This life-size lion was created by Mike Carella and Riaan Hanekom. It’s just amazing, isn’t it?

Below, you can admire the Madiba statue (2m tall !!!). You can see it in our gallery at 77 Shortmarket Street in Cape Town. He is all made in wire and beads. Nelson Mandela is a symbol for the new South Africa! You can learn more about this loved and respected political figure in reading his autobiographic book : A long Walk to Freedom.

Here was a really nice party yesterday evenning ! To launch our new Safari range, we invite people to join us to celebrate this event !

Below you can find the recipe for a nice party :

- a lot of good food

- some bottles of nice wine and beer

- round 50 happy & smiling people

- a pinch of intersting speeches

- a spoonful of songs from Streetwires chorus

- one very nice Safari Range

And it’s not only the birds & the bees that have been buzy with spring upon us, at Streetwires we’ve been sketching, bending & spindling to put on a bit of a show ourselves. And now with a little something to show for it – we’d be delighted to welcome people tomorrow to celebrate in what we do best – the creation of the extraordinary in wire & beads.

It’s Safari in the city this time around, the new ‘black’ being… well, beige, purple, khaki and, stripped – with eyes. What man attempts to imitate in coats, jackets & skirts, nature tends to do with aplomb, so, we figured we’d go with the ‘birthday-suit’ look.

I would like to introduce you Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 World Cup. It is a leopard (an African animal) with green hair (like the football field). Its name is from ZA (South Afric in Afrikaans) and Kumi which means in 10 in a lot of African langages.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said : “Zakumi represents the people, geography and spirit of South Africa, personifying in essence the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We are certain we will have a lot of fun with him in the lead-up to and during the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup.” 

WARNING – WARNING – WARNING

Some sheeps have invaded Streetwires shop !

Streetwires has been listed as a Best of Cape Town Awards (Good Hope FM), in the category ‘Best product or service’ in Creative Cape Town. We would be overjoyed if you took the chance to nominate us on http://www.goodhopefm.co.za/best_of_ct_awards/ to ensure we end up a finalist for the voting round of the competition!

Thanks a lot!

SW is also plastic ! There is another workshop just across the road where artists work on recycled plastic.

“Plastic, it’s fantastic !”

Streetwires collects used plastic bottles (soap, detergent …) and makes craft with them.

Fisrt, artists hammer the plastic to flatten the bottle. Second, they cut it to give it the good shape. To finish, they put the pieces together to create the product like these flowers or these cute pigs!