Siyabonga Fani workshop

Siyabonga Fani Tucked away at The Palms Decor and lifestyle centre in Woodstock, one of Cape Town’s bustling creative areas, Siyabonga Fani turns lumps of clay into unique works of ceramic art. On a typical day you will find Siyabonga in his gallery, hand building his latest piece while minding the shop.  Siyabonga Fani founded the business and set up the gallery and studio in 2013 after working with ceramics since the late 1990s while a student at Sivuyile College (now named College of Cape Town, Guguletu Campus). His art studies earned him numerous awards for sculpture and graphic design. After a 4 year stint working, he went on to study Business Management and Skills.  Siyabonga feels that it is important for artists to empower themselves business wise in order to "change the perception in our townships that art is for people who have failed in school by making it a sustainable business that employs many people". His success is a culmination of his studies, travels, design opportunities, networking and most importantly his drive and indisputable talent as an artist. With a preference to hand coil his pieces, rather than use a wheel, as he likes the control it gives him and how he and the clay are able to communicate Siyabonga says "I don't like to plan things that are too perfect, I don't plan my work, the clay and I just create that magic together." This is evidenced in the flowing, organic shapes of many of his pieces. Siyabonga's CV lists numerous exhibitions, awards and media articles. https://www.facebook.com/siyabongaceramicshttps://www.instagram.com/siyabongafani/