Crafting concepts with Bonte
Dumisani Ncube | Friday March 18, 2016 16:00
Arts and Culture sat down with creative director Nick Bonte who has put a spark in a number of avenues and activities such as photography, events, film production, fashion design, artist management and publications.
The 27-year-old creative has established a photography empire called Senepe, a clothing label called Splashh Designs, directed events such as the Play Fest events and shot music videos.
A quick flashback of how Bonte first started executing his creativity is two years ago at Yarona Fm where he would shoot footages of radio shows such as Out of Order presented by Mdu Tha Party.
He would then broadcast the footages online. He however stopped the shooting of radio shows as he ventured into other things.
The broadcast of radio shows is not so familiar locally, but it has found a market in places such as the USA with radio stations such as Hot 97 having an online TV channel.
Talking of his creative directing expertise, Bonte stated that research, conceptualising, inspiration and abstract art play a pivotal role for him.
“As a creative, sometimes ideas come unexpected, when you least expect them. As for me ideas just rock up on me then I just note it down or take a picture with my phone then I fully work on it later,” stated Bonte. Research is one strong elements that Bonte noted, stating that prior working on anything especially his photography he does some in-depth research on the subject and how he wants it to come out like. With research he gets inspiration to work on certain subject. However, he stated that it depends on what one is working on to come up a certain magnitude of creativity.
“For instance on my Splashh design collection, the abstract art idea of making something messy look clean and smart came into my mind and I decided to work clothing range as I played with cloth and paint”. The Splashh design is a collection of T-shirts whereby Bonte came with a concept of having different paint colours on the clothing material to make it look like a painting board.
A quick look at Bonte’s work will make you appreciate creative elements which are not found in an ordinary object or production.
He said the importance of creative directing gave a production more strength, as it would entice the audience to pay more attention and give appreciation.
“Some musicians, photographers and actors tend to give up on their projects saying they are just looking dry. Little do they know that for a project to have a nice look or feel, they need a creative director who will assist them with accentuating their ideas.
Last year, Bonte took his first shot of being an event director. He worked behind the scenes for the Play Fest 2015 edition, which is an infusion of music and childhood games such as Suna Baby, Skonti Ball, Chama, Diketo and Saifi. He also worked on the set up of the Ideas Xpo 2015 stall set up.
The creative, who is now managing artists such as Luke Tokyo believes that he still has a number of things to learn despite having achieved a lot of his goals.
“I believe I am still young and I have a long way to go,” said the Industrial Design student who is doing his last year University of Botswana.
With his creative skills, he has managed to lure a number of organisations that have asked for his services. He currently saves as the photography director for Pinned Magazine.
Bonte has exhibited his works at different exhibition platforms such as the Chillstep Sundays and the Ideas Xpo. He is shooting and directing music video for different artists.
Starting off as a youngster who would drive around town taking pictures at different events, he quickly grew interest of growing from being an ordinary photographer as he penetrated to being a creative director.
He gave accolades to radio personality Jazzelle Kebakile who was impressed by his work and gave him the drive to keep working hard until he perfected his art.