VANDERBIJLPARK – Tseko Monyamane, popularly known as Jakkalas turns old liquor bottles into African-decorated art for keepsakes.
The 38-year-old from Miami Sand, Vanderbijlpark says he goes around looking for specifically shaped spirit bottles which he recreates as art, as a form of a side hustle.
According to Jakkalas, who is a librarian by profession working at North-West University, he started his idea in 2018 despite several failures.
Not only has his plan worked in making him money, but his love and determination have seen the father of three winning several awards in the art and culture fraternity in 2022.
He has been trending on numerous social media platforms and also got the opportunity to be interviewed by many national media houses who shared his story with millions of audiences across Mzansi.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Jakkalas shared the story of how he learned the craft and it took him months to perfect it.
“My story is not different from many people in other industries with a self-taught craft. I always loved art when growing up, but what made me perfect the skill was going online and researching more about it. I also researched how can bottles be turned into precious items,” he said.
The Artist said his concept was motivated by seeing people placing spirit in their carboards after washing them.
“The intention was to show people that we can make bottles look very nice instead of just washing them and using them as decorations. With the bottles decorated with color wools, this can turn ordinary bottles into gems,” he said.
Jakkalas says his encouragement comes from seeing people buying his products all over the country.
“I get orders from all over Africa and this is a motivation for me. What inspires me more is that there is a furniture store in our Civic Center that sell me product, now that’s motivation,” he said.
“It took me 18 rejects for me to perfect what I am doing and now my designs speak for themselves.”
Jakkalas is a KASA award winner in 2022 for Best Craftmanship/arts and an Honoree for the African Earthizens Award winner for 2022 as well.
