What started out as a late-night illustration has transformed into a range of hand-painted characters telling a dark story of death, robbery and chaos in the woods.
Copywriter, part-time illustrator and collector of Tanya Laing's Sootcookie ceramic animals, Alex Goldberg, was haunted by images of mischievous animals that he doodled in his spare time. ''One particular character just stayed in my head and I had to see what it would look like in 3D," says Goldberg.
He took his drawings to Laing's Hout Bay studio and ''Balaclava Bear" was born.
''We've started with Balaclava Bear," says Goldberg, ''but we intend to do a range of ominous forest animals including Meercat Carguard and Bartvark, inspired by my view on South Africa's social and political scene."
Laing has taken Goldberg's off-beat drawings and translated them into ceramic. ''He has a warped mind," she says.
The current range of ceramics evokes a grim image of the wood-based animal society, full of recognisable South African symbolism, but Laing and Goldberg plan to extend the collection to incorporate positive characters that restore order to the woods.
The ''Balaclava Bears" are sold at Cape Town stores The Fringe Arts on Kloof, The Haas Collective in Bo Kaap, the Kalk Bay Co-Op or from Sootcookie: http://sootcookie.withtank.com
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