Table of contents for VISI 117 in Visi

SCOTTBURGH… THAT WAS MY FIRST-EVER HOLIDAY. I MUST’VE BEEN ABOUT FOUR YEARS OLD, AND MY RECENTLY DIVORCED MOM TOOK ME OFF TO THIS LITTLE KZN SOUTH COAST TOWN FOR A WEEK. For a boy who, until that point, thought the rest of the world looked like Benoni, Scottburgh was unimaginably exotic. One of my mother’s most oft-repeated stories is of her young son running straight into the sea, enthusiastically shouting, “Hello, big water!” – before being flattened by the rolling surf and fished out by the local lifeguard. Subsequent travels may have changed my perspective on Scottburgh’s ranking among the world’s most desirable holiday destinations, but its Blue Marlin Hotel still holds a special place in my heart. Until the two of us moved down to Cape Town five years…

THERE WAS A KALEIDOSCOPE OF FUTURISTIC AFRICAN REGALIA AND TRADITIONAL-INSPIRED DESIGNS THAT PAID HOMAGE TO HERITAGE. Finally 2021 is winding down. I can almost smell the festive season. It’s been a long year – the longest of our generation, it feels like, mostly because the past 24 months have seemingly rolled into one continuous and uncertain year. I still struggle with the date, often writing 2020 instead of 2021… With the relief of the year’s end comes the reckoning with the trauma and fatigue of everything we lost in the fires of seemingly endless lockdowns. Never have I looked forward more to taking time off for a much-needed nap, over a couple of days. And yes, this time I will keep my laptop off. I’m still reeling from the exhaustion…

What started as an occasional getaway to the coastal village of Scarborough grew into a full-blown love affair for the owners of this home – a creative director and a surgeon. “Just 45 minutes from Cape Town, Scarborough is the last village before Cape Point – a little piece of heaven within walking distance of the beach,” they say. The couple were so enamoured with the village, they had no desire to tell anyone about it – not even their three grown children. “It was a year before we took any of them with us,” they say with a laugh. “Predictably, they immediately fell in love with it too, and suggested we start looking for a place where we could all go to as a family.” It took a few…

Even After All – the brainchild of Marcel and Marc Cronje of Dine & Dash, Fhatuwani Mukheli and Mary Songo – is just one of a spate of fresh new eateries around the country that were conceptualised during last year’s Level 5 lockdown. Marcel explains that the space was named for one of his favourite songs by Finley Quaye, which he felt expressed the collective resilience of the restaurant industry through the pandemic. The interior design, on the other hand, was inspired by nostalgia-fuelled TV binge-watching. “During [the lockdown], I found myself watching a lot of television – Mad Men, Peaky Blinders and Halston,” says Marcel. “All of these series are set in different decades of the 1900s, which got me thinking about creating a space from a previous era.”…

ALTO234, SANDTON Currently the highest urban bar in Africa, and boasting 360-degree views of Johannesburg, Alto 234 offers bespoke experiences, from high teas to sunset drinks. The sleek, chic multi-use space, designed by Varoom Interiors, draws visual inspiration from Joburg’s mining history, and the breathtaking view is always centre stage here – so come along to sip on bubbles and enjoy canapés and oysters while taking in the impressive surroundings. alto234.co.za MOUNTAIN CLUB BISTRO, CAPE TOWN Nestled in the heart of Tamboerskloof, the Mountain Club Bistro at Cloud 9 Boutique Hotel boasts a double-level restaurant with a plunge pool on the upper deck, and majestic city and Table Mountain views. Food ranges from breakfast to tapas, sushi and desserts; there are also signature cocktails on offer. Try a refreshing mojito…

The Keiskamma Art Project is part of the greater Keiskamma Trust, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to uplifting the communities that live in the area alongside the Keiskamma River in the Eastern Cape with design, craft skills, and technology training – and the project’s skilled weavers have again captured an unforgettable period in our history with their work. The project’s extraordinary 7.5m-long Covid-19 Resilience Tapestry was recently unveiled as a work-in-progress installation at Union House in Cape Town as part of the “Right Here, Right Now” group exhibition. It weaves together memories of a year that many of us will never forget, capturing – over four seasons – what life was like in Keiskamma during the first year of the pandemic. The tapestry is dominated by a giant fig tree at…

