In South Africa tons of international outdoor is copied and pasted all along major highways without any consideration for cultural context. Added to this, the billboard industry contributes massive amounts of plastic waste annually.

For Heritage Month we wanted to celebrate South Africa’s most loved car, the Toyota Corolla by cutting through the culturally blind clutter and the plastic waste.

So, we create the biggest beaded billboard, ever! The billboard referenced the Zulu love letter: a beaded gift, usually pinned to a lover’s chest, made up of different patterns and colours. But instead of being palm-sized love letter, we created one that weighed almost a ton. And we got the community where the Corolla has been manufactured for decades to help us make this one-of-a-kind celebration of love.

The Toyota Corolla is not only sold in South Africa, it’s been made in KwaZulu-Natal, since 1973. And it’s been South Africa’s most loved car for the longest time. So, what better way to celebrate this adored car on South African roads than by using the most uniquely South African way to express love – using the Zulu love letter.

We had 350 dedicated beaders working on the billboard for two weeks. Each beader received a metre-by-metre panel that they had to bead. Each of the panels was then meticulously stitched together. Finally, the assembled love letter consisting of 380 000 hand stitched beads, weighing in at almost a ton, was crane lifted onto a truck bed and transported to Johannesburg.

Every aspect of this project was unique and innovative since nothing like this has been done before. It took collaboration on a massive scale to bring this labour of love to life.