A Zimbabwean national, Innocent Muchena is recycling used cans in style by designing animal statues and instruments such as guitars. While many people are considering used cans as rubbish, to Innocent they represent gold because he crafts beautiful sculptures using them.The aesthetic of his statues attracts Bedfordview dwellers; others buy these sculptures to make their gardens look beautiful whilst others are simply buying to have a collection of these unique handmade statues in their beautiful homes. Innocent has been designing these statues for almost a decade now, since he came to South Africa. He learned everything he knows from his brothers at an early age and today he uses his talent to put food on the table.People who love handmade beautiful sculptures in the Bedfordview area are already familiar with innocent, and many of them are his regular customers.
This encouraged Innocent to remain in the same spot for over two years now; enabling him to afford buttered bread every day.“Most of my customers are coming from this area and they appreciate what I do without complaining about my prices. The most expensive statue that I currently have at the moment is a Zebra and I’m selling it for R6500 and I know it won’t last a week here,” said Innocent.According to Innocent, anyone can learn how to design sculptures like he does but it requires a lot patience and passion for it. “When I first started I didn’t even know what I was doing and I was amazed at how easy it was for my brothers but I told myself that one day I will be as good as they are, and from that point I started learning from them instead of just observing their work,” Innocent added.Innocent’s dream is to have his own school one day where he can teach homeless kids how to design statues using used cans so that they can also survive on the streets since it is a hustle that requires abandoned material
