags and interior products, hand stitched and block printed are some of the attractive products available