During 1993 `ETHNICKS` was started by our daughter, Nicky Hughes,  in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
 
In 2008 we took over the reigns of her enterprise from her when she emigrated to the Netherlands with her husband and their two children. Nicky continues to be involved as an advisor to us in moments of need and she has now been given Sole Distribution rights for our Ethnicks products in the Netherlands.. 

During 2000, two Zulu women approached Nicky in need of an outlet to sell their beadwork. As a result of this encounter, she designed and developed a range of exquisite beadwork which now provides a regular source of income for approximately 200 women. These women live in the rural area of The Valley of 1000 Hills (near Durban), the majority of the women are illiterate, they travel for nearly three hours (by foot, bus and taxi) to get from their homes to the  shop. They are often the sole providers for their children as well as numerous unemployed family members.

The women are guided as to colours that experience has shown will appeal to customers and which are in line with current trends and fashion. Ethnicks  provides the bead-workers with products to cover in beadwork that are known to be popular.

Whilst working in the shop, talking to customers and observing what products are popular and in demand, a great deal of knowledge has been gained  about the tastes of local and international customers. It has become obvious that many customers, especially tourists, need to buy lots of small, readily transportable, inexpensive gifts for friends and family. We now sell such items to over 150 shops and game reserves throughout South Africa as well as various overseas outlets. We are now also very familiar with  packaging and posting of our products to local and international destinations

`ETHNICKS` has over the years subsequently become well known for its` extensive range of quality beadwork products created, produced and marketed under the trade-name `ETHNICKS

In addition to other external outlets, we have our own retail outlets being named and situated as follows:
 
ETHNICKS      Shop 36
                       The Heritage
                       9 Old Main Rd
                       Hillcrest
 
ARTICRAFTS  Shop 227
                       Kloof Village Mall
                       Kloof

Both our shops stock the ETHNICKS BEADWORK range as well as other  selected arts and crafts. The `Articrafts` outlet stocks a larger range of African arts and crafts while `Ethnicks` stocks  more beadwork.

Thank you for visiting our website. We hope you enjoy viewing our products as much as we love making them!
 
Carole & Sydney Baillon.