25 Feb 2018

Thato Kopong has found his true purpose in life, making a living through art and fulfilling his calling of sculpturing people and wild animals.

Kopong owns a company called Fairy Diamonds which aims at becoming a leading brand in the fine arts, locally and globally. The company specialises in sculpturing people and wild animals from recycled and manufactured material.

Kopong, who hails from Mochudi, said art was a calling that was God given, and he decided to do justice for himself by answering the call as others do in other fields. He said he had long left art studies at senior school and he pursued a degree in network engineering which has been providing for him.

 However Kopong’s business did not start on a silver platter as he did not have enough funds to  start his enterprise.

“I met challenges that moulded me to be a go getter and do what I believe in,” he explained.

He said one of the hardest challenges he encountered was lack of finance, as he started his business from zero and was dependent on his savings. Kopong further said people received his work positively and appreciated it, as he has started receiving an increased number of orders from individuals and companies.

Kopong believes that his company enhances the tourism industry and could be a source of foreign exchange to the country as well as enhancing patriotism. Like a music artiste who writes songs that have messages, Kopong believes he is sending messages with his artwork similar to taxidermy.

The vibrant sculptor said he had surveyed ministries and hotels and wishes to decorate their conference halls with his art, and targets them to sell his art. Kopong wishes to expand his business so that he could be able to work and share his skills with young people to create employment for them. He said he wished to empower young people to stand up and feed on their talents.

“God has given us talents and it is upon us to discover them and make a living out of them,” said the sculptor.

He also urged the youth to have passion on what they love, and that they should stay humble. “If you are determined you can do it and through my skill I truly discovered my purpose in life which I thank God for,” he added.

Just like any other artiste, Kopong is driven by excellence and he is engaged with Thapong Visual Arts and hopes to display his works in the next exhibitions.

 He said he was not able to take part in the exhibitions, as he was still laying a solid foundation for his business which started its operations in August 2017.  ENDS