Visualising Language: Isibheqe Sohlamvu and the Decolonisation of Design Education

This article examines the practical outcomes of integrating the Isibheqe Sohlamvu writing system into jewellery design education, focusing on a second- year class project at the University of Johannesburg in 2022 that encouraged students to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into their design processes. Through a focused artefact-based analysis of one student’s jewellery studio design journey, the study explored how Isibheqe Sohlamvu, a contemporary visual writing system developed in the 2010s for Southern Bantu languages, can support culturally situated conceptual development within studio practice. The visual logic of Isibheqe offers a relational and symbolic approach to form- making that contrasts with alphabet-based conventions, positioning Indigenous epistemic frameworks as generative resources for design education. The article argues that within the limits of a single case and artefact-based analysis, integrating Isibheqe Sohlamvu could contribute to more inclusive and context- responsive pedagogies in higher education.