FROM MAD MAX TO MYSTIC TRIBE

Looking at Alicia Boshoff’s gorgeous handcrafted leather bags, waistcoats, top hats and clothing is like walking through an artist’s gallery.  These custom-made pieces for her business, Mystic Tribe, are what she describes as ‘wearable art creations’ - hand-painted, original designs made with love. There is a bag with a stunning wolf and eagle design on the front and labradorite crystal detail.  Another has a gorgeous geometrical motif inspired by the intricate patterns on a snake’s skin, paired with red tiger’s eye and hematite stones.  Everything she uses in her leather creations, from feathers to crystals has a special story because it is a found and treasured object.  From sexy halter tops for the gals or bikers’ saddle bags to unique Africa Burn masks and leather skirts, Alicia’s one-of-a-kind pieces are striking and unique.  

She says, ‘whatever you can dream of, I can create.  For me, it is more than just a job - it’s my passion and purpose.  When people connect with me to design a custom-made item, they share special details about themselves or about the person who is being gifted. I get to know them so well when we work on the design together, that when I create the piece and paint the artwork onto the leather, it is truly unique to them.’ Alicia has had so many incredible clients over the years who value her creations infused with their personality, like the top hat which took her almost a week to make.  It has a lion’s face on the front, 2 beautiful Eagle Owls flying on the sides and little mushrooms and ferns growing everywhere.  She added a very special mandala at the top and bottom of the hat to make it ‘sacred and special to that person.’  

Her Mystic Tribe pieces are selling so well in South Africa and overseas that Alicia has been offered the opportunity to ‘go big’ but she would never want to compromise on the quality of her work and end up with something which seems mass-produced.  Alicia is a deeply spiritual and ethical person who believes that Art should make you feel something intensely.  She sees herself as an open channel for inspiration - a well of creative energy and says ‘each one of us has infinite potential… a whole universe within us. If you are living closely to your true self, this will reflect in everything you do because it is authentically who you are… the magic will come through.  It is important to me to follow my joy and I have always believed that if you do something with love and consciousness, that is the recipe for success.’

Alicia’s Mystic Tribe creations are as inspiring as her own life’s journey.  When she was 20, she studied fine arts, majoring in sculpting and started working with CMX Entertainment, a film production company making props. It was here that Alicia discovered her incredible talent as a costume fabricator and pyrographer, a term meaning ‘writing with fire’ which describes the free-handed art of decorating leather and other materials with a heated tool.  Some of the most epic and interesting creative work she has ever done came during this period, culminating in her team winning an Oscar award for the costumes they created for the movie Mad Max. Alicia was at the helm of the leather department who created all the post-apocalyptic leather garments worn by the actors.  Designer extraordinaire, Jenny Beavan trusted Alicia to let her imagination run wild when she spent over a year working in Namibia with a team of 10 people creating clothing and crazy masks that Jenny later described as ‘infinitely beautiful.’ Alicia says, ‘I learned so much - it was the most incredible job of my life.’ Mad Max put Alicia on the map and she went on to travel around the world doing exciting projects with incredible people. 

For the recent Netflix production, African Queens, Alicia was brought on board by Dihantus Englebrecht, co-designing with him - ‘I would take his concepts and do all the drawings because, as a fabricator, I know how to construct things.  I would make sure that the designs were doable with the materials we had and conceptually bring them to life.  I had an amazing team of super-talented people who brought their own vision and talent into creating an incredible art piece which is so visually appealing that thousands of people can immerse themselves in the fantasy shown on the screen.’  Alicia’s team of five fabricators researched historical works to recreate what people might have worn in Angola in the 1600’s and created costumes made to look authentic to the place and time using African animal skins and textured leather.  Their work has received so many accolades that the costume department has been nominated for an Emmy award. 

Alicia is so proud about what she and her teams have achieved on these incredible productions.  She says, ‘You guide and teach people by showing them everything you have ever learned and then watch them discover talents in themselves that they didn’t even know they had. So often people don’t want to impart what they have learned but I feel strongly that if you have a talent which you are willing to share you can create a ripple-effect enabling others to not only make a living but inspire incredible creativity within their craft.’  Having worked on films like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter with really influential creatives like Ngila Dickson, the designer from Lord of the Rings, Alicia got to meet some of the most talented people in the world.  She says, ‘an average day for me was doing a costume fitting for supermodel and actress Mila Jovovich, actor Tom Hardy or Charlise Theron which was fantastic. 

I have loved my career but the film industry is very fast-paced and it can easily take over your entire life. I had the growing realisation that it is not about chasing success, making more money or getting a bigger award, but rather about having a balanced, joyful life with time to enjoy the simple things like sitting in the sun, sleeping-in or reading a book.’  

Alicia is of the opinion that abundance is having exactly what you need when you need it, so when she first met her husband, Juanne Steenkamp at Wild Spirit Backpackers and later fell in love, she began to reassess what she wanted in her life.  After a long-distance relationship for some time, she moved up to his farm in Limpopo, where she fell in love all over again, with the mystical and magical Magoebaskloof.  The film industry is hectic, labour-intensive and long hours so not at all ideal for a relationship or family life. Alicia had always wanted to embrace a self-sustainable lifestyle, independent and totally off the grid and dreamed of having the kind of place where her kids could grow up in nature, running around and getting their feet dirty.  She wanted to be able to teach them the things that are ultimately most important like the grace of the land and the gift of energy from the sun. 

Alicia and Juanne’s daughter is turning four this year and Alicia has a beautiful studio in the mountains, where she makes her Mystic Tribe creations when she is not working on film productions or on tour with Jahworx, a reggae fusion band with her husband and fellow musician and photographer, Derius Erasmus.  She says ‘I am very blessed to have this talent and to be able to create something sacred and beautiful from the special human connection which is formed when I honour people’s stories and make them something they will treasure forever.’ 

Connect with Alicia on 072 634 9932, check her out on instagram @Alicia_J_Boshoff for her film-work and leather creations or on Facebook under Mystic Tribe.