Mosaic Magic

Spier Artisan Studio offers casual visitors to the Stellenbosch wine estate a window onto the fascinating world of mosaic and beadwork

- Fiona Mcintosh

A bespectacled young man looks up from his desk as I walk into the airy studio. Garnett Ludick, manager at Spier Artisan Studio, introduces himself. His eyes sparkle as he outlines the work in this chic, new art space in the Cape Winelands.

With art collections displayed throughout Spier estate – including the striking Dying Slave mosaic installation and the Spier Mosaic Kraal, which features the country’s first permanent outdoor exhibition of mosaic. The Stellenbosch wine estate is firmly on the art connoisseur’s map, but opening the working studio has allowed the artisans to engage with, and expose their unique artisan skills to, a broader range of local and international visitors.

Garnett and three other graduates of the Spier Arts Academy in Cape Town have been granted free workspace in the studio for 12 months. “The Spier Artisan Studio deepens the scope of what the academy’s Apprenticeship Programme offers, giving graduates the invaluable opportunity to gain work experience in a studio and retail environment,” says Mirna Wessels, CEO of the Spier Arts Trust, which administers this space as one of several arts projects.

I stop at the desk of another graduate, Dean Laminie. “The three-year apprentice programme was much more than just mastering artisan skills,” Dean tells me. “It covered all the areas that we had to understand in order to make it in the ‘real’ world – costing, materials, invoicing, developing collaborative relationships with artists, preparing for exhibitions.

“But this studio gives us the opportunity to showcase our artworks and to share our journeys from apprentice to artisan. It’s an exciting step in my career.”