Editor: Thapelo Molebatsi
Wunluv’s clothing store is set right in the
heart of Magojaneng village in Kuruman. The Clothes in the store are designed and
created by OnkabetseSempe popularly known as WUNLUV.
He is among the selected artists in South
Africa that are multi-talented as he’s able to easily bridge designing, paint
and poetry.
This is rare skill as most people tend to
specialise in one specific aspect of the fashion industry. Walking into his workplace, one thing for certain is that his creativity drives beyond designing clothes only. The creativity around the exterior of the store painted in red and yellow distinguishing it from the rest, giving a Wow factor that even those who are into art or design are compelled to give it the admiration it deserves.
“I call myself a street professor because I learned to design from the street. I am a self-taught artist. Nobody taught me to make clothes, I taught myself through observing clothes worn by ordinary people on the street,” says Sempe
He openly states that the only thing he learned from school was the art of making jewellery which he learned at MINTEK College in Johannesburg. Explaining his trade, Sempe says he purchases caps, t-shirts and brands them for his customers. He also designs traditional dresses, shirts, track pants and jackets. Street professor clothing brand has done extremely well over the years catching the attention of one of South Africa’s popular artist Zola 7. “Zola once bought a jacket from me. And I was really honoured by his support,” he said, further stating that his client base extends to all corners of the country. “Nowadays, it’s really easy to market a business through social media hence we are able to find clients anywhere in South Africa. However, some of the marketing is done by a friend of mine who does word of mouth marketing for me,” he cited.
Regrettably, even though he has managed to
sustain his clothing business he can’t say the same about his paintings. “I
literally stopped painting because our people can’t afford to buy an art
piece. Poverty hampers people from
buying art pieces. Believe me when I say a lot of people in Kuruman appreciates
art but they are unable to afford it,” he said.
That said, he hasn’t stopped making
jewellery. “Making jewellery is not expensive.
We can even use a lid of a beer to create earrings. We don’t always buy material for designing
jewellery even waste material can come in handy sometimes,” he explained.
The success of WUNLUV clothing store led
Sempe to expand his business by building a restaurant, car wash and a dance
hall in his yard. “I wanted to host
poets, reggae and hip hop artists on a regular basis and I realized that it would
be cheaper for me to host at my place as opposed to renting a venue” adds
Sempe.
Speaking about the previous poetry session
held at his dance hall, he regarded the event as a success. The event saw local
poets and others from Kimberly taking part, in front of full-blown capacity. “As a poet, I believe that such events
should be held regularly in our area so that youngsters can also improve their
art because if they see how the other people are improving their art they will
also be inspired to do the same,” Sempe concluded.
