80 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017
Divas be doing it
Every Saturday in summer and spring, there is a gathering. Women of all ages,
from all over the country, slip on their protective goggles and rev up their power
tools. They’re DIY Divas and proud of it.BY LUMKA NOFEMELEDO IT YOURSELF? Hell, yeah. They’ve
been at it for a decade now and it seemed
there was no better time for Popular
Mechanics to meet the woman who started
a kind of DIY revolution, founder of Home-
d-zine and general hands-on maven Janice
Anderssen.
Into DIY from an early age, Anderssen is
driven in particular by helping women achieve
their home improvement goals. This is what
she had in mind when, back in 2005, she
started Homedzine.co.za.
“There was nothing like it in South Africa at
the time. You could find DIY projects online,
but there was nothing for women specifically
and not much for a South African audience.”
Anderssen has always been interested in
making her own furniture and being the
handy-woman of her own home. She credits
her upbringing for this.
“I moved from the United Kingdom to
South Africa when I was 12,” she explains. “In
the UK, there is a culture of doing things by
yourself as opposed to hiring somebody to do
it for you. I would assist around the house all
the time there and when we moved here nothing
changed. I helped wallpaper our house and I
realised that I could use my skills to save lots
of money.”
Anderssen’s first DIY project was tiling her
bathroom when she bought her own home in- “To save money, we had vinyl flooring
installed. As soon as funds were available I
tiled both bathroom floors and halfway up the
walls. My very first woodworking project was
to move my kitchen into the single garage,
after having a carport added.”
Equipped with skills that she learnt while
doing a short building and tiling course,
Anderssen believed she needed to put her DIY
ideas down so others could save money as
well. “I started Homedzine as a way to inform
and as a bit of fun at first. I soon found that
there were many other women who shared my
interest in projects, but just didn’t know
where to start.”
Although these women did not have the
skills or didn’t know the techniques needed to
carve wood or tile a wall, they were enthusias-
tic. They asked questions on the website all
the time. “As the demand rose, I decided it
was time to start DIY workshops for women
and that is how, in 2007, DIY Divas began.”
At around the time their DIY courses started,
Builders Warehouse launched. It seemed like a
good idea to enlist the help of the new DIY-
focused chain to source equipment. “Coinci-
dentally, at the same time Bosch began
manufacturing tools targeted at women,
which made it much easier to teach beginners
how to use these tools.”
DIY Divas caters for everybody regardless
of whether they have done any DIY projects
before, used power tools or tackled any wood-
working. The beginner’s course teaches the
basics of using tools and then things are taken
to the next level.
In just a few short weeks, beginners find
themselves successfully making furniture and
upholstery. Anderssen says: “Our aim is not
just to teach women how to make things, but
to enjoy DIY projects.”
It’s infectious. “Since our launch in 2007,
we have empowered more than 6 500 DIY
enthusiasts with the skills to perform a wide
range of tasks,” she says. Some, she adds with
a hint of pride, have even gone on to establish
their own businesses. “Others have simply
gained more confidence and knowledge in the
DIY department.”
And yes, we knew you’d ask: “We have men
attending our courses as well. We also have
workshops specifically for kids aged ten to
sixteen. We don’t want to leave anybody out.”
It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but Anderssen
shows no signs of wanting to get off just yet.
In any case, there’s no age limit on being a DIY
Diva. “At age 57, I am still doing DIY projects.
So it was very important for our divas to be
age inclusive.”
The DIY Divas meet in the spring and sum-
mer months every Saturday. Workshops are
run in Johannesburg, Pretoria, East Rand,
Durban and Cape Town and there are plans to
expand across the country. To find out more,
visit diydivas.co.za PM iSTOCKPHOTO/GRAFVISHENKADIY