ONGWEDIVA – Kevin Makwara grew a passion for metal sculpting at the age of 14 after seeing his big brothers create different kinds of metal decorations for gardens and house walls.
Last week, he had various metal and wooden decorations on display at the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair – from metal butterflies, windmills and pink flamingos, to wire toy cars, crickets and sunflowers.
Makwara, who now trades under Art Craft Creation, told Youth Corner he started learning his metal sculpting skills in 2014 and it took him six years to master the skills of crafting metal decorations.
“My father used to buy metal decorations from other people for resale, so I decided to learn the craft. I started with crafting little items because my brothers were the ones who knew the craft best. I learned how to weld and learned how to join pieces together to create a whole finished piece,” he added.
Like any young entrepreneur trying to have a successful business, Makwara also experiences various challenges – his is the price of materials.
“The prices of raw material keep increasing and unfortunately you cannot increase the selling price because the customers expect to see the same price from previous years,” he noted.
On the opportunities trade fairs provide, he said showcasing at trade fairs is better as they make more sales than when in Windhoek, where they can just make two or three sales in a week.
Makwara hopes to pass on his passion for creating metal art craft to his children and go further with his business.