My obsession with china shards began early on in my childhood when I would collect them from the ancient rubbish dumps on the farms in the Eastern Cape. There wasn’t much to do in the late 1980s on remote, arid farms and so many hours were spent collecting and sorting the shards into their different colours. Much like the shards, my obsession hasn’t gone anywhere; if anything its deepened and I’ve grown to love and appreciated shards more than ever. I collect them and sort them not just into colours, but date and place of origin. Each tells a little story of a greater whole that came to end in a single traumatic moment. The shards seen on this tea-towel are painted by Lisa Strachan and are shards that I have collected here in Cape Town. Remember to throw your broken china into your garden – not into a bin, so that one day they might bring someone as much joy as they have brought me and fellow ’sharpers’.
The “Cape Shard” Tea Towel
US$26
In stock
