BLACK AFRICA. A MIRROR

sizes:
1000mm x 900mm

Material - Perspex

price:
POA

NDEBELE STOOL

Made in collaboration with Elizabeth and Vincent Gwebu, bead workers originally from Mpumalanga, now living in Philippi, Cape Town.

These stools are based on the materials, techniques and forms of traditional Ndeble dolls.

Ndebele art speaks no longer just to the indigenous community, but now serves also as an aesthetic commodity, an economic "bridge to the 21(st) century" for South African Ndebele women artists and their families. We are witnessing an artistic society of women proceeding through their own cultural aesthetic evolution.

Instead of producing more and more traditional dolls that are common in South Africa, and whose only function is a curio or keepsake, we are using tenets of Ndebele culture to produce furniture that is relevant/attractive to an international market with sustainable economic benefits.

TOKOLOSHE

Traditional magic and superstition have always formed an integral part of South Africa's indigenous folktales, in which the tokoloshe is a significant manifestation. Even today many rural and urban Nguni peoples, particularly the Zulu and Xhosa, still believe in the power of these mischievous and sometimes evil, hairy spirits. Interestingly though, the belief in these water sprites has spread to all cultures in South Africa.

All over the country, black South Africans would often raise their beds by placing the legs of their beds on paint tins or bricks, raising their bed up to 3 feet from the ground. It is an almost universal belief, that this was to keep the occupant of the bed out of reach of the Tokoloshe while you sleep.

Tokoloshe is avaliable in two widths:
bench - 1800mm x 430mm
bed - 1800mm x 800mm

Steel frame is epoxy coated and
avaliable in a variety colours.

To place orders or for more information
contact Animal Farm on +27834410662
or porky@animal-farm.co.za