Creative Worlds Come Together For Africa’s Inaugural Duvel ‘Art of Glass’

An age-old craft meets world-class art as the Belgian Beer Company celebrates the ‘Art of Glass’; its first-ever collaboration with an African artist, as a striking work by Lizette Chirrime finds new life on Duvel’s tulip-shaped glass.

Dubbed ‘Madonna’, the artwork selected for the Duvel glass illustrates the multiple facets and layered complexity of the female form, embracing the spectrum of spirituality and sexuality. It’s a striking piece as fabric on canvas, but when admired on glass the element of transparency brings a new layer of meaning to the work.

The Duvel ‘Madonna’ glass Johannesburg reveal will take place in conjunction with the opening of Lizette Chirrime’s solo show, The forms of the invisible demand at 99 Juta on 4 April 2019. The exhibition will run for two weeks at 99 Juta.

Since 2010 the Duvel Collection has enjoyed enormous success in Europe, with selected international artists chosen each year to contribute an artwork to grace limited editions of the signature Duvel glass.

Belgian breweries have a rich history of producing bespoke beer glasses unique to their particular brews, and the Duvel glass is one of the most famous. Crafted in the shape of northern Europe’s famed tulips, when released in the 1960s it was the first beer glass capable of holding an entire 330ml bottle of beer. That wasn’t for quenching a thirst, but rather a means to enhance the flavour and aromatics of the beer.

“Women brewers dominated alcohol production on every occupied continent until commercialization and industrialization of brewing occurred, so to celebrate and keep that history alive we wanted to partner with a female artist,” explains Rejeanne Vlietman, director of the Belgian Beer Company.

“We loved the way Lizette’s journey has been expressed through her art, and we felt her bold mixed media artworks would be the perfect fit for the first African artwork to grace a Duvel glass. Her work shows growth, it shows love, and it shows togetherness.”
Born in Maputo, Chirrime creates large-scale textile-driven works on canvas, using abstract forms to weave a narrative inspired by her own life experiences.

“I paint with fabric,” says Chirrime, who painstakingly sews and glues together her large-format works.

“The fabrics I use are all off-cuts so it’s also a message for us Africans to inspire each other to be able to work with what we have,” says Chirrime. “I believe that through my work I’m uniting human beings, by bringing things together in harmony.”

The new Duvel glass will be available at an exclusive selection of bars and restaurants in Johannesburg, with a limited quantity available for the beer-loving public to purchase.

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