South Africa's sandscribe —
Van der Merwe, 49, started designing these intricate pieces at beaches around Cape Town as a means of getting away from his desk. He explains: "When you work as a calligrapher, you sit at a desk and you sit with a small piece of paper in front of you and you channel all your energy through a nib onto a tiny little piece of paper.
"When I was younger, that did it for me, but I began to feel a bit frustrated and getting out on to the beach and using your whole body in an energetic way to do your calligraphy is really refreshing for me."
While he started by using sticks to dig out the patterns, soon Van der Merwe started developing specialized tools for his hobby, including modified buckets and shovels. He also began fashioning footprint-free sandals by attaching flat, wooden paddles to his shoes so as not to leave a mark on his elaborate designs in the sand. "It's quite strenuous. If I work with one of my bigger tools, it pulls out easily up to two kgs of sand at a time," he adds.