Art & Places: Beaded wire art in Cape Town
When I visited V and A Waterfront in Cape Town, wire beaded sculptures exhibited outside of the main entrance of African Trading Port captured my eyes. They were huge,very fine and the detailings were magnificent! I wonder how long does it take and how many beads were needed to create one big sculpture. But one thing for sure, this kind of art needs tons of perseverance. It is just amazing that these wire arts are created from wire, beads, tin cans, and other recycled materials. Other than big sculpture like the above, smaller pieces of the wire art in the form of keychains, dolls, decorations, etc, can be found at the Waterfront Craft Market.
According to this website, it is believed that this wire art originated in South Africa’s rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal. Young herd boys were the first to introduce these works of art. Designing wire creations from any recycled materials they could find, these boys produced some of the most magnificent, functioning appliances—they even built cars! Their inspirational wire creations encouraged other locals to participate in this highly marketable art form.
40 Comments
docgelo
beads and wires plus recycled materials? what a cool art installation! 🙂
Syuq
bahagian mana dia guna tin cans, k.em? mata ke?
emila
I think so the mata. Untuk nak buat frame binatang pun boleh, basically cut the tin jadi panjang-panjang macam wire.
Aiqa
So creative. Like like like!!!
azah
wow, I thought it was real !
emila
Kan, Azah?! Nampak macam real.
emila
Thanks Aiqa!
azah
tula. hebat tu buat dengan wayar2. boleh nampak real. :-O
marvic
mesti kak emi x beli beads dr sana kan?
marvic
local beads mesti cantek2 belaka..
marvic
i am crazy about beads too
marvic
dan juga hasil tenunan dorg mesti cantek jugak
marvic
tp rega mesti exclusive jugak.. huhuhu
mazny
I’m quite surprise.
mazny
Tak tahu pun wire art is originate from SA
mazny
Yes, I bet they have plenty collections of beautiful beads.
mazny
Damn, my computer is so slow… :'(
mazny
I dont think i’m gonna win this commenting race, Kak Emi… :'(
mazny
By the way, SA pun ada banyak children’s stories, kan?
mazny
Mostly folklores…
mazny
Oh baru ingat, orang SA suka hias rambut dengan beads kecil-kecil.
mazny
Ada macam-macam pattern atas kepala. Hehe
mazny
Boleh beli dan buat gelang.
mazny
Gilrs love them to make friendship bands!
mazny
Mana gambar wire art dalam bentuk keychains?
mazny
teringin nak tengok!
mazny
Tapi mahal ke harga beads di sana?
mazny
really, i almost giving up lah.
mazny
But I was expecting more colourful beads.
mazny
Tapi dalam gambar tu, semua dark colours!
mazny
or memang semua warna macam tu?
mazny
I wish to see some colourful beads on the art works.
mazny
So they are more into this sclupture.
mazny
Like too!
mazny
Tak sakit ke tangan dia orang , kan?
mazny
Buat sclupture, susah
Hazural
memang org yg buat ni… penuh kesabaran….. 😀
emila
Kan?? Nak masukkan beads sebiji-sebiji….
jaja
this is so inspirational artwork…
ainur roslan
yeah, kne sabar buat mnde nih 🙂