Monkey Biz
2009
International Market: Rosita Missoni and her team visit the Monkeybiz showroom and the product was met with great enthusiasm
Project completed: Wellness Clinic Project successfully completed
Nutrition project: Monkeybiz focus on soup kitchens and food parcels in the local communities
2008
International Market:: Collaborated with Sergio Rossi in Italy on a range of handbags and shoes
International Market: Forged a relationship with a popular retailer Dice and Dice securing our place in the Japanese market
Product launch: Bead by Bead book published.
2007
Barbara Jackson sits on two discussion panels at the Vital Voices African Women’s Leadership Summit, Cape Town.
Commission: Monkeybiz beadwork used to decorate the costumes and ballet shoes of the Cape Town City Ballet production Nomvula.
Commission: Monkeybiz gets a commission to make beaded basketball players for Hoops for Hope, an initiative of the National Basketball Association, United States.
Exhibition: Linda Warren Gallery in Chicago features a Monkeybiz exhibition.
Bead Art collection: Jewish Museum in New York commissions Monkeybiz artworks for its permanent collection.
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in Paris purchases Monkeybiz pieces.
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in Greece purchases Monkeybiz pieces.
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in Sandton City, Johannesburg, buys Monkeybiz pieces.
International Market: Participates in the Design Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Film screening: Barbara Jackson meets with the students of the Graduate School of Design and Architecture, Harvard Business School. She screens the documentary film Bigger than Barbie and gives a talk regarding the new Community Centre in Macassar, Cape Town.
Commission: Amnesty International commissions Monkeybiz to design beadwork for its campaign, Stop Violence Against Women.
International Market: Monkeybiz participates in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.
International Market: Bigger than Barbie features at the Paris International Women’s Film Festival.
2006
Soup Kitchen: In May 2006, Monkeybiz launched our first-ever soup kitchen. Thanks to a year-long donation in 2009 from Kevin Winge, founder of Open Arms of Minnesota, it has been able to provide hot meals, bread and butter, fruit and hot drinks to the Wellness Clinic once a week, as well as to those who attend the big market day once a month.
Burial society: Monkeybiz launched a burial society for its artists – read more…
2005
International Market: Monkeybiz participates in the annual Design Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Exhibition: Li Edelkoort, an international trend forecaster, learns about Monkeybiz at the Indaba and invites it to participate in an exhibition in Paris called ‘North Meets South’.
Bead Art collection: Beadwork purchased by Giraffe restaurant chain in London.
Educational: The Monkeybiz story is used in the case-study pack by the Woolworths Design Programme; it is distributed to schools and design institutions.
Bead Art collection: On-going purchase of Monkeybiz artworks by the Mingei International Museum, San Diego.
International Market: On-going purchase of Monkeybiz artworks by Peace Please, New York. This organisation strives to promote peace throughout the world.
Bead Art collection: The National Gallery, London, purchases Monkeybiz artworks for its gallery store.
Award: Barbara Jackson and Shirley Fintz, two of the three founding directors, travel to London to accept UK Coalition of People Living with HIV/Aids DoUKCare Hero Award on behalf of Monkeybiz – one of four international projects to receive this award.
International Market: Monkeybiz community leader Eunice Yoliswa Mlotywa and Barbara Jackson attend the 46664 concert in Tromsø, Norway.
Celebrity: Dr Mamphela Ramphele becomes the patron of Monkeybiz. The first woman and the first black South African to be named vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, she also served as one of four directors of the World Bank. She was then executive chairperson of Circle Capital Ventures.
Commission: Monkeybiz receives ongoing commissions of artworks for many countries in the world through IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Exhibition: Monkeybiz participates in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.
Exhibition: ABC Carpet & Home Store in New York holds a Monkeybiz exhibition.
International Market: Monkeybiz takes Australia by storm.
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in Greece purchases Monkeybiz artworks.
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in Paris purchases Monkeybiz artworks. 2006
International Market: Monkeybiz participates in the Design Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
International Market: Monkeybiz participates in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.
Commission: Monkeybiz creates artwork for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta; the pieces are displayed as part of the Tsdakkah exhibition at the Bremen Museum.
Television coverage: Monkeybiz features in a television programme called Head Wrap on SABC1.
Documentary film: New York première of documentary film on Monkeybiz called Bigger than Barbie.
Commission: Monkeybiz artworks used as décor for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which was launched at Henley-on-Klip, Meyerton, Johannesburg.
Opening of retail store: Opening of the Monkeybiz retail store in the Bo-Kaap, a historic Cape Town neighbourhood, in July 2006.
Commission: Monkeybiz completes a commission of gigantic beaded beer bottles for South African Breweries plc, London.
International Market: Barbara Jackson attends a conference of the Alliance for a New Humanity, in Puerto Rica.
Exhibition: Open Arms, an Aids organisation in Minneapolis, sponsors a Monkeybiz exhibition and screening of the documentary film Bigger than Barbie, on World Aids Day.
Exhibition: Monkeybiz artworks feature at World Aids Day in Chicago.
Film screening: Bigger than Barbie premièred in Cape Town at the new Monkeybiz store.
Film screening: Bigger than Barbie shown at the Screenwriters Guild, Los Angeles.
2004
International Market: Carrol Boyes Functional Art Store in New York purchases Monkeybiz artworks.
International Market: Two Monkeybiz artists attend the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, United States.
Icon status: Cape Craft and Design Institute names Monkeybiz as a South African icon.
Bead Art collection: Museum of Arts and Design in New York purchases two Monkeybiz artworks for its permanent collection.
Bead Art collection: Two artworks known as The Boxers are placed in the private office of Mr Nelson Mandela, the former South African president.
Bead Art collection: Artworks are purchased for the permanent collection of the Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg.
Bead Art collection: American designer Donna Karan visits Monkeybiz and purchases Monkeybiz artworks.
Magazine coverage: Monkeybiz artworks appear in Dazed and Confused magazine.
Exhibition: Anglo American Plc (United Kingdom) Sponsors A Monkeybiz Exhibition At The Flow Gallery, Notting Hill, London, And At Its Head Office In St James.
Celebrity: Cult actor Rutger Hauer and his wife Inneke visit Monkeybiz.
2003
Commission: Beadwork commissioned as gifts to scholars attending the Mandela Rhodes Trust Centenary.
Magazine coverage: Monkeybiz features in Leadership magazine.
Commission: Cape Town International Convention Centre commissions Monkeybiz to bead 450 lightshades for its new premises.
Magazine coverage: Monkeybiz features in the November issue of House and Leisure.
Product launch: Launch of Monkeybiz book, Positively HIV with a five-track music CD called Statements. It aims to educate the youth about HIV/Aids.
Fund raisers: California-based Art Aids Art and a group of African American women sell Monkeybiz artworks to raise funds for the purchase and installation of a shipping container called The Boat in Khayelitsha. It serves as a production centre for the Recycled Rubber Project.
Grant: In 2003, a generous grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development (Norad) provided the essential funding for the establishment of the Wellness Clinic.
2002
International Market: Monkeybiz begins to export to Japan, Australia, the United States and Europe.
Video coverage: Short promotional film on Monkeybiz made by Isandi, Norway.
Exhibition: Monkeybiz features in a major exhibition at Manor House, Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Project launch: Aids clinic launched in a humble room.
2001
Product launch: Animals and beaded pictures introduced - the struggle continues.
2000
Founded: Monkeybiz was founded
Basic training commences; only dolls are produced; initial media coverage; people think we are mad; we do have sleepless nights!