The Road to Redemption is Paved by Innovation
Going Tizik
It was an excitement I felt like never before. Something ran through my body like a low volt of electricity. I stood at Green Market Square in the center of old Cape Town and my eyes flitted from one thing to another — toy trucks and motorcycles made from soda cans to chickens and guinea fowl made from fluffed-up plastic bags. It was a lot, even for my already burgeoning student brain to take in. I marveled at the creativity and innovation of my African people. I came to know that South African people, created art and magic with very little. I looked at the awe on the faces of fellow shoppers and tourists. I looked at the artisans and vendors as they beamed at the work, proud that it was produced by their clans-people.
As a fellow creative, I wanted to generate that buzz, that awe, that chatter, those conversations. I understood then that great art could come from something as humble and unassuming… as a safety pin. Since that time, the safety pin has been my signature material, the building block from which most of my upcycled accessory ideas are built.
I began to look at the infinite possibilities around me every day — everything worn, discarded, sitting unused and forlorn — old tatty t-shirts, tossed cans and bottles, even juice cartons. Things morphed and transformed in my head, taking on new incarnations. I even revived old and broken jewelry I already had. But then I thought — how do I get other people to feel just as enthusiastic? I wanted the thrill to be just as infectious for the wearer, the carrier and the owner of anyone who could recognize the alchemy of transmuting garbage into gold.
Even more than recognizing the redemptive value in all the things we discard, there is also something refreshing in creating a new purpose for something that has been thrown away. It breathes new life into that thing and reminds us all that we not only have the power to innovate and create but to resurrect and transform — a power that is exists in all of us and not just a select few. It’s not up to others to determine what’s valuable to us. We can determine that ourselves.
Tizik’s slogan is “Feel the buzz”. The word Tizik, in local Trinidadian parlance, means when someone goes crazy over something. I would like everyone who sees, values or purchases Tizik Jewelry or accessories to feel that high and that excitement that they have been part of a transformation and to share that transformative process with others. They should understand that they have brought beauty back into the world by removing one more pointless piece of trash from a landfill or a one more rejected bottle from a box drain. They should feel ecstatic that they are part of a process of ever-growing innovation and fluid creativity. Most importantly, they should recognize that within themselves.
How many of us have reused plastic food containers as water dippers, plastic grocery bags as bin liners or Danish butter cookie tins as sewing supply kits? Our grandparents were innovators, our parents are creators — we are no different. We can all go Tizik.
