What is the Craft Gallery all about?
The Craft Gallery specialises in crafts, needlework materials and yarn in addition to a selection of gifts.
The Craft Gallery is situated at The Floradale Nursery 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 experence as well.
Vyvyan Muller opened The Craft Gallery in 1990 and has pursued her passion for art, crafts, knitting, crochet and needlework by offering a wide range of related products and encouraging handwork skills.
The picture to the right is the original Craft Gallery Shop opened in 1990. The shop has since moved to smaller premises around the corner after the launch of the online ECaommerce store.
Needlework is a lifelong passion for Vyvyan and running the shop for more than 25 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 second Saturday of the month at the Functions Room at The Floradale Shopping Centre in Beacon Bay, East London.
In August 2014 she was a teacher at the Igali Hand Embroidery Festival hosted by the Port Elizabeth Embroiderer’s Guild.
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.