KwaZulu-Natal born, Jono Hornby will be off to Europe next month to create his own batch of beers as well as name and design the label.
Hornby was one of many local and international artists that participated in the annual International Public Arts Festival (IPAF), where they all spent countless hours creating magic on the walls of Salt River in Cape Town last month.
On the last day of the festival, a public voting system was opened through IPAF’s social media platforms, showcasing a gallery of all the street art murals and Hornby’s 15-metre high mural of his subject, Noms Zondi, received three times more votes than any of the other featured artworks.
The 30-year-old from Hilton said he started painting with spray paint when he was about eleven-years-old.
“I grew up as a skateboarder and as a result, I got involved in the graffiti culture. From then on I knew my life would be centered around art in some form. My mural for IPAF has probably been my most exciting piece so far. From a scale perspective it was exhilarating, but it was also an opportunity to really dive into the conceptual thinking and ask myself “what do I think people need to be talking about, and how can I engage them around it through street art,'' said Hornby.
He said he was very excited about this adventure, and that he was planning on travelling and painting in Europe this year, so the prize is an awesome extension of that.
Hornby will spend much of his first week in Belgium on learning more about the brewing process, recipe development and label designing. Once the fermentation process begins, he will travel to other street art festivals across Europe, spending most of the time in Spain. After that, he will return to Belgium to sample his beer, see the final label and bottling process of his limited edition L7 craft beer which he will be working closely with, with brew master, Nicolas Declercq.
The beer will be available in South Africa later this year.