With a razor blade fashioned to a small twig with leather, the Namibian artisan rolls the firm Makalani seed around in his fingers with great agility and efficacy, carving first an elephant for my mother. Years of practice have hardened his fingertips. We converse as he speedily shapes “Namibia” into the seed, his eyes fixed on me. Muscle memory and immense skill. Chips of the seed shoot into the air. He carves his “little pieces of Namibia”, as he called it, to support himself and his family.