self employed wire artist South Africa
Description of Work:

"I make huge customised wire sculptures on commission but also specialise in 'One Wire Art'. Some of my one-wire-art items such as the lizard have 8 or more metres of wire; others like my own signature just 20 centimetres. I am now developing a one wire elephant head. My work is shipped all over the world but I only deliver 'off workshop'; the customer has to arrange all the paper work, transport and so on".

"When I was a child I use to make my own toys of wire. My roots are in a small settlement near Messina in South Africa along the Limpopo River. As many South Africans I had to struggle for Life. When I grew older I started to travel from one place to another trying to sell gifts (wire christmas trees and animals, etc.) to tourists. Just before Christmas 2001 I was selling in front of the local supermarket in Robertson when two Dutch (Herman & Yvonne) asked me to make a somewhat larger tree than the christmas trees I was selling there. And I bluffed; said that I was an artist and could make everything out of wire. Oops .... a wire baobab tree of almost 3 metres high. This has changed my whole life. My work, thanks to that baobab and those crazy Dutch, can be found nowadays around the globe in private collections, museums and galleries. My second baobab stand in the new South African Embassy in Berlin in Germany. I'm not subsidised as many of my other colleagues and I work from my workshop at Soekershof (http://soekershof.com) where I'm facilitated by Herman & Yvonne and in exchange for the rent I make the little mementos visitors can earn with a quest and I also teach visitors  a decent handshake. I'm glad I can make a good living and have my own shack in the location. I love life".