WIRED WONDERLAND: Knysna-based artist Fulton Nhamba creates an amazing array of pieces, mostly inspired by nature, which he sells at a stall in Woodmill Lane.

IT‘S not often you come across someone who supports 10 relatives by working at something he really loves to do, but a Knysna-based artist has achieved this elusive aspiration.

Fulton Nhamba, 36, creates artworks ranging from a couple of centimetres in diameter to large pieces that are several metres tall.

Nhamba, who is originally from Zimbabwe, uses wire and beads and the enjoyment he experiences while creating his works are clearly reflected in his creations.

He said when he was in primary school in Harare, his teacher would send children out to the soccer field to collect grass, which they would then fashion into animal shapes.

Further inspiration came when, aged nine, he had a friend who made cars out of wire. “I was interested, so I made one of my own and it was better than his, so I left grass work for wire,” he said.

His hobby remained latent during his high school years but Nhamba said after he finished school he got back into it.

Then, as a young man, he came to South Africa to earn money to help support his family.

“I made a wire car and wire motor-bike and sold them at the Bruma Lake market in Johannesburg. Then customers asked me to make other stuff. At first I struggled, but then I enjoyed making stuff from pictures.”

His venture into beadwork came about when a customer brought a sample of a gecko made with beads and asked him to replicate it. “She even brought me the beads as I didn‘t know where to get them. That‘s how I learned to turn wire into animals.”

Nhamba said at first he would return to Zimbabwe every three weeks with cash for his family. However, he hadn‘t been back since 2003 due to political turmoil in that country.

While creating a three-metre high giraffe commissioned by a Durban-based outlet, he met an artist who carved in wood.

“He gave me a tip and said Knysna was a ‘touristy‘ place and that there was nothing like my stuff there.”

Nhamba moved to Knysna in 1996 and soon received orders from retail outlets in Garden Route towns like Plettenberg Bay.

“I met a lady selling necklaces at a stall in Knysna and she invited me to share her stall, so I manned the stall every day as she had another job.”

Nhamba said the stall was one of the old ones that no longer existed on Knysna‘s Main Road, and that it had been rather tucked away from view.

“Mr Edward (the managing director of Knysna‘s Woodmill Lane shopping centre) invited me to set up a stall in the centre.”

Nhamba is still running the stall, which is positioned at the hub of the centre, and this is where he creates his art, surrounded by coffee shops and musicians from the town sometimes creating a backdrop of melody.

“When I go to sleep at night I think of new ideas for things to make.”

These include parrots, flamingos, baobab trees, elephants, rhinos, lampshades, zebras, penguins, flowers and even a vintage car.

Nhamba joked that he even made Nguni cows for lobola: “I‘ve had overseas people come to me and say they want to pay the in-laws.”

He said he phoned his family in Zimbabwe two to three times a week and they had told him the situation was improving there. “Before, when I sent money, they couldn‘t buy anything, but now at least they can buy food.”