From origami swans to baskets woven from old water pipe

Mo Mokone could not fold paper swans fast enough. She had learned origami from a Japanese roommate while living in the UK, and when her sister Michelle invited her to a market, the swans disappeared from the table. "The swans sold out so fast that I had to stay home and make more while Michelle was at the market selling them," she told the Mail & Guardian in 2024. The swans won Best New Product at that market, the paper reports.

That stall is where Mo's Crib began. Today it is a Pretoria factory that weaves discarded water pipe into baskets and planters, and sells them to retailers on other continents.

From paper to pipe

After the swans, the sisters spent a year on research and development. When they returned to the market they brought something new: baskets made from PVC water pipe collected on construction sites. The Mail & Guardian calls them a phenomenal success. Mo told aspire magazine in 2022 that she had once woven plastic bags into rugs, and that the business would not exist without Michelle pushing her to take her art seriously.

Mo also told aspire what the sisters learned about the material. PVC, she said, is the third most produced plastic in the world, and under one per cent of it is recycled. Reclaimed pipe was a way to work with that problem rather than around it.

The business started alongside day jobs. Briefly reports that Mo was a vice-president of human resources at Nestlé and Michelle an economist, and that the sisters resigned when the pandemic closed the markets. They turned to wholesale and went to a trade show in New York. The Crate & Barrel deal that followed put the baskets into American stores and online by late July 2021, according to House & Garden. The Mo's Crib website now lists MRP Home, Target, Woolworths and BASH among its retailers as well.

What the weaving involves

The pipes are picked by hand from landfills and construction sites. In the words of the company's own product description, its artisans turn the reclaimed PVC into thin strips, then weave them by hand. A single piece takes four to seven hours or more. The company says the finished baskets have the look and soft touch of a classic grass basket and last five times as long.

The result is a basket that is washable and bug-resistant, and aspire notes it will hold anything from bathroom linen to firewood. The company says that because every piece is woven by hand, no two are exactly the same.

Pipe is one of two main lines. The Karula collection is woven from ilala palm leaves, and in a 2025 Lionesses of Africa interview the sisters also name banana bark, cane and sisal as materials they weave with. The Mail & Guardian's writer, visiting the Pretoria warehouse, found finished furniture lined up and the smell of dried grass in the air.

The two sisters divide the work by temperament. Mo is creative director and head of business development. Michelle runs marketing and operations, and describes herself as the analytical one.

Why they make it in South Africa

The sisters are plain about why the factory is in Pretoria. Michelle told aspire that building a business in South Africa, "where every dollar is coming back to our community, is really special." The company's own line is "handmade in South Africa", which it says is how it keeps old skills alive, creates jobs and holds down its carbon footprint.

The sisters describe the business as built around people as much as product. Asked by the Mail & Guardian why community matters to her, Mo answered: "We were intentional when we said we are starting this business for the community and the environment." They say their artisans, most of them women, receive fair wages, hot meals, transport, on-site health care and skills training.

Mo's Crib is mainly a bulk manufacturer, so most of its work reaches shoppers through other people's shelves. The factory opens to the public at Factory Sales announced on moscrib.co.za, and the same site has a trade programme for designers, architects and boutique owners.