Atang Tshikare is a South Africa-born self-developed multidisciplinary artist who began Zabalazaa Designs in 2010.
His design voice is an Afrofuturistic identity using a primal future as a source of direction. Each form he creates emphasises a sense of touch with its vibrant texture, which extends between natural and human-made materials. The tones of colour are kept natural and minimal so as to maximise the raw object and capitalise on the sense of sight
His creations are a galaxy of objects, dictating a new pulse for limited-edition African design. He has worked on various mediums including leather, fabric, wood, metal, resin, ceramic, wood, plastic, paper, and bronze. His work is a combination of African inspired sculptures, patterns, illustrations and narratives with a contemporary edge.
Tshikare has exhibited in Cape Town, Johannesburg, New York, Miami, Amsterdam, Dubai, Switzerland and Germany. Under Zabalazaa he has created art and design work for numerous companies including Adidas Originals, MTV base, Migrate Magazine, Chimurenga magazine, Belvedere Vodka, Cornetto, Cotton On, Plascon and L’Oreal, Nandos, MrPriceHome, to name a few.
He has also exhibited at Toffie Festival 2012, Design Indaba 2012, Southern Guild 2012-2018 and has been a featured designer at 100% SA, THAT art fair, the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Design Discourse (Austrian), Design Days Dubai, Design Miami, and Design Basel. His work has been featured in Elle Decoration, VISI magazine, House & Leisure, Wanted, Mail & Guardian, GQ, Financial Times, the Sowetan, the Times, Pin-up magazine (LA/New York), Nataal, (NY, London) QUER (Austria), SABC 1 News, CNBC Africa, CNN African Voices, and the Expresso Show (SABC 3).
Tshikare has been a judge and mentor for Design Indaba (emerging creatives), Design Share Party, the Elle Décor Solve competition, University of Johannesburg, UCT Graduate School of Business BAA programme, Nandos “bright young thing” and Inscape Design school. He was awarded the Future Found award by Southern Guild 2013 and Top 200 young South Africans in 2015.
Atang Tshikare is featured in the Zeitz MOCAA exhibition Still Here Tomorrow To High Five You Yesterday (2019).