Chronicle Editor
Tafadzwa Chibukwa, Chronicle Reporter
THE son of the late philanthropist Jairos Jiri, Auto, carves a living through creating beautiful artefacts from recycled waste.
Mr Jiri (46) recycles old car tyres, scrap metal, cardboard, and plastic into fashionable and functional objects that can be used in households.
Resident in Nguboyenja suburb, Mr Jiri is a jack of all trades whose masterpieces range from craft, design, carpentry, sculpture and model making.
He creates sets of dining tables and chairs from tyres, models of homesteads from cardboard boxes and he also designs cultural statue models at schools and crèches in Bulawayo among his many works.
The artist also plants flowers and uses tyres as vases to contain them. In an interview Mr Jiri said growing up in Masvingo, his father taught him to use his hands to sustain himself rather than to rely on someone to give him a job and pay him monthly.
He said he was creative with his hands from a young age as he grew up making his own toys from pieces of wire hence his motivation to be a craft designer.
Mr Jiri said besides beautifying his surroundings with art, he tells cultural stories with his creations to teach young Zimbabweans about their roots.
“I started this work at a young age. It is something I have always had in me and not acquired through training that is why I can work comfortably with anything around me,” he said.
He said before he started recycling and making artefacts, he was manufacturing aluminium pots in the early 2000s which he had realised were fetching a lot of money in Mozambique.
Mr Jiri said he was making a killing with the pots, until more people started manufacturing them and flooding the market, thereby driving prices down. He abandoned the business and joined the art and craft industry in 2006.
Mr Jiri noted the differences between the lifestyles during the time he grew up and the modern generation.
“When we grew up young people and children were conscious of their traditions and cultures but the modern generation seems to be distant and ignorant of them. That is why I aim to teach the young ones so that they know from an early age about their society,” he said.
He said this motivated him and he decided that he would use his skill to educate urban children on their culture and traditions through some of his artefacts which are models of rural homesteads.
One of his pieces of work dedicated to this idea is the cow and a hut at Lobengula Primary School in Makokoba.
He has created artefacts for schools like Cowdray Park Primary School, Baines Infant School and a variety of creches around Bulawayo.
While he loves designing mostly for schools, his market is not only schools and homesteads in Bulawayo but he makes artefacts for restaurants and dining places as well.
His artefacts and recycling works have caught the attention of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) who have commended his efforts towards keeping the city clean.
Mr Jiri said over the years the agency has been offering him a stand at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) to showcase his works. He said the city council has also offered him a place next to Jairos Jiri Association in Nguboyenja where he can publicise his artefacts.
Working from home, Mr Jiri said he uses the material he would have collected from diverse places to make his artefacts. This at times becomes a challenge to him since some of the required materials would not be readily available.
“I use tyres and grass for most of my designs and this requires me to go in search of these materials mostly found along highways and the tyres are mostly found along Masotsha Avenue,” he said.
Mr Jiri said this reduces his working rate as he works without a helper.
He said young people in his neighbourhood have familiarised themselves with his work to an extent that when they come across tyres or any material he requires, they bring it to him and he gives them a token of appreciation. – @Sagepapie14
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