ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marisa Fick-Jordan - Craft artist, product designer
South African product designer Marisa Fick-Jordan works with Zulu wire artists to develop a sustainable, worldwide market for their bold and shimmering work.

Why you should listen

Marisa Fick-Jordan is the co-author of Wired, the authoritative work on Zulu wire art. Using castoff telephone wire -- those plastic-coated copper strands you sometimes find outside switching boxes -- practitioners of this art create tightly woven pieces with bold patterning and fields of shimmering color.

Working with these talented African artists, Fick-Jordan has brought this art to the world, developing products and building a distribution network for a worldwide market. The end result: a traditional art form is preserved and developed -- and a village of weavers can earn a living through their art.

More profile about the speaker
Marisa Fick-Jordan | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2007

Marisa Fick-Jordan: The wonder of Zulu wire art

Marisa Fick-Jordan展示来自祖鲁的线工艺品

Filmed:
336,911 views

在这个短小而生动的演讲中,Marisa Fick-Jordan将为我们介绍一个祖鲁村庄的传统线手工艺人,以及他们是如何建立起一个世界范围的市场来销售他们精致的线工艺品的。
- Craft artist, product designer
South African product designer Marisa Fick-Jordan works with Zulu wire artists to develop a sustainable, worldwide market for their bold and shimmering work. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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The decorative装饰 use of wire线 in southern南部的 Africa非洲
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在南美洲,线手工艺品用作装饰的历史
00:15
dates日期 back hundreds数以百计 of years年份.
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可以追溯到几百年之前
00:17
But modernization现代化 actually其实 brought communication通讯
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而现代化发展带来了更便捷的通讯
00:20
and a whole整个 new material材料, in the form形成 of telephone电话 wire线.
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以及一种用做电话线的全新材料
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Rural乡村 to urban城市的 migration移民 meant意味着 that newfound新发现 industrial产业 materials物料
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大量人口涌入城市也意味着这种新发现的工业材料
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started开始 to replace更换 hard-to-come-by难以来,通过 natural自然 grasses.
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开始取代原先的、很难获取的天然牧草
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So, here you can see the change更改
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这里你可以看到这种改变
00:35
from use -- starting开始 to use contemporary现代的 materials物料.
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人们开始使用现代材料
00:37
These pieces date日期 back from the '40s to the late晚了 '50s.
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这些成品来自四十年代到五十年代末
00:42
In the '90s, my interest利益 and passion for transitional过渡 art艺术 forms形式
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九十年代的时候,我对变迁中的艺术表现形式的兴趣和热情
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led me to a new form形成,
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让我想到了一种新的形式
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which哪一个 came来了 from a squatter棚户区 camp outside Durban德班.
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这种想法来源于德班外的一个居住点
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And I got the opportunity机会 to start开始 working加工 with this community社区
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我得到了这个社区的人们一起工作的机会
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at that point, and started开始 developing发展, really,
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真正的开始发展手工艺品
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and mentoring师徒 them in terms条款 of scale规模, in terms条款 of the design设计.
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并在产品比例和设计方面指导他们
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And the project项目 soon不久 grew成长 from five to 50 weavers织工 in about a year.
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这个项目在一年左右的时间里就从最初的五人发展到了五十人
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Soon不久 we had outgrown穿不下 the scrap废料 yards, what they could provide提供,
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很快我们的需求超过了这块废弃地所能提供的
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so we coerced裹挟 a wire线 manufacturer生产厂家 to help us,
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于是我们联系了一家电线生产商来帮助我们
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and not only to supply供应 the materials物料 on bobbins线轴,
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它不仅提供线轴上的材料
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but to produce生产 to our color颜色 specifications规格.
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还按照我们的颜色要求生产材料
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At the same相同 time, I was thinking思维, well,
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同时,我当时想
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there's lots of possibility可能性 here to produce生产 contemporary现代的 products制品,
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这里很有可以生产一些现代化的产品
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away from the ethnic民族, a little bit more contemporary现代的.
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而不是以前那种比较单一的产品
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So I developed发达 a whole整个 range范围 around -- mass-produced大规模生产的 range范围 --
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于是我扩大了产品范畴
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that obviously明显 fitted into a much higher-end高端 decor装饰 market市场
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显而易见地,它们很适合一个更高端的装饰市场
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that could be exported出口 and also service服务 our local本地 market市场.
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并且可以用来出口,同时服务我们的本地市场
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We started开始 experimenting试验, as you can see, in terms条款 of shapes形状,
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接着我们做了一系列实验,正如你所看到的
01:45
forms形式. The scale规模 became成为 very important重要,
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从外形和结构上(尝试),规模变得很重要
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and it's become成为 our pet宠物 project项目. It's successful成功,
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这也成为了我们的宠儿,它很成功
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it's been running赛跑 for 12 years年份. And we supply供应 the Conran康兰 shops商店,
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这个项目持续了12年,我们为Conran商店提供了商品
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and Donna唐娜 Karan卡兰, and so it's kind of great.
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另外还有Donna Karan,由此可见它挺不错的
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This is our group, our main主要 group of weavers织工.
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这是我们的核心编织组
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They come on a weekly每周 basis基础 to Durban德班.
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他们每星期都来德班
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They all have bank银行 accounts账户.
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也都有银行帐号
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They've他们已经 all moved移动 back to the rural乡村 area where they came来了 from.
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他们都搬回了最初过来的农村地区
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It's a weekly每周 turnaround回转 of production生产.
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每星期回来上一次班
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This is the community社区 that I originally本来 showed显示 you the slide滑动 of.
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这是我一开始向你们展示的社区
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And that's also modernized现代化 today今天,
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今天它已经很现代化了
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and it's supporting支持 work for 300 weavers织工.
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能支持300个编织员的工作
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And the rest休息 says it all.
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这也是我想表达的话
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Thank you very much.
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谢谢大家
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(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Yuanxuan Wang
Reviewed by Yvonne Fu

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marisa Fick-Jordan - Craft artist, product designer
South African product designer Marisa Fick-Jordan works with Zulu wire artists to develop a sustainable, worldwide market for their bold and shimmering work.

Why you should listen

Marisa Fick-Jordan is the co-author of Wired, the authoritative work on Zulu wire art. Using castoff telephone wire -- those plastic-coated copper strands you sometimes find outside switching boxes -- practitioners of this art create tightly woven pieces with bold patterning and fields of shimmering color.

Working with these talented African artists, Fick-Jordan has brought this art to the world, developing products and building a distribution network for a worldwide market. The end result: a traditional art form is preserved and developed -- and a village of weavers can earn a living through their art.

More profile about the speaker
Marisa Fick-Jordan | Speaker | TED.com