Portrait of glass blowers Ngwenya Glass
Design Indaba
Cape Town, South Africa
<Swatziland? Eswatini> The Ngwenya Glass studio was selected by Design Indaba to take part in our collaborative initiative with Google Arts & Culture, titled Colours of Africa. Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them. The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.
- Title: Portrait of glass blowers Ngwenya Glass
- Original Source: Design Indaba
- What it Means to be African: To be African is having this indescribable connection with its land and nature. It is a community that stands together, cherishing its people and respecting its land.
- Subject: Ngwenya Glass
- Rationale: Eswatini (Previously known as Swaziland) Eswatini is one of the last remaining monarchies in Africa and has embraced the modern world alongside its deep rooted traditions and culture. It remains a largely rural country, full of landscapes dotted with cattle and herdsmen. An eloquent way to describe such a kingdom would be with a word in our own mother tongue – Mhlabatsi. Mhlabatsi means river sand or a great expanse of sandy land. Layers upon layers of the earth's material broken and ground up over years. Sand tells the story of how the mighty, steady mountains can move, and how the elements can be unmasked into a blend of the earth’s natural colours. Mhlabatsi; it means the ever moving river of colours that comes down from the mountainous areas through the small kingdom, carrying minerals and nutrients into the flat low-lying lands. It is the sand that blows through homesteads where the cattle drink and the crops are nourished, where the chiefs and elders are the heads of the community and their cattle are their wealth and status. Mhlabatsi; it is in this constant movement that the layers of traditional wisdom are passed down through the generations and so our culture endures. That sand is the colour of Eswatini. The glass cow we present for the Colours of Africa exhibition embodies the word Mhlabatsi. Within its head you can see the many colours of river sand, and in its bovine form it carries the traditions of a nation.
- Project: Colors of Africa
- Location: Eswatini
- Lead Quote: Sand tells the story of how the mighty, steady mountains can move, and how the elements can be unmasked into a blend of the earth’s natural colours.
- Hex Code: 443C22
- Colour Choice: Mhlabatsi (sandy)
- Biography: The Ngwenya Glass studio has been breathing new life into old or broken jam jars and bottles for over three decades. All the glass is collected in and around Eswatini (The Kingdom of Swaziland) by local individuals and businesses. Due to the economic state of the Kingdom, this upcycling and salvaging is a primary form of income for many households. As well as recycling the glass bottles, Ngwenya Glass uses old newspapers in all its packaging and production, grey water in production and their gardens, old cooking oil to fire its furnace and has a mini solar farm on its roofs. Ngwenya Glass is an ethical Fairtrade company that recently received an ‘A’ in a Circular Economy analysis. The pieces of art created by Ngwenya Glass pass through a minimum of 12 pairs of hands before leaving the factory doors. All products are 100 per cent hand blown by skilled and artistic men and women of Eswatini.
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