Young designer Ntokozo Tshabalala wows audience during Creative Mornings presentation

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

It was my first time to attend the event, which goes by this interesting name of Creating Mornings. Tio be honest, I have over the years heard about the concert, and if not mistaken, at the time the event called 44 Stanley in Milpark, Johannesburg, its home. Ever since however, the event has moved to several venues in the north of Johannesburg. Currently its home is a cool place called WeWork, a shared space for working for those in the creative sector in general, and those in the so called gig economy in particular, the once who are sometimes called nomads. These are people who by necessity provide services to their clients from anywhere in the world. This is actually a big thing around the world, and hence the Department of Home Affairs has either already introduced one or is going to introduce a special VISA for these kinds of professionals. These are people who work as they travel from one place to another.

However, the WeWork place in the Zone, Rosebank seems to be teeming with local creatives who work as freelance professionals.

This is now the home of Creative Mornings, a suitable venue indeed as most of the people who are in the gig economy happen to be creatives, such as designers, writers and other professionals in the creative and in some cases cultural sector.

A few weeks ago, a friend, who for sometime has been attending The Creative Morning Events, even trying unsuccessfully to be a host of the event, invited me to one such session at We Work, where musician and visual artist Msaki was the speaker. She was to demonstrate her multi-faced and multi-disciplinary practice as an artist, beyond what she is traditionally known for as a musician.

I missed that event, but told myself that I would attend the next event.

And yes, off I went to attend the Creative Morning event a week ago. The main speaker was a young creative, a designer Ntokozo Tshabalala, who is a multi-disciplinary artist really. The theme for the day was titled Parallel -speaking to the idea that as creatives we often live parallel, and rather multi-layered lives in our practices. But before Ntkokozo took to the podium, we were introduced to the idea of the Creative Mornings by the host Ntombi Mkhwanazi. Basically, Creative Mornings is a global movement of like-minded-people who get together, have coffee and scones while sharing ideas and wisdom about how to survive, even thrive running a business in the creative sector. The people behind this event are all volunteers, including photographers and videographers who capture the proceedings. The Creative Mornings movement has 44 chapters and exists in 70 countries around the world.

From there Ntokozo took over to tell us about her creative practice as co-founder and owner of a very successful design studio called Mamgobozi Design. Basically, Tshabalala shared her humble journey of how she was always making things when she was young back home in Standerton, a small town in Mpumalanga. She ended up studying design at the University of Johannesburg, after matriculating from the only English medium school in town, where competition to get a place was tough.

However more importantly when she finished university, she came together with a partner to start her studio, which today boasts an impressive list of reputable clients both international and local.

“I have lived in Swedeen for a long time, till recently when I came back home in Standerton to see what I and other creatives can do to create together and collaborate. It has been an amazing journey so far because ever since I came back, we transformed a decaying building into a vibrant art gallery and skating park, where we host regular exhibitions. This is the magic of working together as creatives,” she shared.

However Ntokozo also emphasized the need for designer to remain authentic and get inspiration for their designs from their own environment creating something unique and special for their clients instead of copying foreign concepts.

“Believe you me, the so called first world, such as Sweden want to be who we are, while ironically, we want to be them. That is not a way to go. Creatively we are fine here. The only thing our government should do is to make sure that they provided the basic services such as working robots and street lights,” she said.

The hyperactive young creative actually wowed the audience with her impressive presentation and non-convention ways of thinking about designing. What a motivating morning it was.