{"id":812135,"date":"2025-02-17T18:56:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=812135"},"modified":"2025-02-17T18:56:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:56:51","slug":"the-south-african-artist-who-built-a-global-business-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/812135\/the-south-african-artist-who-built-a-global-business-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African artist who built a global business empire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carrol Boyes went from a fine arts student and teacher to one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businesswomen, owning one of the strongest brands in the luxury market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carrol Heather Boyes was born in Cape Town on November 21, 1954, the oldest sibling of her two brothers, Charles and John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They grew up on a farm in Limpopo and were community-driven with a passion for local entrepreneurs and artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing school, she attended the University of Pretoria and graduated with a fine arts degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wanted to become a sculptor and make a mark in the art world after her studies, but this career was not feasible in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, she decided to become a teacher, where she taught English to high school students and art to juniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 15 years of teaching English and art, at the age of 35, she decided to start her own functional art business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter 11 years of teaching, I followed my childhood dream of being an artist and a designer,\u201d Boyes said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She realised that she needed to make art that was aesthetically pleasing but also functional, accessible, and useful to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She found her niche in home d\u00e9cor accessories and kitchenware. She launched her business in 1989 from her home in Cape Town, focusing on cutlery and flatware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first three years of her career in design and artwork, she worked with copper, silver, brass, and pewter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She created Verdigris candlesticks, jewellery, and assorted brass works, and the public loved the quirky and functional items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boyes\u2019 ethos was to produce high-quality, unique, quirky, and collectable pieces of art that could be used daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach of her designs is a statement in itself, completely personal, fresh and different,\u201d art dealer Peter Visser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1991, as her brand grew by word of mouth, many people flocked to her stall in Greenmarket Square to buy her products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing the first person to do something is a huge advantage. I was lucky to get to the market first with the products I produce,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing the business and the Carrol Boyes brand<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Carrol Boyes when she started growing the business<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rapid business growth meant that Boyes needed to increase production to keep up with the demand for her homeware pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her father solved the need for a large-scale manufacturing plant by offering an empty building on their family farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her brother, Charles, who had just graduated from university, took this opportunity to assist her in setting up the factory and became a significant role player in the brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She opened a manufacturing plant in Limpopo Province, near Tzaneen, with 12 staff members. However, the higher demand saw it grow to over 350 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmploying people has always been very stressful for me. The idea of having someone’s life in my hands was nerve-racking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years after setting up her factory, she received her first international order, and her pieces were catapulted into the limelight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, she moved from her home office in Llandudno to her new office in Rose Street, Cape Town, where she did all the administration and planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later, she launched her first retail store at the tourist mecca, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This flagship store began the brand\u2019s retail footprint, which now includes 25 stores nationwide and an online shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2004, she opened a store in Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria, and in December 2004, Carrol Boyes opened a shop in Soho, New York.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur retail footprint has ensured that our brand is widely recognisable locally and abroad,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After more than 30 years, the Carrol Boyes business is continually growing, with over 1,000 products available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 27 countries currently stock the Carrol Boyes brand, including Bloomingdales and Nieman Marcus in the USA and David Jones in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boyes died in August 2019 after a brief illness at the age of 65. “Carrol will be remembered for her love, her story, and her quirky creativity,\u201d the company said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carrol Boyes shops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Carrol Boyes products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Carrol Boyes went from a fine arts student and teacher to one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businesswomen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":812137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[20524,21749,21750],"class_list":["post-812135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-brooklyn-mall","tag-carrol-boyes","tag-tzaneen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812135"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":812506,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812135\/revisions\/812506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}