Wireart

Category: Traditional Products & Techniques

No-one is exactly certain how wire art came about. The most likely origins of this art-form are the tranquil hills of Maputoland and Zululand in rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the North-East corner of South Africa. For many years, due to a lack of resources to buy proper toys, the young herdboys of these regions have been fashioning their own out of discarded coathanger wire, tin cans and whatever else they can get their hands on. Their ingenuity is quite amazing, and it is not an uncommon sight to see one of these boys steering a fully functional, made-to-scale model car crafted solely from discarded materials, complete with independent axles, fully functional steering column and a keen attention paid to details such as licence plates, headlights and in some cases, optional extras like mag wheels and free-flow exhausts.

It wasn't long before older inhabitants of the area, recognising the uniqueness and marketability of these wire toys, began making their own wire creations and selling them to tourists and visitors to the region - and thereon the vibrant medium of wire art was born -.

Source: Streetwires