Journey of a necklace

Joni Brenner discovered that the source of all Czech and Japanese beads in Johannesburg was HK Gokal, a family emporium directed by third-generation owner Nipun Gokal, which at the time was still operating from the Market Street premises where it opened in 1945. When HK Gokal closed in 2014, Czech and Japanese seed beads in wholesale quantities ceased to be available pretty much throughout Johannesburg. Thanks to an introduction from Gokal, Brenner now sources Czech beads from Mahommed Essack’s store, the Phutumani Bazaar, in Durban. It can take a week or more from placing the order to the beads’ arrival in Johannesburg. The beads are then collected from Brenner’s apartment in Johannesburg and driven 850km to a central depot in Bulawayo, from which they are collected and driven to the Marigold studio.

The making of a single loop can take anything from a day to more than a week, depending on the length and complexity of the pattern. A single necklace contains approximately 5 000 beads and about 600 lines.

‘Making Marigold: Beaders of Bulawayo’ by Joni Brenner and Elizabeth Burroughs, with photographs by Liz Whitter, published by Palimpsest and distributed in South Africa by Bookstorm (R675)