They call him Mr Dudu. It’s not a name that Patrick Kibe would have foreseen in his future when he was growing up in Othaya but life has a funny way of revealing itself as one travels its winding road.
Growing up as the last born of six siblings Kibe always had an inkling of art and creativity in the back of his mind. After graduating from Othaya Boys High School in 2007 he moved to Nairobi as he waited to enroll in the University of Nairobi to pursue a degree in social sciences. For him Nairobi was an exciting pulsating place of opportunity and the cosmopolitan vibrancy appealed to him. His first stop wasn’t the city centre though, but rather its outskirts as he awaited the official opening of his first semester. He lived with his older brother Maina who worked at Kitengela Glass Factory just south of Nairobi National Park and would accompany him to work. At the factory he met Nani Croze, the founder of the glassworks famed for its whimsical creativity of coloured glass. She encouraged him to explore the world around him, whether it was old bottles awaiting smelting or beer cans. Throughout his time at university, Kibe would volunteer at the factory, working with other artisans unknowingly building up an arsenal of knowledge on how to manipulate and create from the world’s unwanted pieces.
The room he shared with others at the Tom Mboya Hall became his first workshop. He would store up cans he found and began creating small figurines and fashion accessories from the recycled materials. Insects fascinated him and he would spend hours creating, cutting, panel beating life out of metal cans to create small dudus which he would sell to whoever he could. While his courses were all about sociology and tourism he would often prowl the spaces in the Art and Design Department, attending exhibitions and any open classes he could find. While he unable to switch courses he made sure he took advantage of his proximity to the school.
By the time he was graduated from university in 2014, Kibe knew art was going to be his future.
A stroke of luck brought his work to a much wider audience. He was invited as a last–minute replacement to exhibit at the annual Christmas Box Fair by a friend and decided to jump at the chance. Armed with his signature dragonflies he brought all his available wares to the three–day fair, and sold out on the first day! It was a new learning about stock and where to find customers and Kibe purposed to be better prepared by the time the next fair rolled around. Meanwhile with his earnings from his first large order to make hummingbirds from recycled cans for the launch of the Wangari Maathai Foundation he was able to take on his first employee and open a small workshop in 2018 in Tuala in Oloosirkon, Kajiado.
From those simple beginnings Kibe continues to grow his craft and work with others in his workshop to serve a growing clientele. With the yellow crate at the back of his motorcycle he continues to harvest his materials – cans that previously held sodas, beer or insecticide and bottles of all sizes. His mantra? Trash is an illusion, it’s just materials looking for second life. His workshop is stacked high with sacks of these materials hungering for their new chapter, none of which he has to pay for. Cans become birds and dudus while bottles are turned into wind-chimes, glasses, ashtrays, vases and even birdfeeders.
Kibe’s tenacity remains an inspiration. He sees the world in a truly unique way – with eyes that appreciate opportunity and beauty in items others throw away. He then takes the time to enable others see what he does, by creating beauty from ashes.
#KeCrafters