Sanctuary Mandela is exactly that: a sanctuary. As you walk up the steps and under the archway into what was once Nelson Mandela’s Johannesburg home, you are greeted by an André Prinsloo bronze sculpture of Tata Madiba reading a newspaper, placed in almost the identical spot where the man himself would read every morning. This sets the tone for the rest of the moving, understated experience of the interiors of this new boutique hotel. “We were briefed by Motsamayi Tourism Group to design a space of reflection – a space that tells a story without feeling like a museum,” explains owner and lead interior designer of Kim H Nieu, Ehrardt Nieuwoudt, when asked about the concept behind the hotel. “Sanctuary Mandela had to feel like a hotel, but also like…

The practice of botanical art dates back to the Romans, with the Codex Vindobonensis being the earliest example on record. Botanical paintings were used during the medieval period to document important medicinal plants, and over hundreds of years the expensive, time-consuming art of painting rare and unique plants transformed into a status symbol, with kings and nobles commissioning collections of painted or sketched specimens found growing in their private gardens. These collections are known as florilegia; among the most renowned are the Highgrove Florilegium in Gloucestershire in the UK, and the Transylvania Florilegium in Romania. Sean Privett is the conservation director for the Grootbos Foundation and, along with resident botanical artist Chris Lochner and project leader Vicki Thomas, immersed each of the artists contributing to the new florilegium there in…

SONOS ROAM This ultra-portable speaker allows you to bring the Sonos experience with you wherever you go. With astonishing (for its size) and adaptable sound, fast and effortless setup, intuitive controls, and all the smart features you’d expect at home packed into an ultra-light, elegant and durable form that weighs less than half a kilogram, the Sonos Roam brings great sound from the kitchen to your bag, the park, the MTB trails, and anywhere your next adventure takes you… and back home again. R3 999 SONOS BEAM GEN 2 With the rise in straight-to-streaming movie premieres (which have tripled over the last year), a theatre-like home-audio experience has become a crucial investment for film fans. Building on the brand’s leadership in the home-theatre category, the new Sonos Beam with Dolby…

FOR A YEAR, I LIVED IN CENTURION, AND YEARS LATER CENTURION (AND ITS COUSIN MIDRAND) ARE STILL LIVING IN ME. When I decided to try to write books, I did what the cliché urges us not to do: I quit my day job. Leaving architecture was temporary, I told myself; I just needed a year to see. For money, I would hustle and freelance; for food and shelter, I would leave Cape Town and live with my dad in his new home in Centurion, Gauteng. My father’s house was on a road called Jakkalsdraf, and to get there you turned off another called Hendrik Verwoerd. For a year, I lived in Centurion, and years later Centurion (and its cousin Midrand) are still living in me. What haunted me so much…

In celebrating and championing the richness of talent, projects and people that embody the creativity and resilience of South Africa, the V&A Waterfront developed the Artist Alliance incubator programme, aimed at co-creating spaces and opportunities for young artists to explore their perspectives. Through guidance, knowledge sharing and mentor support, they will be helped to turn their talents into marketable skills and sustainable careers. Initially, 10 people were to be selected as part of the first cohort – but after receiving an overwhelming number of applications of an excellent standard, the judges decided to settle on 12 creatives. The 12 were chosen in fields such as fine art, photography and film-making, illustration, design and fashion to take part in a two-month training programme. “The aim is to provide a new platform…

rtist, photographer and creative director Amanda Shadforth wears many hats. But perhaps her most recognisable is that of the founder of Oracle Fox, one of the original Australian style websites. It’s no surprise, then, that the South Queensland home she shares with her husband Sam Williams and their two dogs, Peaches the Pomeranian and Zion the Finnish Lapphund, is a perfect study in modern, minimalist style. The 1970s home was purchased four years ago, and she and Sam spent six months renovating before they moved in. “We were drawn to the home because it had a mid-century, almost Palm Springs vibe, with high ceilings and beautiful views,” Amanda says. But its favourable qualities stopped there: the building had become decrepit over the years and was un-liveable when they purchased it…

