Our Vision

Our vision is to design and manufacture stylish handbags in South Africa that hold a European flair coupled with exclusive design patterns and the bold and bright colours of Africa. These handbags will showcase excellent craftsmanship done by skilled South African artisans by making use of unique detailing and exquisite leathers, fabrics, materials and trims. Community upliftment, job creation and skills development is what Mazee is all about.

Mazee’s trademarked phrase “Take Me To” is the foundation behind the brand essence of Mazee Creations (Pty) Ltd genuine leather handbags. This phrase captures the unique Mazee genuine leather handbag offering, which allows clients to ‘escape’ to destinations where they wish to be or hold on to memories they already have. Each bag is designed with this in mind, adding to the appeal of capturing where you long to be and wearing this reminder right by your side, no matter where in the world you may find yourself.

 

 

Quality

Mazee ensures that each component of every handbag – down to the thread used in the stitching – is of the highest quality.  Mazee sources local industry-approved leathers and fabrics that inspire the designers to bring out the inherent beauty that is seen in each Mazee handbag. The metal hardware and buckles are sourced and then imported once quality-approved or may be custom-made by artisan designers if they come up with new and innovative metal sustainable ideas. The stitching and manufacturing are done professionally through Mazee, which is then coupled with an expert BEE-accredited factory to skilfully complete the finished high-quality products.

 

The Mazee client

A Mazee client is a person who has expensive taste in classical beauties but who also loves finding one-of-a-kind products from all over the world. She loves to experiment with new trends, unique finds and will stand out from the crowd by doing so. She is drawn to things that are timeless and elegant but craves a twist of fun and excitement in the process.

She is fun-loving and a free spirit who is not afraid to speak her mind. She is a strong woman who is often seen as a leader. To her, beauty lies deeper than just skin deep and she admires inner beauty most in others. She is caring, helps others and wants to lead by example. She is a woman who is always up for a new challenge and constantly pushes herself to achieve more in life. She is a loving and devoted woman who gives most of herself to her loved ones. She deserves a spoil and if the occasion comes, loves that. She is blown away by sentimental things in life and not interested in following the norm to ‘fit in’ or ‘be like everyone else’. She is not flashy with her money but she appreciates the art and skill that is often seen in high-quality products. This is what drives her love for expensive things – not the name brands or image – but rather the story and design behind them.

 

 

Innovation

Every Mazee handbag will be ‘engineered’ to offer more than just a handbag that looks good. Mazee wants to stand out from their competitors by designing clever and well thought out designs in their collections of handbags. This can be seen across all our different handbag styles, where Mazee design elements can be mixed and matched, to compliment the handbag per occasion or as the need presents itself to a client.

 

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More about the Founders

Marissa earned her National Diploma in Fashion Design from the University of Johannesburg while Zandri studied a BA in Communications Management, specialising in Creative Brand Communications, at Vega Brand Communications School. This was in preparation for them to achieve their ultimate goal of starting a company that binds these two design industries together, into an innovative and trend-forward fashion brand.

This innovative thinking was already evident in Marissa’s final year range design collection which consisted of two in one dresses. Each dress Designed and executed with a twist! In 2010 she was a Vodacom Durban July Gauteng semi-finalist and made it into the semi-finals of the 2011 SA Fashion Week/Vodacom 4U Denim to Dress Student Competition.

During the course of her studies, Zandri was nominated as a Top 10 finalist in the ISTD (International Society of Typography Designers) Design Awards. She has over 11 years’ experience in the design, publishing and print industry. She is currently working as an Art Director for Clicks ClubCard magazine. Two years ago, marketing and advertising site marklives.com announced that one of Zandri’s front covers of the year was ranked 7th in the Best Magazine Covers of 2015 Awards (this was the first time Finweek had been nominated).

The biggest competition milestone Mazee has achieved with regard to handbags was last year, when Marissa was nominated as a finalist in the 10th annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards, hosted in New York City in June. She was one of only two South African handbag designer finalists to make it as a finalist in this global competition that Mazee attended last year in New York City.

Both twins give creative input and bounce ideas off each other. They have a keen eye for detail and intuitively know what makes a design successful! The twins brainstorm together to generate ideas about current trends and designs, after which Marissa designs the handbags and does patternmaking thereof. Depending on the style, Zandri then designs the vector-based patterns digitally, which are laser-cut and stitched down onto leather panels by Marissa in a highly specialised technique. By combining the sister’s skills, Mazee handbags are developed into a one-of-a-kind product.