About NVulu

NVulu is the expression, work and passion of Naomi Franklin, a British born artist who creates exclusive bespoke, hand-yarned, wearable art inspired by her life in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.

The word ’NVulu’ comes from both the Xhosa and the Zulu languages and means ’rain’ - and as the band Toto once explained to the world: ’We bless the rains down in Africa’.

Each of Naomi’s unique pieces is Proudly South African - designed and handmade in Africa, using locally sourced materials and exclusively spun yarns.

Her work is available across the African continent either directly from Naomi or through South Africa’s top fashion designer and couterier David Tlale. Mr Tlale features a small part of the range in his ’Veterans Pursuit’ collection which was launched in Johannesburg and is due to be shown internationally on the catwalks of New York and Paris at their fashion weeks in late 2021.

A limited number of special pieces are also offered in the UK. Based in London and in Manchester, these works are available to a select and exclusive few, by invitation only.

 About Naomi

Naomi was born in Liverpool, UK on Freedom Day in the 1960s.

Her family were heavily involved in the thriving Liverpool music and arts scenes of the 60’s and 70’s. Her grandpa, Frank Hessy, was famous for ’Hessy’s music store’, dubbed ’The shop that made the sixties swing’ - Naomi used to help out in the store and mingled there with The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy Fury, Cilla Black and other top musical artists of the time.

Naomi’s grandmother taught her how to work with wool and yarn when she was just three years old. Naomi developed and honed her yarning skills until they took a back seat to her chosen field of visual and creative arts, which she studied at The Liverpool School of Arts - John Lennon’s former art school.

Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Naomi was active in the UK’s anti-apartheid and anti-racism movement, both of which were principally driven by the British musician and artist communities.

Naomi married in the UK, and after the fall of apartheid, sensed a new hope for South Africa and wanted to be a part of its new beginnings and opportunities, and so she moved to Johannesburg, where, together with her first husband and with her Liverpool experience of supplying musical instruments to the best in up and coming musicians, she opened ’Lovemore’ music stores in Gauteng.

Lovemore soon attracted such luminary customers as Sipho Hotsticks Mabuse, and the late great Hugh Masakela, Continuing with her philanthropic nature, Lovemore has sponsored many community outreach programs in Soweto and in nearby schools and townships, and has been a patron and benefactor of many concerts and events, and providing top quality musical instruments to young aspiring musicians who would otherwise struggle to afford to buy them. Through Lovemore Naomi is also a patron of the South African Musical Education Trust and of the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra.

Naomi’s two daughters were born and educated in Johannesburg. Tiffany is an academic at Wits, whilst Molly is following her mom into art, through the medium of photography.

Naomi moved to Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape in September 2019, enticed by the serenity of the lifestyle, the beautiful forest scenery teeming with wildlife, and the allure of the beaches and the ocean. It was in Plett that she rediscovered her passion for yarning as a way of expressing her art, producing beautiful wearable and visually stunning pieces, each unique in its use of colour, medium and style.

Naomi’s artwork was never intended to be commercial but was undertaken as an expression of herself and made for her closest friends and to satisfy her passion for creating and for making a difference. However, she found herself overwhelmed by the interest her work attracted both in the world of high fashion and in society, and so was born NVulu.