Li’s Forecast #2

The Art of Noah

Lidewij Edelkoort

Column

June 2025

Lidewij Edelkoort

is one of the world’s most beloved and influential forecasters. Each month, she writes a column for See All This titled The Future is Handmade, where she shares her views on a handmade future and spotlights unique handmade objects. For Edelkoort, these objects are more than just beautiful — they represent a quiet form of resistance against an increasingly artificial future.

Column

June 2025

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Beading is an ancient craft practiced by a long line of ancestors who took to embellishing thousands of years ago – long before glass was invented and traded globally. The act of beading is an act of repetition that represents a meditative process, connecting the dots, representing symbolic motifs and spiritual meanings imbedded in beads found in nature such as pebbles and shells. Until the invention of glass spurred the creation of miraculous new beads in transparent colours.

Nowhere has glass story telling with beading been embraced and fully incorporated more than in South Africa, partly because of Dutch traders invaded the market from the 16^thcentury, exchanging the glamourous material for gold particles, ivory, and tortoise shell. Enriching artisans with a more versatile and seductive material to use instead of beans, twigs, or coral – even then, shine was irresistible.

The journey of glass beads is an early example of how global trade can form a local tradition that is intrinsically related to its people, in this case of South Africa. It shows how exchange creates exceptions and is essential for nurturing creativity and stimulating local economies. It is therefore important to keep borders open in order to keep the instinct alive.

Lidewij Edelkoort

‘It shows how exchange creates exceptions and is essential for nurturing creativity and stimulating local economies. It is therefore important to keep borders open in order to keep the instinct alive’