A vet inspired by Nature.
A doctor passionate about people.
South African sisters source, create and uplift.
We are a small business based in South Africa - dreamed up by two sisters and brought to life with our very savvy business partners, Doug and Cam Heale.
We are passionate about slow and conscious consumerism, drawing on nature for inspiration and uplifting and conserving where possible. Due to all our products being hand made, as well as the need to move away from mass consumerism, we produce a limited number of each design and item. And where possible we use natural elements to make every piece and do our best to tread as lightly as we can on this beautiful planet.
We love being able to connect with you through L | L, and share the parts of this world that bring us joy.
Thank you for joining us on this journey.
G A B R I E L L E
Hi, I’m Gabrielle. I am one of the founders and owners of Liv & Light. I graduated from Stellenbosch University in 2016 as a medical doctor. I am a firm believer in a more integrative approach to healing and I am in the process of creating a medical career that draws from other healing modalities such as gut health, sleep, healing through movement, meditation and herbal medicine. I am particularly drawn to working with underprivileged women and children in South Africa. Let’s see where life takes me!
Being raised by an artist in a very creative home, myself and my sister have always had an appreciation for the arts and creativity. As we are both in the medical field, Liv and I wanted to find a creative outlet and Liv & Light has become just that.
I have always loved fashion and clothing and remember designing countless outfits out of bed sheets and plastic bags and towels. When we initially started Liv & Light back in 2018, we had put a small group of my ex-patients through sewing courses to empower them with skills instead of hand-outs. I would then design simple garments and the ladies would sew them up and that’s how Liv & Light was born! Although we now also use a small CMT to help keep up with orders, my dream is to continue this kind of upliftment work with South African women and maybe one day we will have hundreds of women feeling empowered and excited about their own lives and ambitions. That’s the dream.
Outside of medicine and clothing design, I am also a huge ocean lover and vehement traveler. I am happy to be dressed up and sipping chilled rosé on a Cape wine farm but equally happy in a pair of old shorts and hiking boots, with a backpack and a tent, exploring the world.
I am engaged to a wonderful man who also happens to be an owner of Liv & Light and growing and learning together through this business venture has been one of the most exciting, terrifying and formative experiences for us as a couple as well as business partners.
Thanks for following along and believing in our vision. We are excited to have you here.
X
O L I V I A
Hi there, I’m Liv. Part founder and owner of L | L and veterinarian by day (and quite a few nights). I graduated from the University of Pretoria - Onderstepoort in 2016 and having grown up in the Lowveld bush around the Kruger National Park, wildlife and conservation medicine has always been my first love. Not only did we grow up in an incredibly creative home with our artist mother, but our home was also a constant refuge for any creature that needed help. This meant that days often consisted of breakfast with a cattle egret, tree squirrel and guinea fowl, midday mud wallows with a warthog and bath time with six wild goslings.
My spiritual connection to nature throughout my life has always been an immense source of comfort, knowledge, wonder and inspiration. It is a connection that I feel is imperative to our human nature and well-being, yet over time has been lost. Nature reconnection is incredibly important to me - we can’t fight to conserve this beautiful planet and its inhabitants if we don’t have a connection to it or learn to live sustainably alongside it.
I hope to highlight the magic of Nature through my art, writing, photography and ceramics, as well as explore the wisdom of ancient and indigenous cultures that have always fascinated me, and bring attention to the plight of many of the species I work with. I will be doing this while also unpacking the lessons learnt through a lifelong healing journey with a terminal illness and recently surviving a bone marrow transplant and how important my connection to Nature has been through it all.
Thank you for your love and energy and for following us on this journey.
X
T H E S E W I N G C A F E
During the process of moving L|L to Cape Town, as well as increasing our production, we made the decision to outsource our garment making. We started looking for a partner who would align with the ethos behind our business, while staying true to how we started by up-skilling women and giving them a chance of creating a life for themselves. When we found the Sewing Cafe we knew it was the perfect fit!
With the talented and driven Cari and Athene at the helm of this great initiative, they have up-skilled hundreds of unemployed people from Masiphumelele and Ocean View in Cape Town since their inception in 2012. They are a professional CMT offering both pattern-making and sampling, and we were finally able to hand this important but incredibly time-consuming aspect of the business over to these amazing women and the Sewing Cafe team.
The hundreds of students of the Sewing Cafe are either employed full or part-time by the Sewing Cafe or elsewhere in the sewing sector, or they have gone on to start their very own businesses. The Sewing Cafe also offers an afternoon sewing club for learners from the nearby schools, as well as a hub where entrepreneurs can start their own businesses.
It is a special organisation that we are very proud to have partnered with.
If you would like more information, please have a look at their website: www.thesewingcafe.co.za
Images provided to the Sewing Cafe by Michael Wiswedel
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