Anton has been involved with the craft industry for the past twenty years. His main medium is wood and steel particularly hand-carved wooden bowls sourced deep in the rural areas of Zimbabwe.
Working closely with about 150 carvers, sustainable trees (mainly wild olive and teak) are harvested, and sections carefully selected to bring out the best in the natural patterns and grain of the wood. Once the bowls have been roughly carved they are transported through a variety of ways and means as only Africans can to the heart of the Waterberg Region in the Limpopo Province. This most northerly province of South Africa rubs shoulders with Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique. Here Anton and his dedicated team of four begin the process of selecting the bowls that will be suited to specific products such as a lamp shade, a basin, or a salad bowl.
Bowls are arguably the first useful creation of the human. From the simply cut calabash, the carved wooden bowl and subsequently clay, humans have always decorated this functional item. By selecting the bowl as his main creative medium, Anton answers several needs. The shape of the bowl lends itself to many different functional items. The bowl is singular in form and design, but where bowls break, pieces are chosen to make new bowls, joined with wire and beads, beads being the icon of African design. Anton learnt his craft in Europe and America, and by showing his craft at trade shows he has honed this expression to bring together the innocent design of the African with the complexity of colour and patterns so much loved in Europe and America.
The bowls are processed to a fine and smooth finish. Each bowl is taken in turn, and according to its natural flaws, patterns and grains, is cut and shaped into the different product. By doing this, DNA Studio adds its own unique imprint to the original carving. The studio recycles all breakages into functional home-ware products. Unique designs are burnt into the wood with a selection of specific tools, colour is added to some, after which the bowls are oiled, burnished or sealed into a durable usable product.
Anton draws his inspiration from the natural world around him. The Waterberg is home to many wild African animals. Some have robust designs, like the zebra and the giraffe. Others are more delicate. The rush of a grey mongoose across a dusty dirt road becomes a puff of earthy orange in the sun. The spider’s web catching the dew in the morning is a delicately filigreed pattern. The water droplets reflect a myriad of colours that find their expression in the beadwork added to many of the bowls. Colours of the Waterberg range from pastels in the pinks of the mornings, the pale grass and the slightly blue tinted sky of winter, and in the summer the greens and browns are deeply hued. These colours are added selectively to sections of the wood. This natural inspiration is the DNA of Anton’s creativity.
After twenty years, Anton and his team are as passionate about their art and craftsmanship as when they started and for them their craft has become freedom thru expression.
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