The use of the beaded artwork on the mesh of the drum encircles the executive wing with the constant reminder of the history of their work in counting and recording and filters the light to the balcony and the offices , using the dappled shade to repeat the marks of the tally stone .
Beads : Expression , Creation , and Decoration Beading is a traditional craft strongly associated with South Africa . In the same Blombos Cave in Stilbaai , the world ’ s earliest known use of beads for decorative purposes were discovered in a collection of ostrich egg shell beads . Sea shells and bone have also been used as beads . Glass beads found their way to Africa from Europe around 300 BCE , and became the currency of Africa , used to trade for many items of value , including ivory , safe passage , and slaves .
African trade beads also came to be used as decoration , first amongst royal families , and then more widely . In the context of the development for Stats SA , beading became a method of communication - with colours , patterns , and designs symbolising status , feelings , messages , and personal histories and ethnicities .
The importance of the role of the Department in not only gathering information , but interpreting it and communicating it to a wider audience , is highlighted by the use of the theme of African beads . The beads find literal representation in the mesh cladding of the drum , where they weave the message of history in the graphic marks of the tally stone . They also find literal representation in the beaded screen in the reception of the building which overlaps the tally stone mesh .
The theme of beading and pre-literate communication is also reflected in the circular form of the drum , and in the scattered laager of beads of the Heritage Court , both reminiscent of an encircling beaded neckpiece .
The concept of beading has relevance to the campus design - as beautiful as a single bead
54 Stats SA