This is the short biography of Sithabile Mlotshwa, an Independent Curator, Designer, Blogger and Visual Artist working internationally but with a base in Arnhem, The Netherlands.

Sithabile is Founder and Director of the Thamgidi Foundation, Producer and Artistic Director IFAA Art Platform, Co-Producer and Curator 1st edition Yango Biennale 2014 in Kinshasa Congo, Co-producer and Artistic Director IFAABelgium, Initiator and Artistic Director Bulawayo Biennale, Former Secretary General ResArtis, 2008 President of the Jury Dak’art Biennale, Producer, Writer and Editor of The Artists Newspaper, Producer and Artistic Director The Artists Art Fair, Producer and Curator Collector’s Weekend, Producer Art, Books en Wine, Owner Chapandoz Brand, Art Collector and a Philanthropist.

Sithabile was speaker at 2010 TEDxWomen Amsterdam. Her 2015 – 2025 IFAA project in the Fight against Social and Environmental degradation was in 2016 nominated for the TEDxAmsterdam Awards. Sithabile is publicized in The Next Women (an Online Magazine For Female Business Heroes) as an inspirational woman. She is also publicized in the Rebelle Art & Feminism 1969 -2009 catalogue of the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, which offers a retrospective, and a look at the Dutch women’s art movement, and pays particular attention, among other things to the role of Women in the Visual Arts Foundation, and the role of women artists in artists’ initiatives.

Sithabile was selected for the Asia-Europe Network Training Program of Independent Autonomous Art Centres in Paris organized by Asia Europe Foundation, Trans Europe Halles & Artfactories where she represented the Netherlands for the building of the Asia – Europe Network for Independent Cultural Centres.
She was 2009 advisory Board member of the Gelders Balkon (Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem). She is a Member of the Alliance of Artists Communities and 2017 Jury Member Orisha Prize. She has illustrated books and participated in numerous exhibitions and in the restoration of the Cyrene Mission (restoration of a church which is on UNESCO world heritage list).

Hereby below a few web-inks for your reference in regards to the above mentioned:

IFAA Art Platform: https://ifaa-platform.org/

Thamgidi Foundation: http://www.thamgidifoundation.org/

IFAA Belgium: https://ifaabelgium.wordpress.com/

Dakart Biennale: http://biennaledakar.org/2018/

ResArtis: https://resartis.org/

Yango Biennale: http://www.yango-biennale.org/

The Artists Newspaper: https://theartistsnewspaper.com/

Museum of Modern Art Arnhem: https://www.museumarnhem.nl/

ORISHA Award by ORAFRICA: http://www.orafrica.com/en/artists/

Collector’s Weekend: https://collectorsweekend.org/

Sithabile Mlotshwa’ Blog: https://mlotshwa.wordpress.com/

Art Books en Wine: https://artbooksenwine.wordpress.com/

My 2010 talk at TEDxWomen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or9a5mqmvqA

The Asia Europe Foundation – Independent Cultural Centers Leadership Training: https://indepartspacestraining2007.wordpress.com/participants/sithabile-mlotshwa/

I  started making closets  when I still lived with my parents at the age of 12. They allowed me to furnish my own bedroom so I started to make my own closets in such a way that all my books fitted in. I Also did make my first composition of colors on the walls so it looked bigger. I think that was my starting point of creating and designing my direct surroundings.Later as a student in Leiden I also designed my bedroom with a folding bed so I had more space for living and created a closet out of the already existing bed. So here I was already involved with creating Furniture although it was purely functional.

By this I understood that Furniture must always do what it is suposed to do; it should allow you to sit on, lay on , store your books properly  or have dinner in a comfortable way.

There is many designed Furniture that only is made for it’s form but ergonomic  a disaster. I don’’t go for hat. Either it is only to look at or it should work properly.

Identity in beauty

But only the fact that something is well designed does not mean that it surprises you or makes you smile. That ’s why I’m not planning  to make a piece of Furniture but the piece of found material must inspire me to create Furniture  out of it. And then I start searching for the story or the humor in it and rather make an object of it.

A chair in tne public space is something that is very recognizable, something that everyone understands . I wonder; when can we still speak of furniture? When does it become art? What is a seat anyway? Especially when you are not using it as a seat.

Why should a table always be horizontal?  If it’s just a little slanting you might wonder if you can put a glass of wine on it without falling and by that it’s getting your attention.

If  a piece of Furniture is not capable of making you smile then its only beautiful or functional, the combination of them all is my challenge.

Alexander’s art practice is multi faceted, between being an artist with a passion for making, Lamps, to Furniture and Objects. The premise of Alexander’s Designs be it Lamps or Furniture, are all derived from the spark, the spark that happens as he walks through the streets of Amsterdam where he collects discarded materials. For him, all forms and designs are derived from nature, through this, he sees in his creations a possibility to come close to the simplicity of that nature in its purest form. At the core of his creative process and approach, is a man who sees the designing of a lamp not as an isolated object but one that interacts with its environment.

This thought and the drive to bring out the simplicity of nature in its purest form, shapes Alexander’s approach – design process and in turn results in the birth of incredible, unique and one of a kind master pieces.

Objects for me are stand-alone materials, whether they are used or not. The only necessity is that they should be discarded or neglected in their value.

My aim is not to start working on them nor re-form them but add an element to them that enriches and gives them another meaning.

I even try to let objects function as they were originally made for, but by adding another (strange) element, I give them a sense of humor. This may also result in another shape or profile.

It’s up to the spectator to discover that and meet my idea through these objects .

Thanks for joining me!

Now I will tell you the story of how I got started walking the path to upcycling and designing materials and objects.

This journey began with my profession as a builder and renovator of apartments in the city of Amsterdam, Holland.

For that purpose, I rented a workplace downtown. I transported all equipment and materials with my car but soon experienced that it was impossible to do it that way so I bought a Piaggo APE 50 and that was the start of being able to pick up whatever I wanted to collect.

Traveling with that Piaggo confronted me with all the thrown away building materials on a large scale. I started picking up those materials for my own work. At that point I started to feel happy with the fact that I was able to use materials that otherwise would have been lost. After a few years I started to pay attention to all other beautiful things besides building materials inside containers and started to collect them and piling them up at my workplace.

I was so happy that I had that place! There I kept them in stock and once in a while I made a piece of design out of that but unseen and not admired by anyone outside that place.

From this point on, during several years, there was a desire, a plan, you might call it a dream, to make a profession of it and and have a life in my studio working all day on ideas and pieces. The biggest challenge probably was showing it and let it shine being able to compare my ideas with other designers and to discover what could be special about my design.

Would there be enough power and originality in it?!

The passed year I decided to commit myself to my need and urge to play with ideas, create them, and try not to reckon with the ideas of the spectator but only with my own and I am in the middle of that process which is a journey in itself.