Kelp vuvuzelas – a local, green touch for the Fifa World Cup Final Draw

Kelp Vuvuzelas

I stumbled upon a new type of vuvuzela that def­in­itely bears talk­ing about. Not that I'm a fan of the vuvuzela. I hap­pen to hate them. I know, how very unpat­ri­otic of me, but any­thing that makes that much noise and is mass pro­duced in plastic so that it bears little resemb­lance to the ori­ginal home-made kudu horn ver­sion is hardly inspir­ing. I'm not sur­prised there was an attempt to ban them.

But the vuvus made in kelp are works of art. And I'm inspired to buy one in time for the World Cup Final Draw on Friday, par­tic­u­larly as its unique to Cape Town. Graphic designer, Adam Carnegie, is behind the kelp vuvuzelas, and when you see them, your ini­tial reac­tion is 'well, of course!' ... Tell me you haven't used stray pieces of kelp lying on the beach to fash­ion a pipe and blown bubbles in the odd tidal pool for your child? It's pos­sible you haven't, but we have, and kelp is so obvi­ously an abund­ant resource to use in place of plastic for the pro­duc­tion of vuvus, that I'm amazed it hasn't been done before ...

Adam Carnegie

Graphic designer, Adam Carnegie, began play­ing with kelp in much the same way as I, although in a far more artistic vein — he fash­ioned a few kelp vuvus, painted won­der­ful designs on them and gave them to his son to sell at a craft mar­ket at his school to raise funds. They were an instant­an­eous hit, so much so, that Adam gave fur­ther con­sid­er­a­tion to turn­ing them into an opportunity.

He formed kelp (kelp envir­on­mental learn­ing pro­ject), which ini­tially based itself at his home in Zeekoevlei. Today the work­shop has moved to the Kommetjie Environmental Action Group at  Imhoff Farm in Kommetjie. Now as many as six formerly unem­ployed men and women col­lect kelp from local beaches, dry them in the sun and then carve them into vuvuzelas, with a dif­fer­ence. They then duplic­ate Adam's designs and trans­form the kelp into what could eas­ily pass for masterpieces.

Kelp Vuvuzelas

At the same time as col­lect­ing kelp, Adam's team also pick up lit­ter, and their very pres­ence helps deter poach­ers illeg­ally remov­ing per­lemoen and lob­ster. It's a real 'feel good' story, and one many will want to sup­port, par­tic­u­larly as when buy­ing a vuvuzela, you don't just get an instru­ment to trum­pet like an ele­phant at the games, you also get an art piece for your wall. I really like the idea.

The Fifa World Cup Final Draw takes place on Friday, 4 December and organ­isers are expect­ing around 8 000 people to gather at the CTICC.

The 90-minute event, which will include per­form­ances by Johnny Clegg and the Soweto Gospel Choir, will be broad­cast to 200 coun­tries – a crit­ical moment for Cape Town. It will really place us in the spotlight.

Kelp Vuvuzelas

But Long Street is where all the fans will throng for a cel­eb­rat­ory party after the Final Draw, where the 2010 Fan Fest ven­ues will also be announced. These pub­lic view­ing sites where fans can watch the games without being in the sta­di­ums appar­ently attrac­ted 18 mil­lion fans dur­ing the 2006 Fifa World Cup.

The good news is that you can buy your kelp vuvuzela on Long Street right before the party, if need be. A shop has been set up at The Bead Merchants in Long Street, where they are pre­par­ing to be inund­ated before the draw.

You can also buy one at the CCDI's Handmade [Cape] Wholesale show­room, 75 Harrington Street.
Or if all else fails, phone Rosemary Reddy on 083 2555 109 or Thandeka Tyatyantsi on 084 866 3600.
Website: http://www.kelpvuvus.co.za/

Go on, bag a kelp vuvuzela!

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