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Anina made her second bear from an Australian bear magazine. Even
though it was not perfect, she was hooked. She attended workshops
with various bear artists, as well as a design workshop. Needless to
say, she was bitten by the “bear bug”, started designing her own
bears and compiled her first bear kit – there was no turning back
with barely any brakes.
Anina was
fortunate to work alongside Lisa Durbach for a year, where she
learnt all the tricks of the trade, how to break the rules and not
to be afraid to be alternative. Lisa remains an inspiration to her,
but Anina developed her very own definite and distinctive bear
style. She also makes loveable traditional teddies as well as
teddies or creatures of all shapes and sizes.
Anina
worked on-and-off at a few places, not being able to settle down,
her mom suggested that she open her own bear studio, Anina took the
leap and started a small shop in the corner of an art shop in
Pretoria, South Africa. Again Anina struggled to settle down, and
moved around until she found a little studio of her own, and at last
she settled down. Anina hopes to enlarge the studio in the near
future.
Anina is
also involved in the compulsory under-graduate module,
Community-Based project for the faculty of Engineering, Build
Environment and Information Technology at the University of
Pretoria. She works closely with Dr. Martina Jordaan, the Founder
and manager of this project. She has trained ladies from Mamelodi
(a township close to Pretoria) and students in making teddy bears.
These ladies already delivered large quantities of bears to overseas
companies. Because of her loyal support and commitment to this
project, the students named her one of the honorary members of this
module.
Anina
also did a community project in India with Open Hand design where
she taught underprivileged ladies to make bears so that they can
better themselves.
Anina has
competed in various bear competitions and has won a number of
awards. She strives for perfection in each bear that she makes but
never loses focus of the fact that slight imperfections give each
bear his or her own personality.
She has
designed patterns for SA Bear Company, Teddytech and Honeydew bears.
She has also done a lot of designs for Threads and Crafts magazine
and Stitches and Bears magazine. Anina extends her special thanks to
supportive business colleagues, clients, and friends. And encourages
them with the immortal words of Winnie–the-Pooh to “sing ho for the
life of a bear”
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