about us
about us
Your one-stop design studio
DIYgirls offer bespoke interior design, custom-made furniture, and top-quality, handcrafted décor. We serve commercial, retail, and residential clients across southern Africa and have transformed everything from five-star lodges and glitzy hotels to tiny apartments and family homes.
Our secret is our in-house, all-female workshop and sewing room where we carefully and meticulously manufacture all our own furniture, soft furnishings, and décor. No middleman, no mark-up, just us providing exceptional products and services at remarkably affordable prices.
INTERIOR DESIGNER & FOUNDER
Vinette Diab-Nicholls, interior designer and founder of DIYgirls, has a passion for female empowerment. A philanthropist at heart, she always knew that her company would not only care about profits, but also about people. She feels strongly about uplifting the community while creating top-class products and services for her clients.
“I realised early in life that transforming spaces is about so much more than aesthetics. It improves our use and enjoyment of our homes, it makes our lives easier, it essentially makes the world a better place." Vinette's mission is to inspire change, create positive impact, and provide women with a platform where they can master new skills, empower themselves, and showcase their talents.
Community Upliftment
At DIYgirls, we are committed to community upliftment through skills development and training programmes. We also have full control over our entire manufacturing chain, enabling us to ensure everything is sustainable, green, and ethically sourced. It’s high-end interior design with a conscience.
Our blanket drive provides hundreds of blankets to the poorest of the poor, and we also regularly donate these beautiful, warm, hand-made quilts to deserving NGOs. We strongly believe that business cannot exist without partnering with the community, empowering the people and giving back to society. This philosophy is engrained in our business ethos.
Women Empowerment
DIYgirls is a 100% female-owned small business. 90% of our employees are black women. We collaborate with female entrepreneurs from rural villages, townships and cities to continually expand our product range, and offer our clients innovative, beautiful and affordable products.
Our all-female workshop offers employment opportunities to women who have loads of talent, but limited resources and opportunity. The result is a team of community women who handcraft the most beautiful products, tailormade to our clients' needs.
We are committed to continue to provide this kind of support to South African women. By equipping them with tools, skills, knowledge and confidence, we believe we can help change the future of entire communities, and, eventually, the country.
SUSTAINABILITY
At DIYgirls, we take pride in our commitment to sustainability. While many businesses pay lip service to being environmentally friendly, we have made a conscious decision to prioritise the use of recycled plastic waste in the production of our furniture. By doing so, we are able to manufacture products that are not only beautiful and high quality, but also kind to the planet.
We believe that by choosing eco-friendly materials, we are giving back to our community in a proactive way. Our tagline, "Designs backed by science," sets us apart from other players in the market. To ensure that we live up to this claim, we work with trusted fabric manufacturers who provide us with high-performance fabrics that meet international safety standards and certifications.
Our products are defined by three key values: ethical, eco-friendly, and high-performance. We are proud to offer fabrics that are internationally compliant and part of a forward-thinking sustainability movement. Not only do they pose no risk from harmful chemicals, but they are also proven to be good for people and kinder to the planet.
As the demand for eco-friendly and sustainable design projects grows, we are confident that our commitment to ethical and environmentally conscious production will continue to set us apart. At DIYgirls, we believe that beautiful design should not come at the expense of our planet, and we are proud to offer products that reflect that belief.
Community investment
At DIYgirls, we have a zero waste policy in our sewing room and workshop. This means we repurpose all the off-cuts when we manufacture our soft furnishings. We then sew these off-cuts together to create beautiful, top-quality quilted blankets that we donate to the poorest of the poor, through a variety of organisations that serve the needy.
Since we've launched this initiative in 2021, we have already wrapped more than 650 vulnerable children and elderly people in these blankets of love. "These blankets are colourful, durable and strong," says Betty Tshuma from DIYgirls. "They spread kindness and warmth wherever they go." We feel strongly about giving back to our community and we're excited to continue our efforts in 2024 and beyond. If you are a registered non-profit organisation in need of blankets, please contact us on info@diygirls.co.za.
