Kasaro preserves memories with life-sized castings
Spira Tlhankane | Friday December 13, 2019 14:24
A 22-year-old man from Majwaneng is just about the person to link up with for baby foot casting, hand casting and group event casting. Occasions don’t last long, and it’s most people’s dream to capture that precious moment for future recall. The man behind the 3D life sized impressions, Taonga Kasaro told Arts & Culture this week that he decided to venture into this business because his customers are parents of newly-born babies and couples.
“There is a skin safe gel that we use. We mix it with water and then put an object inside for about 5-10 minutes. After it sets we remove it, mix stone and pour stone inside. After 30 to 40 minutes it dries up and then reveals the sculpture,” he revealed. He was quick to say that the gel that he uses captures skin details down to the fingerprint. Kasaro also highlighted that his main aim with the 3D casting is to create memories, no wonder he is so much focused on babies and couples. “
Babies don’t stay young for long so what we do is to preserve those memories. We create memories to last a lifetime,” he highlighted.
Kasaro said initially he started the business with two friends but at the moment he is pushing the entire thing alone. He said his company, Hitali Creations meaning ‘well wished’ has the intention is to give people memories.
Kasaro added that because professionally he is a pianist, and music is art, whatever he does has to be aligned to art. “As a pianist when you play you give people an experience so when I came across this, I connected with it because it is not about the money I am going to make but rather the experience and memories that I am going to give to people,” he proudly said. He said he did most of the finishing to the product except may be sometimes where he engages a painter to do a detailed finishing. Kasaro however admitted that it is difficult to find suppliers of his casting materials around. So when he started he thought it was going to be easy, but he had to order materials online.
“At some point I was selling the casting kit around not knowing that it’s not easy to perfect the casting. So I had to learn how to do this and eventually I realised that it required skill,” he recalled. He said a company is doing frames and another one that does bases for him. He also revealed that it takes about a month for the product to fully dry up. Kasaro said his prices begin from P1, 000 going upwards.
Kasaro’s Hitali Creations provides enough room for parents and children to get their foot and hands cast together, so the whole family can be involved. People who love to capture babies’ tiny little hands and feet before they get too big have found a memory preserver in Kasaro.
Kasaro also said that hands are some of the quickest and cleanest parts of the body to have cast, and can take you as little as three to foor minutes. The possibilities are almost endless because Kasaro concluded as even pregnant women could cast their bellies for the pregnancy memories. His 3D castings tell a story, especially when someone is casting something that has special significance.