Andries Smit, a cane and raw hide weaver of note, grew up in Middleburg and lives in Adendorp just outside Graaff-Reinet. He demonstrated the art of weaving chair seats with cane and raw hide (also called riempie) at the Agricultural Show in Aberdeen.Andries was trained in this technique of curing the raw hide for weaving into chair seats by his grandmother who is from French extraction. In France they used the hide of cattle and goats. Andries is the only person using this specific technique in South Africa. It takes fourteen days to accomplish this curing. The hide is cut in the old fashioned way and all the work is environmentally friendly. Eland hide is used for long benches. Work done on a Colonial type chair takes a day to weave.
Andries has fixed customers all over South Africa and also sends the specially cured riempie to Perth and London. When sending riempies out of South Africa, special treatment is done on the hide, and is accompanied by a Veterinary Certificate. Andries sells almost 10,000 riempie lengths annually.
Andries also builds donkey carts with padded seats. He sells these carts together with all the reins and leather work for the donkeys. These donkey carts are sold all over South Africa. This art of chair seat weaving, which Andries perpetuates, is traditional to all beautiful old Cape furniture, and the riempie used is very strong and lasts up to 20 years.
Article By: Joan Tinker