Who Is ABK MART
ABK MART is a subsidiary company of Afthonia Private Limited. ABK MART was founded with the main goal of marketing Zimbabwean art online. The company markets unique hand-crafted sculptures and artifacts that are originally made in Zimbabwe.
What We Do
ABK MART sells online a wide variety of uniquely made, hand-crafted sculptures and artifacts. These include:
- Stone Sculptures
- Wooden Sculptures
- Metal Sculptures
- Wire Sculptures
- Cloth and Canvas paintings
- Other artifacts
As artist empowerment is one of our goals, all ABK MART products are purchased directly from a wide range of Zimbabwean artists using local fair trading practices. In addition, some of the artists’ profiles and their work will be featured on this website.
Vision
To be a major global online seller of Zimbabwean high quality, hand-crafted sculptures and artifacts
Mission
To ensure customer satisfaction through the selling of only high quality and authentic sculptures and artifacts and to promote and empower artists through marketing of their products
Brief Overview of Zimbabwean Sculptures
“Shona Sculpture” is the term used when referring to the Zimbabwean stone sculpture as the majority of the Zimbabwean artists come from the Shona tribe. Shona Sculpture gained international recognition from as early as the 1960s. It is considered to be the most important art movement that emerged from Africa in the 20th century.
Stone sculptures are made using serpentine stone. The largest source of serpentines is the Great Dyke, a 510 kilometre linear stretch of ridges and hills that run across the Eastern part of Zimbabwe. The Great Dyke contains more than 250 ores and combinations of serpentines. Artists generally use hand tools such as chisels, rasps and hammers to carve the raw stone. They then use sandpaper to polish the sculpture. Once polished, they heat the sculpture and apply a colourless wax to make a highly polished finish. Once cooled down, they buff up the waxed areas with a cloth.
The original stone sculpturing was motivated and inspired by ‘shona mythology’. Over the past few decades, the stone sculpturing has taken on a new wave of modern and urban styles. However, most artists still maintain a ‘cultural theme’ to their work. Some artists have diversified and are creating wooden and metal sculptures.