Wire cars never become last year’s toys …

WIRE art, especially the art of wire-car making, has been passed down from father to son in Katutura, the surrounding informal settlements, and in fact throughout Namibia, for years.

It is relatively easy and the material easily available. A car builder needs wire, a pair of pliers and a lot of imagination.The materials used for the wheels are just as varied as the shapes of the cars. Some artists use a wire frame covered with black plastic or rubber, others make use of old bottle caps or small cool-drink cans. Once the frame and tyres of a car are finished the decoration starts, and this depends on the experience of the builder. The more experienced the builder, the more extravagantly the car is decorated – some even having doors and bonnets that can open and close. In one of the informal settlements of Katutura The Namibian found three teenagers sitting in front of their shacks building wire cars. This is their first attempt at the craft and already the difference between the cars is clearly visible. They don’t have fathers who can show them the finer details and thus they copy from each other on a trial-and-error basis. ‘This is our first attempt. We saw the cars the other boys in the street had and we also wanted our own so we collected the materials and started to build,’ said Geros Afrikaaner. ‘This is my first car but I will build and improve until I have the best and fastest car in the neighbourhood,’ said Allen Geingob with pride.

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