Itayi was born in 1975 in Rusape District of Zimbabwe. He is the first born in a family of eight. At the age of 11 years, he moved to the city of Chitungwiza where he did his secondary education up to O Level in 1993.
In 1994, his uncle Richard Mupumha encouraged Itayi to start stone sculpting under his guidance. After a two-year apprenticeship, Itayi was confident enough to strike out on his own.
At present, he is a full-time sculptor with a wife and young child, working at the Chitungwiza Arts Centre with his brother Onias.
Recent career highlights include:
- February–April 2014: He was one of four Zimbabwe artists, along with Tonderai Sowa, invited to participate in an Artist Exchange at Sonkala Yonkala in Luanda, Angola, with Angolan artist João Mayembe.
- Itayi and his brother Onias have been regularly featured in recent Guruve Exhibitions.
- Itayi’s work was featured in a joint exhibition at Msande Gallery in Berlin, Germany, in 2001.
- Itayi is one of Guruve’s most popular and talented young artists and is highly likely to achieve recognition outside Zimbabwe within a very few years.
- Won an award at the Amanda Brook Artistic Africa Exhibition Awards, coming second runner-up in the contemporary art segment.