Zenzile (2017) – hand-pulled screen print by The Ninevites

Nkuli Mlangeni (b.1982) is an award-winning designer and multidisciplinary collaborator, known for her creations that meld cultures, tradition and modernity. Passionate about Southern Africa’s under-told narratives, visual storytelling and black aesthetics, she founded The Ninevites a platform that connects like-minded creatives and explores textiles, photography, archival material and design.

Mlangeni’s recent work is informed by her research project into cultural craft traditions, which she undertook while studying social entrepreneurship and creative leadership at the KaosPilots School in Switzerland. Engaging with artisan weavers in South America and Southern Africa, as well as extensive desk research, she develops contemporary designs* that simultaneously serve to evolve and promote a rich craft heritage. Zenzile (a reference to Miriam Makeba’s Xhosa name) is one such result of her inventive approach, a combination of references to Ndebele patterns and rites of passage, and minimalist modernism.

Mlangeni’s Sankara Rug won this year’s Design Indaba Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award. She was named one of Mzansi’s 100 Young Independents in 2016, and a Young Curator by Cape Africa Platform in 2007.

*Studio Carreras collaborated on the digital design aspects of the project

• 4-Colour screen print on archival cotton-based paper (250gsm BFK rives)
• Paper size: 560x760mm
• Limited edition of 50
• Numbered and signed by the artist
• Hand-printed in South Africa
• Please note all prints are sold unframed