Say Y'ello to Nelspruit

Van Heerden won the first prize in the ‘MTN Design a Gantry' competition, which was launched late last year, when nine professionals and seven students from universities around the country were asked to submit designs. There were two prizes on offer and the final selections were made by MTN based on the creative elements. Natalie Urban won second prize and her design of a Vuvuzela can be seen when entering Polokwane.

MTN's chief marketing officer, Serame Taukobong explained how the concept evolved, “One of our objectives as a sponsor is to get every South African involved in some way or other. Through this competition, we promoted the company's association with the world cup using South African youth.”

Unique to local context

When Van Heerden was asked how she felt about scoping the first prize and what inspired her design, the unassuming young designer simply said, “I still can't believe my design will be used to entrench the company as a sponsor.”

After absorbing the reality of her efforts, she went on to say, “The design vernacular of the Makarapa is unique to our local context. The innate design sensibility involved in the craft itself is self-evident, but it also engages one with a sense of fanaticism more than any other visual icon related to the sport. By nature the hats are fetish-like, so expansion of the device into an extreme version thereof seemed like a natural means of expressing the idea of extremist devotion to one's sport.”

The original design was 3D, but for practical purposes, it was erected as a 2D structure.