Zulu(Contemporary)

Umgexo Zulu love letter

Umgexo is made out of beads and nylon string.  As someone who has worked with beads before I would say this is brick stitch. Hence there are beads overlapping on both sides. 

Traditionally in a Zulu culture, if someone is wearing a beaded piece it mostly indicates a certain status. For example, in the above image the necklace in the middle indicates marital status. Nonetheless, if a Zulu women is wearing a diamond shape formed of two beaded triangles it shows that she is married. Also when the two tips of the triangles meet in the middle, it means a married man.