By Rinelda Mouton
String creative Dallin Noabeb says his trade could be the answer to end poverty and hopelessness among many unemployed Namibian young people.
This is against the backdrop of statistics by the Namibian Statistics Agency, which revealed that approximately 61.4 percent of one million young people aged 15 to 34 are unemployed.
The agency’s head, statistician-general, Alex Shimuafeni, last year indicated that the 44.4 percent of the unemployment rate among youth represents those actively seeking work, while the number jumps to 61.4 percent when also including discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for employment.
Meanwhile, string artist Noabeb (25) said he seems to have the answer to this crisis as he has carved his way out of poverty through his art.
Noabeb has been taking TikTok and Instagram by storm with his art pieces.
String art is a craft where coloured thread is wrapped around a grid of nails on a wooden board.
This forms beautiful geometric patterns or pictures.
You can make anything from simple shapes to complex portraits by crossing the string in different paths.
Hailing from Groot Aub, Noabeb taught himself how to create string art by watching online videos.
He recently made headlines when he handed over a custom string art portrait to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
“The CEO of Safland property group approached me to make a gift for the president, that will be handed over to her after her speech. He suggested the logo of the mall. Doing logos with thread is very unique. I find it very amazing turning a graphically design art to thread art,” Noabeb said.
“As a child growing up in a small village, recourses was never a luxury. Being creative was the way to stand out, so I started drawing but not all artists have the skill to master drawing to I moved over to recycling tins. It was a good art but I grew out of tin recycling. I really wanted keep doing art but my heart never burned for any time of art until I ran across a Tiktok video of an artist using string to create geometric patterns.”
Noabeb said at first string art was new to him, but he promised himself he would master the art.
“I love how straight lines can come together to form different shapes. String art is very therapeutic to watch, more therapeutic to do. This is the type of art that helps the doer and the viewer calm down.”
He has so far not displayed any of his art in a local gallery. In the future, however, he hopes to showcase his work at the National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN) in Windhoek.
“I do patterns, landscapes, wall clock, stage backdrops and company logos. My focus is more on interior designing art work for office back grounds and boardroom wall. I also do local craft type of art using the thread art method. My work can be seen on social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram.”
Noabeb said string art is not very well known in Namibia. He said finding digitally designed colours in the country is very difficult. He added that often people who are passionate about the art do not venture into the industry.
He pointed out that string art takes time to complete.
“One peace and consumes energy to nail, people stop at the being. The more you do it the better you become. Soon you will come to find yourself having more strategies that will help you finish a job easier and faster. I am in this industry because I love it, money is a additional factor but the love of art keeps me going,” the artist added.
Noabeb maintains that a string art piece can be sold for between N$800 and N$1.5 million.
He said the way to success for an artist is knowing how to sell their artwork. He said various clients, including members of the public, tourists and corporates, are eager to buy art.
“Tourists often buy local art pieces because they want to take a piece of Namibia back home with them. They like to keep memories. Namibians buy art because of its beauty and the impact the piece has on their life. Make artworks that speaks to people. People like to buy art pieces that they can relate to.”
