Takkies, combs and things on poles

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News and media releases: 2009

11 June 2009

Interesting artworks brighten up the Fashion Kapitol, on the eastern edge of the inner city, heralding the creativity within

THE lowly takkie has been elevated to lofty levels at the almost-complete Fashion Kapitol in downtown Joburg.

A large pair of colourful, beaded takkies sits atop a steel pole, together with an outsize beaded red comb on an adjacent pole, at the entrance to the Fashion Kapitol in the fashion district in Pritchard Street, ready for the opening in a month or two.

A beaded satellite dish and a beaded sewing machine complete the public art, says Rees Mann, the energetic driver behind the rejuvenation of the district. "I don't like it ... I love it," he said of the artworks. "It is fantastic! JDA, you have done the city proud."

The JDA, the Johannesburg Development Agency, has managed the development of the fashion district, a process going back to 2003. It will soon hand over the management of the district to the Johannesburg Property Company and the Fashion District Institute.

The kapitol takes up most of a block in the heart of the district, an area of some 26 city blocks on the eastern edge of the CBD, bordered by Market, Kerk, Von Weilligh and End streets. It houses over 200 fashion-related businesses, including cut, make and trim operators, a budget clothing retail industry and the studios of several established designers like Clive Rundle and Bongiwe Walaza.

Artists Paul Cooper and Landi Raubenheimer came up with the design of the four artworks. Commissioned by Trinity Session's Marcus Neustetter, they asked beader Boas Manzvenga, who specialises in outsize beadworks, to do the beading.

Manzvenga produced wire models of each piece, which were then taken to an engineer who designed round-bar metal structures, which were then galvanised. Around these structures copper wire was threaded, and Manzvenga threaded the beads through the wire.

"It's been quite a mission," says Cooper of the project, which began in October 2008. Putting the artworks on the top of poles is a strategy to keep them out of reach of metal thieves.

The creation of the kapitol

The Fashion Kapitol was created when two buildings were demolished and cleared; new structures rose up in their place, creating space for 30 shops, offices, studios, a restaurant, a small square, an outdoor ramp, an amphitheatre, and an arcade linking Pritchard and President streets.

Rees Mann, the energy behind the rejuvenation of the Fashion District

The result is an attractive square with a small amphitheatre overlooking a ramp, with industrial roofing on one side, and buildings on three sides of the square. Already the anchor tenant has been found - Rundle will take space in one of three heritage buildings that were not demolished.

Rundle has had his factory in Doornfontein in the CBD for many years, and is thinking of using his space at the kapitol for a coffee shop. He likes the fact that it is an "off-site venue".

"It is attractive - it means that you can sit securely with your laptop and cellphone on the table," he says.

Mann says that now the square is ready, he will be signing up tenants for the retail space fronting it. This includes finding a street barber to take a shop, with authentic barber swivel chairs and pictures on the walls, as well as filling the restaurant space.

"We don't want a franchise - it has to be an emerging person. We want something that captures Sophiatown or Drum magazine, and that is uniquely fashion district," he says.

Fashion shows

Mann is particularly pleased with the outdoor ramp and amphitheatre. He envisages lunch time fashion shows, along the lines of the tradition of fashion shows in stores like John Orr's or Greaterman's in the CBD of old.

"We have a 3km target market around us - workers from Absa, Standard Bank, Transnet, FNB and AngloVaal Ashanti."

He plans to have fashion shows at 12.15pm, 12.45pm, 1.15pm and 1.45pm, six days a week. "It will be like artists in the sun, but designers at the kapitol," he smiles.

He would like to expand the local market to designers in Pretoria, Vereeniging and the greater Johannesburg area, so long as the designs are indigenous. "It won't be like flea markets but rather like organic markets, where things are controlled so that everything is made in Jozi."

But Mann doesn't see the amphitheatre as just a fashion venue - he would like groups like People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) to see it as a forum to air their views, or read poetry.

Choirs and BRT

And his dreams go further. "My last dream for the square is to have choirs - hundreds of people singing Christmas carols here in December, with singers entering the square from all angles."

This would mean that people would stay in town for another hour, relieving the traffic a little.

Two Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit stations just on the doorstep of the kapitol - in Mooi and Troye streets - will be one of the big boons for the district. Mann hopes that the bus system will also make it possible for workers in the city to catch a bus to the kapitol, take in a fashion show, do some shopping, then take a bus back to their places of work.

"I want people to come to the area for a multiple of reasons - for that special find that's perfect for them, like a hat. This is not a shopping centre, in your face and all marked."

Artworks on poles

The JDA has commissioned other artworks, also to be positioned on the top of steel poles.

The outdoor ramp and amphitheatre in the square of the Fashion Kapito

Artist Richard Forbes has created two striking figures - a stiltwalker in JZ de Villiers Park in Yeoville, and a figure on a monocycle with propellers for arms in the Alec Gorshel Park in Hillbrow.

"The stiltwalker I have called Courage," he explains. "She is fearlessly stepping out into the world."

He says he made his daughters stilts to use as reference points. He has received feedback from the public using the park, with people saying they sense the courage he tried to capture. "They say it gives them a sense of upliftment, so the sculpture is doing what it is meant to do."

The man on the monocycle is called Elevator, capturing "aspirational potential", says Forbes. "I want people to feel uplifted and feel the potential within themselves." Both figures are constructed of recycled steel.

In the Donald MacKay Park in Hillbrow two wind vanes sit tall on the tops of poles, created by artist Dave Rossouw and representing a female and a male. The female vane, with a silver moon at its apex, contains various female forms, surrounded by images that relate to women: a traditional dress, high heels, and carrying a child.

"It captures the principles of nurturing, home and the many sides of being a woman," says the artist.

The other represents a man and is more geometric. It contains a brick, a pyramid, a sports car and a taxi, and has a figure planting a flag, representing strength and leadership. The male vane has a gold sun at its apex.

"I wanted them to be like Bushmen paintings, where you don't immediately see everything - the more you look, the more you see."

They are both made of mild steel, which has allowed them to rust, an effect with which Rossouw is happy. They rock in all directions as they have been constructed to balance on a pinpoint.

In addition, Hans Foster has created three works on tall poles at the city entrance to Nelson Mandela Bridge. They consist of images of shoes and the Joburg cityscape, portraying the idea of "different walks of life".

"The shapes of footprints and shoes portray the movement of many different people coming and going, passing through and shaping the city," he says.

They are made of laser-cut steel mounted on to poles, around one metre in width and 1,5 metres in height.

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The Johannesburg Development Agency, set up as a limited liability company, is an agency of the City of Johannesburg that stimulates and supports area-based economic development initiatives throughout the metropolitan area.

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