Original Robben Island fence is now jewellery

The story of Nelson Mandela’s great achievements lives on through Charmaine Taylor’s Legacy Collection.

Taylor is the founder of Love Design, a design and marketing company, and in 2013 she decided to take on another role as a ‘creative’.

This young innovator creates jewellery and artworks from the original Robben Island fences, which once guarded our late struggle icon, Nelson Mandela.

“My friend Chris Swift rescued the [Robben Island] fence from being placed in a landfill. Robben Island had to replace the very rusted broken down fence as it could no longer serve its original purpose, so it had to be taken down and replaced with new [fencing],” she said.

Explaining how she thought up the idea of creating the collection she said, “Chris, who is an artist who creates art out of found objects or discarded materials, saw the value in this rusted metal in its symbolism and rusted beauty, so he took the fence when it reached the mainland off Robben Island.”

Taylor decided that she would create jewellery from the discarded fence which once enclosed the island which bears such rich history, soon after obtaining it. “I started the collection in 2013 and slowly started to develop the rusted metal into jewellery.

“I am not a jeweller and had to learn everything from scratch. So I learnt a lot in the course of 2013. I have a very creative mind, so I knew what I wanted and found the correct people to work with.”

She currently has two ranges in the collection – her wearable art, which is made by a process of covering the fence in precious metals such as gold or silver; as well as her latest collection where she creates pieces using the fence as is, in its raw and rusted state.

“Each piece carries a message of hope and reconciliation and reminds us who we are as South Africans and all we have been through.”

While some pieces can take up to eight weeks to create, Taylor has created a range in honour of 67 minutes for Mandela Day; some of which went on sale at a pop-up store at Midrand’s Waterfall Estate on 13 July, and is now only available online.

“I have created 67 limited edition necklaces for Mandela Day. I am giving all proceeds to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.”

Details: www.legacycollection.org