Milene Rust has been involved in collecting, designing and sourcing African Tribal Art and antique beadwork for nearly 20 years. She has a Masters Degree in Fine Art and in which she has done field trips while doing research on African art and rituals in tribal societies.

 

Her business involves sourcing unique pieces of tribal art for individual collectors, museums and art galleries. Years of hands-on dealings with traders and collectors enables her to assess the value and authenticity of tribal art. Her Fine Arts Degree helps with the deep appreciation of their aesthetic beauty.

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She is an all-rounder with a natural creative talent, which has given her a lifestyle of creative freedom. Since 1995 she has been involved running and designing the interiors of her own African Art Retail Gallery Outlets. Her work is both metaphor and private and closely linked to her private collections.

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Her approach to her visual work has gained her first-hand information through direct contact with South African tribal people and their philosophies. She has covered a wide range of anthropological material as well as the related philosophical trends such as the various Structural and Deconstruction Theories of the past two decades. Her analysis of the work of Levi-Strauss is worth mentioning. Her taste involves a widely selective choice of the highest quality for sale. She frequently travels to East and West Africa and has met up with Angela Fisher in Kenya and is closely connected with the designers on the East Coast of Africa.

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Her work and private residence have been published in international magazines. She has been invited to design for galleries La Fayette (Paris), Harvey Nichols (UK), Macy's And Penney's in New York.

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She lives in a small private country town close to nature and spends most of her time between her studio, sourcing new products for her inventories and Tribal Collections for investment companies in the USA.

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As in her own words: “My enjoyment in life comes from what she describes as - "Collecting beauty" – of remarkable artistic merit and to be able to stretch boundaries.