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Crafts that empower, uplift and inspire.
ARTIST PROFILE
Ntombifuthi Magwaza Sibiya is an award-winning telephone-wire artist from Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. She began weaving in 1993 and quickly developed her signature style – bold colour combinations, intricate geometric patterns, and a unique blend of Zulu and Ndebele influences. Her exceptional talent has earned her two FNB Vita Craft Now Awards, placing her among South Africa’s leading wire weavers. Today, her baskets are collected locally and internationally, admired for their precision, cultural depth, and unmistakable artistry.
Her work is part of the exhibition iNgqikithi yokuPhica/Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa in the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA). This is a major exhibition, described as the first major exhibition of telephone-wire art in a North American museum. The exhibition includes both historical and contemporary work, and foregrounds the artists’ voices (including interviews, process-videos). A Forbes magazine article describes the exhibition as one of the “special exhibitions unsurpassed anywhere in America.”
Her works are also collected in many local South African Museums including the Phansi Museum and KwaMuhle Museum Collection. Her work is included in the permanent collection of Phansi Museum. She also took part in a wire weaving demonstration event at MOIFA in July 2025.
As part of the celebrated telephone-wire weaving community of Siyanda, Ntombifuthi plays an important role in maintaining and advancing a uniquely South African art form born during a time when traditional materials were scarce. Through her work, she carries forward a craft shaped by innovation, resourcefulness, and cultural memory.
