Meet the self-taught Joburg artist who turned his passion for painting into profit

He was the first in his family to finish university, so his mom was rather upset when he gave up a steady corporate job to be a creative.

But it's a good thing he did – today Nonofo Moretlwe runs a successful business that customises clothes and shoes with cool, colourful hand-drawn prints.

The 29-year-old self-taught fabric painter from Fleurhof in Johannesburg has always been a talented artist, but his journey to becoming his own boss that was filled with twists and turns.

As a young boy he'd religiously watch Dragon Ball Z with his friends. The characters and action scenes in the popular anime show not only entertained him, but it also inspired him. After each episode, he and his friends would sketch their favourite scenes.

“We'd draw the characters fighting and we would tell the story to other kids,” he tells YOU.

“We also wrote songs.”

After he matriculated in 2011, he enrolled at Tshwane University of Technology and in 2015 he graduated with a diploma in financial information systems. When he battled to find employment, he went back to art. 

“I was printing T-shirts at the time. I would customise a design and print it,” he recalls.

A friend printed his customised designs onto T-shirts, jeans and track pants and Nonofo sold them to his friends.

He then landed a job as a bank teller and put his printing business on pause. But in late 2018 his passion was reignited when he began seeing all sorts of fabric artwork popping up on social media. 

“I saw some American guys customising T-shirts. I knew how to draw but I didn’t know how to paint so I went on to YouTube and taught myself fabric painting,” he says. 

At first, he practised using fabric paint on paper and then he progressed to t-shirts and sneakers. 

“My girlfriend would often complain, ‘Why are all your T-shirts painted?’ because I'd paint on any fabric that had space on it." 

It's because of his girlfriend, Masego Motlamelle, that he started experimenting with sneakers. Masego (29) had asked him to customise her maroon sneakers and whenever she stepped out in them, she turned heads.

Inspired by the attention, Nonofo then started advertising his work on social media and it wasn't long before orders started pouring in.

He was so inundated with orders that he decided to quit his job as a bank teller in 2019 to focus on his startup, Verbal Ink.

“When I left my job I didn’t tell my mom. She spent a lot of money to send me to university. I’m actually the first one in my family to go to university,” he says. 

But he knew he could make a profit from his passion. 

Nonofo began posting more and more of his designs onto social media, which drew in more clients. When he started posting on Facebook he only had 300 followers, but his follower count quickly grew to 31 000.  

Now he gets orders from all over the country from people wanting customised items. He can draw and paint almost anything from popular animated shows, to landscapes and portraits. 

A personalised T-shirt costs R150, depending on the design, a denim jacket goes for R250 and a pair of painted Vans costs R1450.  

It's not just about the money.

“For me painting is therapeutic. When I want to wind down I take a brush and just forget about everything,” he says.

He now plans to grow his business – and the women in his life, mom Victoria Tlholelang (46) and Mashego, can't be prouder.

“It means a lot to have their support," he says.