02a / Travels with my tribe: Expressions of a mysterious voyage
A peculiar determination to stay true to ourselves and our real artistic expression, placed us in the strangest and most challenging situations in the strangest of places.
In rural Africa, between a river and a mountain range we pioneered with two small children, no electricity or telephone and with our own water source direct from the waterfall, a fantastic and sometimes terrifying experience. You may ask “why would you want to do such a thing?”, and you would be right. We thought we needed to be more in touch with the source of the things. We needed to teach our children from where things came. After nine years of challenges, I can honestly say that it was worth every minute. As a family, we endured bush fires, floods involving airlifts, venomous snakes, cholera and some crazy dude from hell who was convinced he owned the river and everything around it. Well, we certainly did all learn about the source of things. We will never take food growing for granted and we also learnt to appreciate a dull moment.
A new sense of freedom encouraged us to attempt the impossible and we began building a wood-fire kiln from surrounding materials (including horse manure), and started experimenting with power forms and alchemy. The results were astounding. The colours were exceptional and every piece of work was an enigma.
In a certain dimension within which most of the world places itself, these extraordinary pieces have no value (commercial, that is), but in our mysterious and unpredictable world of the real elements – fire, water, earth and air – these pieces were expressions of playfulness, fusion, magic and love. We embraced each piece as a small miracle and thanked the elements for dancing with us.
The "forces of the sky‟, proceeded to amuse themselves by leading us to a new challenge. We found ourselves on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius with our studio packed up and sailing towards us on a ship.
Inspired by the astounding natural beauty of the tropics, the emerald green vegetation, turquoise and cobalt sea and black volcanic rock, we were graced with the opportunity to work with a contemporary dance company who aspire to express their art form by dancing in spectacular natural surroundings.
Our sound innovation developed in Africa provided a crisp, clear sound which travelled as far as the fishermen on the reef. The Mozart reached their ears as if coming from nowhere.
The centerpiece for the dance was a kayak, anchored in the bay with a mosaic, mirrors and a tree in the center, a natural mast. This object art piece was inspired by a mystical dream. The theme of the elements and the "plan‟ to synchronize the spectacular setting sun with the climax of the dance, ended in a tropical storm. The mischievous "creatures in the sky" laughed as the mast/tree rocked from side to side and rain came down in torrents. The sun had disappeared, the dancers were soaked, but the show went on and the music and movements in the dynamic setting created an enchanting ambience never to be repeated.
Our next mission was to build an artistic memorial to the "Mother of the Nation" of Mauritius. This involved cultural sensitivity and the challenge of including all the aspects of Mauritian cross-cultural life. In Mauritius one can find a church, a mosque, a Tamil temple, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple within a one kilometre stretch. The average Mauritian speaks five languages. The shapes, forms, colours and materials were chosen carefully and symbolized all these influences. While working on site, we showed respect to the Moslem villagers and switched off all machines three times a day for the call to prayer. The local villagers showed appreciation by treating us to home- made sweet cakes and milky tea.
Our journey continued and the "creatures in the sky" continued to entertain themselves at our expense. We found ourselves working on a puzzle mosaic floor in the middle of the desert in Israel. We settled on an organic kibbutz next to a shooting range. This presented us with extreme contrast from harmonious and gentle island life. With temperatures of 49 degrees, we worked on a proposed shady area for tourists to rest. The potential shade was the planting of a vine which would creep over the pergola – in about five years time. The average rainfall in the Arava desert is a few drops of quiet drizzle every 2 years. In the meantime, enjoy the full desert sun! Needless to say, the "sky creatures" continued to laugh.
A year and a half later, we found ourselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Fiji presented us with new obstacles and miles of untouched natural beauty. Fiji seemed to be a journey back to ancient roots. The Kava root ceremonies, tribal life and ancestral roots took us back to the source once again. Our challenge was getting to our destination where we planned to establish a cultural preservation center. Nine hours in a tiny, ancient fishing vessel in the vast Pacific, leaves one in absolute awe of the ocean and a fresh inspiration soon developed. This experience grew into an ambitious ideal of restoring the ancient art of Fijian boat building. We were determined to restore the almost forgotten art of these seafarers who still navigate by the stars. The 'sky creatures' laughed. “Who wants to go backwards? Diesel is progress”. Not an easy battle with the other dimension. In the meantime, we proceeded to encourage the building of traditional huts (bure's) while living on a consistent diet of freshly caught fish and cassava root.
How can we explain the value of the authentic things in life?
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
Mystica Art and Design
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Mobile: 082 2200668
01b / Sustainable Design Showcase:
Ikghupi Sleeve – laptop sleeves made from old wetsuit
material, with the design and weaving inspiration taken from
that of the Ndebele.
“The interpretation of Home is relevant to each individual based on our unique experiences, backgrounds, and life situations; however we do have one home we all share – Our Planet. As one global community we have a common destiny and a shared responsibility to pave the way for social, environmental and economic well being for the future generations.”
Upon visiting The Sustainable Design Showcase held at Cape Town’s City Hall featuring design concepts selected as finalists in the Eco Design Competition 2011, themed “Home is where the Heart is”, I was transported into a state of total admiration for the esteemed visionaries, which walk amongst us. The chosen designers, young professionals and students, under the age of 35, selected from across the country, proposed innovative design solutions addressing development challenges that have the potential to make a global impact.
With their natural ability to come up with innovative solutions to everyday problems, designers and creative thinkers are the drivers of change and trend in our world. Among the resourceful ideas, interactive displays and modern concepts blended with ancient techniques, the showcase featured a number of designs filled with ingenious wonder.
The first hall showcases concepts including the advanced ‘Paperless Slip System’, whereby shoppers receive receipts on their cellphones, drastically decreasing the use of millions of tons of paper used for till slips everyday.
‘Bowl Your Hunger', is designed to meet the needs of those
living in poverty. The bowl is made of baked bread and is not
only edible but minimizes wastage.
‘Counting Chairs’ is another wonderful creation aimed at
enriching the skills of young learners. Built out of re-used
wooden fruit boxes, the chair has a lockable storage box
under the seat, and counting rings, made out old bottle tops,
increasing children’s arithmetic ability.
The Bold Fold Chair, a simple light weight seating solution
made especially for households of large families in tiny
spaces. It is made efficiently, using only one bamboo board per
chair. The chair can be flat pack and stored when not in use.
Other designs included ‘Re-Worm’ an organic worm farm, minimizing waste, the innovative Life Straw – a portable straw which instantly sanitizes dirty drinking water, aim to decrease disease and illnesses caused by unsafe water.
The showcase did not end here, however; strolling through to the next room one was welcomed with open arms by stories from the heart - Personal accounts of the everyday life of a rural child, realities of which many are unaware. Drawn again, through to the next lobby, this time by the sweet melodies, this is a space, which will be difficult to forget. Adorned with a structure symbolizing a wishing tree, each visitor could take a fabric off-cut, write on it their wishes for the Planet and tie it to the structure. So many wishes were already blowing, each and every wish makes a difference, it starts with One.
Visit their website for more details of designers products and the winner of this competition.