What is XOX?
XOX is a shape and a system, in a range of scales and materials: from hand-crafted wire-art modules the width of an LP record (see Hot Mesh) to pieces printed in plant-based plastics that fit in the palm of your hand – this is XOX Toy.
XOX Toy is a construction toy for adults (and children). It’s an art toy* and a throwback executive desk toy. It’s a do-it-yourself sculpture that’s both pastime and decor. It’s a game with rules to be discovered.
A standard set is 18 modular building-blocks 3D-printed in PLA (plastic made from plant starch) with embedded rare-earth magnetic connectors. It comes in a collector’s box display stand with a magnetic base pattern for building on. Standard colour way is red and blue pieces in a black box with colour icon, though we have made versions in all-white, all-black, green and yellow, and more – ask us if you’d like a custom colour combo.
Each set is made to order, individually numbered and signed, and part of a limited edition first run of 99. Box size approx 15 x 15 x 5cm (6 x 6 x 2″) and pieces around 5cm (2″) high.
Buy yours for around $200 at our Shopify store africanrobots.com where you can see more images of the work.
Currently offering free shipping within South Africa and to the United States**, thanks to our shipping partner TUNL
*What’s an ‘art toy’, and why does it matter? Art toys, or designer toys, are inspired by the mass-produced toys that many artists and designers grew up, but are limited-edition and often self-produced (there’s a nice description of that childhood influence by the US designer toy fair Assembly Required). Art toys are a form of Pop Art in that they borrow the aesthetics of factory-made items, but are more unique and costly to make – so they’re also priced higher than something which is mass-produced. Think of it as an affordable artwork rather than an expensive toy. Each set of XOX Toy is made to order by a small 3D printing company, and assembled by hand in Cape Town, South Africa.
**Ouch those tariffs though! As of September 2025, an additional 30% in import duties is applied to everything going from South Africa to the United States, where previously there were no import duties for goods under $800. That sucks both for customers in the US and for us trying to sell them our wares. But hello rest-of-world!
Hot Mesh
XOX Toy started out as a model for the larger scale wire art sculpture Hot Mesh – an architectural scale, modular system for space-making and shadow-casting, made of finely woven wire joined by clips 3D-printed in recycled plastic. Its first iteration – seen above in the Tankwa Desert – is MAYA (named for the artist Maya Deren and her surrealist film Meshes of the Afternoon).
Close to 100 days of work, performed by 9 wire artists plus lead artist Ralph Borland, under the auspices of African Robots & SPACECRAFT, are condensed into this high-value waist-high object made of hardware-store steel fencing wire and finished with industrial zinc electroplating in yellow and clear. The project exemplifies the application of skilled handcraft to humble materials to create valuable objects typical of a vernacular street craft such as Southern African wire art.
Hot Mesh’s building block is the sensuously curved and semi-transparent X-module, made by hand in galvanised steel wire by highly skilled artisans in Southern Africa. Each module starts as a meticulous wireframe, over which finer gauges of wire are woven in a contemporary form of basketry. It takes days to make one module, with painstaking attention to detail in the even spacing of wire as it negotiates complex three-dimensional curves.
18 modules make up MAYA: a square-metre wall, the width of an LP record cover (12 inches or 30-odd centimetres). It is an object at once meditative and alive with energy, with its complex shadows and layered moiré patterns in fine mesh-work.
The influences on the project include the intricate stonework of Great Zimbabwe, Mozambiquan burglar-bars, breeze-blocks, cloth prints and tiling patterns. The sculpture draws from the contemporary urban fabric of Africa, as well as echoing older forms: metal ingots, head-rests and stools.
For more information, visit Hot Mesh over at African Robots – and for enquiries about commissioning or buying work, contact Ralph Borland Studio on studio@ralphborland.net or +27 76 548 3923.