South African family history, genealogy, heritage and interesting places, past and present. All articles researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl. COPYRIGHT ANNE LEHMKUHL, no article can be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission. EMAIL ME
Telephone wire art
The popular telephone-wire bowls in South Africa had their origin in Zulu night watchmen on the mines in the 1950s. According to a new book by Durban's Marisa Fick-Jordaan, telephone (or scoobie) wire was first used to decorate knobkerries and the lids of traditional beer pots. The former fashion designer who founded the BAT Shop at Durban’s BAT Centre in 1994, wrote the book, Wired — Contemporary Zulu Telephone-wire Baskets, with US art collector, David Arment. Her research revealed that scoobie wire became available in South Africa in the 1930s, and that in the 1950s it was first used to decorate knobkerries and bottles by Zulu men working on the Johannesburg mines.