PE ceramic artist stands out
Work attracts investment and mentorship from designer
IN a bid to boost entrepreneurship as a solution to the Bay’s high unemployment rate, Port Elizabeth-born designer Laduma Ngxokolo has chosen to invest in and mentor a ceramic artist from Sydenham.
Ngxokolo, the innovator of the knitwear brand Maxhosa, will be providing three months of business support to Lookout Sinanda, owner of Lookout Ceramics.
The two met last year at a Chivas Regal talk Ngxokolo hosted for an audience of 50 designers in Port Elizabeth.
Ngxokolo, 31, said Sinanda’s business was one of two projects he chose following similar talks across the country.
“Lookout was my choice, [because] his work stands out,” Ngxokolo said.
The other project receiving Ngxokolo’s attention is a leather goods company in Welkom, though he is excited at the prospect of mentoring someone from his hometown.
“It feels fantastic. Port Elizabeth is a city with bad youth unemployment rates. What will change that and make the city economically competitive is for youth to start a business and grow it fast.”
To aid this growth, Sinanda will also receive an investment of R35 000. “The mentorship will be telephonic for three months, though I come to Port Elizabeth every month,” Ngxokolo said.
He believes Sinanda could inspire others by sharing his success.
“He’ll inspire others in the same situation as him to emulate [his behaviour],” he said.
In turn, Sinanda, 31, hopes to follow in Ngxokolo’s footsteps and achieve great success at national and international level.
“Receiving the R35 000 means a lot to me because it will help me [buy] raw materials, but it’s not about the money. To me it is all about what Laduma is going to teach me.
“He is known worldwide, and him mentoring me means I can also try to be like him and get to where he is.”
Sinanda, who grew up in Pretoria but moved to Port Elizabeth in 2015, said he did not expect to catch Ngxokolo’s eye.
“I heard about the talk from a customer and friend who liked my products and thought I should enter.
“I thought maybe they wanted someone who is doing fashion, but I just went there and told myself if I didn’t try then I’d never know.
“The feeling of being chosen is unexplainable.” Under Ngxokolo’s wing, Sinanda hopes to learn more about the discipline of entrepreneurship and how to move up in his field.
“There are a lot of challenges we face [as entrepreneurs], and there are times when you hit a rock and don’t get support, and you want to give up.
“I think he’s going to get [the business] through a lot of things.”
After the mentorship programme, Sinanda is intent on growing his business beyond the country’s borders.
“I want to start having exhibitions out of the country, in Africa and even Europe, as early as late this year, if all goes well.”
In the meantime, Sinanda, who makes various ceramic products, is preparing for an exhibition in Cape Town next month, together with other PE artists – including Donve Vlok, with whom he shares the Vlok Pottery studio in Sydenham.