Nikkim by Vinnis Colours

Vinnis Colours yarns are hand-dyed and balled by women from an economically depressed rural area of South Africa. This wonderful company specialises in cotton and bamboo yarns with a palette of more than 200 colours!

In 1993, Vinni Nielsen, a nurse and a native of Denmark and an avid knitter since childhood, made her home in South Africa. She soon realised that the South African yarn market was in dire need of a good range of coloured cotton yarn. She began to experiment with dyes in her kitchen and Vinni’s Colours was born.

Very quickly she needed to hire staff to skein and ball the yarns that were draped over her furniture and hanging up in the windows to dry. The business moved from the kitchen to the garden shed, where the yarn was dyed in baths. After 6 years she was finally able to move her rapidly expanding concern into its current premises, which is two factory buildings in Cape Town.

This success has had much to do with the dedicated help of a team of supportive staff (as well as faithful customers who love this unique South African product) who live within a stone’s throw of the factory. All processes are done by hand, from the dyeing to the balling and skeining, and the yarn is sun-dried in the factory forecourt.