What is the Craft Gallery all about?

The Craft Gallery is a specialist Needlework Shop originally situated at The Floradale  Centre near Beacon Bay, East London in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.  Floradale Nursery is a third generation family business which was founded in 1937.  We provide leisurely shopping in a country environment and are excitingly different.  But for those not in East London, we offer a leisurely online shopping experience as well.

Vyvyan Muller opened The Craft Gallery in 1990 and has pursued her passion for needlework by offering a wide range of related products and encouraging embroidery skills.

The picture to the right is the original Craft Gallery Shop opened in 1990. The shop   moved to smaller premises around the corner after the launch of the online store.

Needlework is a lifelong passion for Vyvyan and running the business for 35 years  years means that she learns more every day from books, needlework courses and from sharing with others.  Areas of needlework she enjoys include needlepoint, cross-stitch, creative embroidery, hardanger, red work, black work, drawn thread, pulled thread, creative canvas work, tatting, smocking, knitting, crocheting, patchwork, quilting, mount mellick and more.

In 1989 Vyvyan and a group of friends started what is now known as the East Coast Quilters Guild which still meets every month. In fact the very first exhibition of the guild was held in the shed that ultimately became The Craft Gallery.

Vyvyan was a founder member of the East London Guild of Needleworkers in 1997 and was on the first steering committee.  The guild meets every third Thursday of the month.

In August 2014 she was a teacher at the Igali Hand Embroidery Festival hosted by the Port Elizabeth Embroiderer’s Guild and in 2018 at the Festival hosted by the Cape Embroiderers’ Guild in Cape Town.

Vyvyan is an accomplished artist who enjoys working mainly in water colour but also oils and mixed media. She love combining her artistic skills with her needlework skills and is always creating and working on a piece of needlework.