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Nikiwe Dlova - Hair and Makeup
Hair Artist, Head PiecesNikiwe Dlova is a vibrant, creative and colourful individual from Soweto Diepkloof in South Africa. She loves expressing herself through hair, fashion and art. She graduated at University of Johannesburg in 2013 and obtained a Diploma in Clothing Management.
EARLY CAREER For in-service training/Internship in 2012, She got accepted at Edcon for a one year internship as a Quality Assurance (QA) Technologist in Intimate wear. After the internship she got an opportunity to be an Assistant Buyer for Ladies Sleepwear and later moved to the Ladies Shoes department, where she worked for 3 years. In February 2016 she started a hair street culture blog called ownURcrown which was showcasing alternative, creative and bold hairstyles. The blog grew her interest to pursue a career in the digital media industry and in September 2016 she got an opportunity to further her career at The Stylista (fashion agency and fashion network). She was hired as a Campaign Manager where she strategized, created proposals, built client liaison and managed campaigns for brands such as New Balance, Rimmel London, Converse, Sunglass Hut, Palladium Boots, Herschel, Dr Martens and Edgars Brands. After a year she got promoted to be a Content producer where she did event coverage interviews and overall brand’s content strategy for The Stylista. She’s also been seen as a content creator due to her growing following on social media, she has worked with Dr Martens,Foschini, Edgars,Absolut Vodka,Stylin’ Dredz, Black Crown just to name a few.
OWNURCROWN JOURNEY In 2018 she decided to focus on ownURcrown full time because she saw a gap in the hair styling industry for creative hairstyles and hair art. ownURcrown then grew from being a blog to a brand that offers hairstyling services,headpieces and hair art exhibitions. Her first headpieces were featured in a South African music video sponsored by Ford. During the same year she was selected as one of the creatives for #ColabNowNow in collaboration with the British Council and Maputo Fast-forward. She went to Maputo to create and collaborate with other creatives,her inspiration was from architecture,time and culture, re-imagining how our future hairstyles/headpieces will look like by using timeless braiding technique that has been around for so many centuries,infusing it with a tulle fabric merging hair,identity and fashion. Her 2019 highlight was when her work was selected with other two #ColabNowNow creators to showcase their creative work and meet the former Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle Duchess of Sussex. They also collaborated to create an instagram filter using her headpieces. The filter was showcasing the digital art aspect in how we can preserve our culture through technology while having fun with it. Nikiwe’s work can be seen on musicians (such as Msaki, Busiswa, Sampa the Great, Mpho Sebina and Boity) ,music videos, magazine editorials which play a huge role in influencing the culture. She was also a 2019 honoree for Okay Africa 100 Women list for her commitment in pushing Africa’s youth culture forward – a culture that has not only defined the decade but is poised to change the landscape of society for generations to come. In 2020 two of her headpieces were featured on Beyonce’s Black is King film on Busiswa, My power music video and Nandi Madida’s last scene. In 2021, Botho Project Space asked her to do her first solo exhibition, sponsored by the French Institute. Royal Hair Salon — Botho Project Space below is her artist statement The brightness of colors, confidence in what I say, the triumph of African culture and a bold look at quotidian things – this is how I see my art. I forge creative hairstyles, headpieces and embroidery art pieces/tapestries inspired by African culture and fashion which are part of my identity. By using hair in an unconventional way, I tell visual stories that go beyond the usual framework to express the very essence of them. For too long, black hair has been deprived of its essence, the time has come to show its true beauty. I want to create more than just hairstyles; I want to make art that can exist not only in our mundane life, but also in the gallery space. Hair can be part of an image, or part of history (hairstory). They can be a canvas for a work of art, or a fashion accessory. I want my audience to not be afraid of experiments and their identity. I want to show how limitless creative self-expression can be in the most unexpected shapes and forms.