The decorative use of wire in southern Africa dates back hundreds of years. But modernization actually brought communication and a whole new material, in the form of telephone wire. Rural to urban migration meant that newfound industrial materials started to replace hard-to-come-by natural grasses.
Korištenje žice u dekorativne svrhe u Južnoj Africi traje nekoliko stotina godina. Ali modernizacija je donijela komunikaciju i potpuno novi materijal u obliku telefonske žice. Migracija iz sela u gradove značila je da su novopronađeni industrijski materijali zamijenili rijetke prirodne trave.
So, here you can see the change from use -- starting to use contemporary materials. These pieces date back from the '40s to the late '50s. In the '90s, my interest and passion for transitional art forms led me to a new form, which came from a squatter camp outside Durban.
Ovdje vidite promjenu u korištenju - početak korištenja modernih materijala. Ovi komadi datiraju iz četrdesetih i kasnih pedesetih godina. U '90., moje zanimanje i strast za prijelaznim umjetničkim oblicima doveli su me do novog oblika koji je potekao iz ilegalnog naselja kod Durbana.
And I got the opportunity to start working with this community at that point, and started developing, really, and mentoring them in terms of scale, in terms of the design. And the project soon grew from five to 50 weavers in about a year. Soon we had outgrown the scrap yards, what they could provide, so we coerced a wire manufacturer to help us, and not only to supply the materials on bobbins, but to produce to our color specifications.
Dobila sam priliku početi raditi s ovom zajednicom u tom trenutku i počela sam ih razvijat i podučavat o odnosima veličine, o dizajnu. Projekt je uskoro porastao sa 5 na 50 tkača za oko godinu dana. Uskoro smo prerasli otpade i ono što smo tamo mogli naći, pa smo zatražili pomoć od jednog proizvođača žice, i to ne samo da nam isporučuje materijale na kalemima, nego i da nam proizvodi posebne boje.
At the same time, I was thinking, well, there's lots of possibility here to produce contemporary products, away from the ethnic, a little bit more contemporary. So I developed a whole range around -- mass-produced range -- that obviously fitted into a much higher-end decor market that could be exported and also service our local market.
U isto vrijeme sam mislila da ovdje ima dosta mogućnosti za proizvodnju suvremenih proizvoda, ne toliko etničkih, nego suvremenijih. Tako sam razvila čitavu masovnu proizvodnju, koja se očito uklapala u najkvalitetnije tržište i koja se mogla izvesti ali i prodavati lokalno
We started experimenting, as you can see, in terms of shapes, forms. The scale became very important, and it's become our pet project. It's successful, it's been running for 12 years. And we supply the Conran shops, and Donna Karan, and so it's kind of great.
Kao što vidite, počeli smo eksperimentirati sa oblicima, formama, proporcije su postale važne, i to je naš mali projekt. Uspješan je, traje već 12 godina i opskrbljujemo "Conran" prodavnice i Donnu Karan, tako da je super.
This is our group, our main group of weavers. They come on a weekly basis to Durban. They all have bank accounts. They've all moved back to the rural area where they came from. It's a weekly turnaround of production. This is the community that I originally showed you the slide of. And that's also modernized today, and it's supporting work for 300 weavers. And the rest says it all.
Ovo je naša grupa glavnih tkalja. Jednom tjedno dolaze u Durban. Sve imaju bankovne račune. Sve su se odselile u sela iz kojih su potekle. To je radno vrijeme jednom tjedno. Na početku sam pokazala slajd ove zajednice. I ona je danas modernizirana, tu radi 300 tkalja. A ostalo vam sve govori.
Thank you very much. (Applause)
Hvala vam puno. (pljesak)