About Us
| Africa Direct, Inc. is owned by Elizabeth Bennett and Sara Luther. This is our twelfth anniversary in business! African art, trade beads, and ethnic jewelry are both business and passion for Sara and me. Summer Acheson, Dr. Niangi Batulukisi, Mark ("Thunder") Anderson, and Kevin Hester work with us. The artists, co-operatives, and African traders who supply us are an integral part of our company. We have a very large inventory of African art, trade beads, Ethnic jewelry, baskets, beadwork, masks, carvings, Shona sculpture, textiles, Tibetan, artifacts.
We had been active in anti-apartheid politics for some time. In 1994, when Mandela was elected, we took the three still-at-home kids out of school and moved to southern Africa for eight months. We bought a used food panel van, converted it into a camper, and traveled 15,000 miles through South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Swaziland. We weren't consciously beginning a business...but we noticed that we were buying more than we would keep, give away, or sell at garage sales. In the beginning, we did shows and held open houses. Now ebay and our website, africadirect.com, are the only way we sell. We go on six week buying trips to Africa every three years, and bring back containers. We also have African traders in our driveway almost daily. We buy from more than 100 traders (including two women!) who come from both coasts, fly in from France, and send shipments from Africa. We care about supporting living artists, and buy from co-ops in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland, and other places.
Eliza's background is in entrepreneurial business and international franchising. Sara was a professional squash player and Vassar's first white, Black Studies Major. We have been together for 24 years, and in 2004, were finally able to be legally married in Massachusetts. Dr. Niangi Batulukisi has more than fifteen years experience in the field of African Art, as writer, lecturer, scholar, and museum curator. She was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and received her PhD in Archaeology and Art History at the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, under the supervision of Francois Neyt. Her dissertation was on the art of the Holo. She has broad expertise in African art with particular concentration on the art of Congo. She spent ten years working in Belgium with the Congo Basin Research Dr. Daniel Mato, professor emeritus from the University of Calgary, and Steve Messick, collector and expert in African art and trade beads, both help evaluate pieces.
YORUBA- AN ART OF LIFE -THE BENNETT LUTHER COLLECTION. This was our first book and was written to accompany a 50 piece exhibit of Yoruba art which was on display at the South Dakota Art Museum, and is available to other museums. Thanks for your interest and support of our business. Please take a moment to send us an e-mail as we would love get to know you better. We keep a "requests list" , send out previews for African Art, Ethnic Jewelry , Trade Beads and have a newsletter--let us know if you'd like to be on the mailing list. Please be sure to visit our Ebay store, Africa Direct. Eliza |
Sara and I started buying African art twenty years ago as gifts for our children, four of whom are adopted and are African American.
In addition to running the business, raising our last still-at-home child, and being active grandparents, Sara and I are politically active, read voraciously, and treasure family and friends. Sara continues to play competitive squash. We help to support AIDS orphanages, and fund raise for them, Heifer International, and other causes we care about.
Shambe Abdul is the owner of Postal Centers, and if you are in Denver, he and his people are simply superb shippers. You can call him at 303-399-4156. He grew up in Uganda, of French/Kenyan parents, and is himself an African art collector.
