De Beers Collaborates with Mabeo Studio and Shakunona Parata at Homo Faber 2026
The collaboration celebrates Botswana’s basket-weaving traditions through a live demonstration and a new sculptural work inspired by local materials, cultural heritage and the Okavango landscape.
De Beers is continuing its participation in Homo Faber 2026 by supporting Botswana-based master basket weaver Shakunona Parata, who will showcase her weaving practice and present Diware, a new sculptural work created in collaboration with Mabeo Studio’s Beullah Serema and Peter Mabeo.
Based in Botswana, Mabeo Studio works at the intersection of craft, design and culture, collaborating with local artisans to develop contemporary pieces rooted in regional materials, cultural traditions and craftsmanship.
Curated by Artistic Director Es Devlin, Homo Faber 2026 explores the theme An Island of Light, examining connections between light, materials and creativity while placing makers and their practices at the centre of the exhibition. As part of the programme, Parata will demonstrate her weaving process live in the A Rooted Ascent room alongside Diware.
A member of the Ngamiland Basket Weavers collective in north-western Botswana, Parata works with locally gathered materials and techniques passed down through generations. She learnt basket weaving from her mother and grandmother and continues to explore variations in technique, pattern and colour.
Her practice is closely connected to the Okavango River, its seasonal cycles and the materials found within its landscape. Her work reflects this relationship while highlighting the wider traditions and community of makers from which her practice has evolved.
Diware: Craft, Culture and Natural Materials
Created by Parata and Mabeo Studio, Diware brings together natural materials sourced from Botswana, including woven palm leaves, naturally gathered porcupine quills, carved wood and semi-precious stones.
The sculpture draws inspiration from Manyevora, a traditional Mbukushu attire associated with Diware, a historic healing ceremony that is now more commonly expressed through dance. Manyevora forms the central element of the sculpture and is constructed using materials foraged from nature.
The work deliberately combines natural and crafted elements while allowing each material to retain its individual character. This approach explores ideas of connection and convergence between maker and material, individual and community, and people and place.
Through its Homo Faber participation, De Beers is highlighting craft traditions and organic materials originating from the same landscape associated with natural diamonds. Parata’s presentation follows South African artist Abongile Sidzumo’s participation in August.
The collaboration with Mabeo Studio will continue at Frieze Masters in London this October, where the studio will work with basket weavers from the collective, alongside potters and wood carvers from across Botswana, on a new commission for Voyage Through the Diamond Realm, Chapter Two.
Lynn Serfaty, General Manager, Natural Diamonds, De Beers, said: “Shakunona Parata’s work at Homo Faber reflects the skill, dedication and heritage that shape the relationship between natural materials and craft. We are pleased to support her collaboration with Beullah Serema and Peter Mabeo of Mabeo Studio as part of this year’s Homo Faber.”
Shakunona Parata said: “My life and that of the river are connected. The flood plains of the Okavango river guides my activities and rituals. My basket weaving practice is an extension of nature, of the river through the materials it yields, the movement of the seasons and my hands, seeing through my eyes with conscientiousness of all that is around me and within me, through my work.”
Mabeo Studio said: “Homo Faber presents an opportunity to consider relationship. While it is helpful to recognise the highly valued and respected individual maker, in our studio, we also see it as worthwhile to be aware of how any practice is but a small expression of a whole. To see the indivisible wholeness of life and living, intangibly in approach and physically with how natural materials are related with, across cultures, through simple and dedicated craft acts.”
