Cape Looms in collaboration with Beezy Bailey

Notes

This piece is an exciting collaboration between one of South Africa’s most celebrated artists and Cape Looms, a women-led artisanal collective. This unique textile artwork is to be auctioned by Strauss, with all proceeds donated to Craft School South Africa, a newly established non-profit artisanal skills school that opens in Cape Town in February 2026.

Renowned artist Beezy Bailey has generously donated his 1987 sketch, Woman of Power, to be reinterpreted as a hand-embroidered rug by the women of Cape Looms. The project brings together fine art, traditional craft, and social impact. The rug is a celebration of the enduring relevance of hand-made practices in contemporary culture, created as a specifically South African multidisciplinary artwork that entwines our multi-cultural perspective. The collaboration between Cape Looms and Beezy Bailey is grounded in a shared belief in storytelling through making and in the power of craft as a reflection of everyday life. Both approach their work as a creative response to the world around them, rooted in collaboration, process, and human connection.

Bailey personally selected the colour palette for the embroidery, which is executed in hand-spun and hand-dyed merino wool on a base of flatweave golden Lox mohair, resulting in a richly textured work that bridges drawing, textile, and sculpture.