Leandra’s giant leap from architecture to macrame...

Cases of people leaving well-paying jobs to do other things are not uncommon. Leandra Lyimo, 31, left her lucrative job as an architect to venture into macramé: the art of creative knotting.

Leandra saw a gap between the older and younger generations, in terms of the connection between traditional and modern designs - and wanted to bridge the gap. After quitting architecture, she started making macramé by blending older and new generation designs.

“I started handcrafting macramé in March 2018, for several reasons. First: I wanted to be a macramé knitter because I wanted to link the tradition that utilises natural resources and, at the same time, make products that are eye-catching.”

This led to the creation of Refixit, an eco-friendly design and manufacturing company that utilises local skills and raw materials to provide creative and ‘eco-conscious’ products for the building spaces. The company uses sisal fibres to create handmade interior decor products.

“The other reason is that it was the right time to spread my wings because at some point, when I was an architect I knew that I would want freedom and self-employment,”

Leandra’s love for handicraft started when she saw her uncle teaching her mother how to make plant hangers. She was so interested in the art that every time she thought of venturing into something not related to architecture, the memory of her uncle making the plant hanger would come to mind.

Before Refixit, Leandra worked as an architect for two years. She loved the fact that she could bring the imagination of buildings into life. “When I told my mother and my friends that I wanted to quit they all hesitated because I was working with one of the best architect companies in the country. They knew I would face difficulties since I was to start from the ground up and that is exactly what happened,” says Leandra.

She asked her mother to connect her with her uncle because she had not seen him since the last time he was teaching her mother to make a plant hanger.

Her uncle had not done macramé for about ten years. It was after Leandra’s request and persuasion to start a macramé business that he agreed to get back to doing the handcraft.

Their first office was at her uncle’s home in Bagamoyo. Leandra was still a student who only knew how to hold scissors to cut parts of macramé as it was in the processes of being made.

After the first samples of macramé were made by her uncle with Leandra’s help here and there, she showed them to her friends.

She asked her friends this question: “If I make this, will you buy from me?” Her friends appraised her work, saying it was indeed eye-catching.

Leandra decided it was time for the business to take off. She formed a team of four people, her uncle included.

With the business turn around, the office was relocated from uncle’s home to a garage at Leandra’s former residence in Upanga.

“We only made four samples at first after we were all taught the basics of macramé knotting. It was not easy. It demands focus since every product is knotted differently than the other but we eventually learned how to make them and here we are,” says Leandra, as she introduces me to the now team of eight people working on different items.

The challenges

As she detailed the business’ beginning, Leandra recalled one of the most challenging times she had been through as she set up her company.

“My landlady knew my profession as an architect, she didn’t know when I quit. I had asked her to grant me permission to use the garage as the team’s workshop when the macramé business was in its early stages. She agreed.”

After a month of quitting her job, Leandra’s landlady made a U-turn on her decision for Leandra to live at her place and use her garage when she found out that Leandra had quit her job.

“She thought I would not be able to pay for the rent, so she told me to find somewhere else to live and run macramé production,” she narrates.

Leandra requested the landlady to give her a monthly notice through a phone call, a request that the landlady granted. Ten minutes after the phone call, however, the landlady called and told Leandra that she had only a week to vacate the premises.

One day Leandra was at the airport meeting a client when she received a call from the landlady.

She confronted her on why her things were still at the apartment, even though the weekly notice was not over.

“I had a breakdown at the airport. Whilst puzzled, I made calls to multiple friends to ask for space to store my belongings. Two of my friends went to my former apartment and packed all the things and carried them to their homes. I will forever be thankful to them,” she stresses.

Leandra adds: “It was then that I became a property manager at The Baobab Village apartments. I have since used one of the spaces there as a workshop. Some of the team members work from home.”

Her customers have changed over time since the business was in its early stages. Her first customers were her friends, followed by foreigners and Tanzanians after she started attending pop-up shops and when she started selling some of her works to art shops.

She later created social platforms where all the products made at Refixit are posted. Leandra says uploading their work online has since increased their customer base and engagement.

She further explains that another challenge faced by her kind of business is the exportation of the macramé. According to her, the exportation process has never been easy because there have been times when the transportation fee would be double the product price.

The products made at Refixit include lamp shades, floor rugs, benches that are partly wooded and partly knotted, wall decors, key holders and plant hangers.

Despite purchasing sisal from factories in Tanga and Dodoma, Leandra made friends with a local bead maker in Kisarawe, who supplies Refix with all the beads it uses in macramé production.

Refixit also works with a local welder and a carpenter whereas the two supply the company with metals and wood.

According to Leandra, her career has been a humbling one that depicts mental and spiritual growth.

“I remember how during the first meeting with the team, I opened up the meeting by telling them that I did not have money to pay them but I promised them that I would not let them go home hungry.

“I kept that promise until when we were able to have our own office. It was truly an awe-inspiring beginning,” Leandra explains.