Banks bring to mind memories of long queues, drab interiors and quiet, stark spaces. This may have been the case for the old FNB building situated in the heart of Rosebank, a bustling retail and business district that has been blossoming since the 1930s. Today, though, The Bank – a new mixed-use space designed by Enrico Daffonchio of Daffonchio Architects – holds anything but these qualities. Just announced a winner of the Gauteng Institute for Architecture’s Award of Excellence, this extensively reworked space effectively ties together a series of different elements – a barbershop, Proud Mary restaurant and bar, Workshop 17 co-working space and VOCO hotel – while stylishly paying homage to the area’s rich architectural history and urban pedestrian lifestyle. “The concept was to accommodate different and completely separate…

When Suidster’s owners Cobus Van Wyk and Ruan Van De Venter moved back to South Africa after a 16-year stint in the UK, they chose a farm between Montagu and Barrydale for its likeness to the western Scottish isles. “It reminds us of Scotland – the mountains and plants,” says Cobus. “And it has the same rugged beauty,” Ruan adds. Here they have built their own home, and recently added two remotely situated, solar-powered mountain escapes to which guests can come in search of fresh air and fynbos. When initially imagining the cabins, they knew they wanted something that referenced the cottages they had seen in the Scottish countryside. With this in mind, they asked interior designer Hendre Bloem to bring their vision to life. Apart from a rectangular, corrugated-iron-clad…

VIVID: STYLE IN COLOUR by Julia Green, with photography by Armelle Habib Hardie Grant Books | R620 Packed with eye candy, Vivid conveys the storied experience of renowned stylist Julia Green, showing how the application of colour in our homes and workplaces can create different atmospheres and outcomes. There are eight chapters divided by colour – orange, red, blue, green, pink, yellow, neutrals, and black – and full of inspiring imagery courtesy of photographer Armelle Habib, as well as interviews with colour mavens around the world, including designer Mariella Ienna (who is based in Sydney and Palermo), and Laurence Leenaert of LRNCE, in Marrakech. Short essays delve into topics such as the science of colour and colour psychology; the use of bold or clashing colour; and styling with colour…

Combining thoughtful curation with generous collaboration, and featuring the work of more than 30 designers and creatives from Africa, the Totem collection is a joyful celebration of functional art. It’s also an honouring of the creative community, inspired by artists and makers in South Africa, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and other countries. A totem is a natural object or creature that serves as a symbol of a tribe, clan or family – and many of the pieces in the Totem collection draw inspiration from West Africa, where totemic symbolism is distinctly graphic and bold. All items reflect each maker’s unique practice and process, too: Belinda Blignaut’s tactile ceramic vessels and vases, for example, are in part about the fact that she digs her own clay, allowing chance and the…

If you’re looking for a unique gift for that special person in your life, ask TOTHEBONE to create a custom pet-portrait pendant – a guaranteed win for any animal lover. The portraits are made using high-quality, archival watercolour paper and calligraphy ink, and set in a high-grade resin, accompanied by a sterling-silver chain. The portraits offer a great way to honour both the people and the pets in your family for years to come – plus for every pendant sold, TOTHEBONE will help build a kennel and provide food for rescue animals in the Ocean View community in the Western Cape. From R100 each tothebone.co.za…

SARAH DE PINA, PHOTOGRAPHER What’s your best holiday memory? Snorkelling in Mauritius with my son Jack when he was about four years old, and hearing him giggle in excitement underwater through his mask at seeing all the fish. Based in Johannesburg, Sarah discovered photography in her early teens when she started documenting family holidays. Today, she specialises in shooting interior architecture, products and portraits, and has been a regular contributor to many local and international magazines. In this issue, she photographed Even After All (page 150), the fresh new eatery and bar in Joburg. Sarah counts “working with some of the country’s most talented creative people” among her career highlights, and says that “there is something truly magical about a photograph’s ability to capture a moment in time”. YEWANDE OMOTOSO,…

I HAD NEVER BEEN IN SUCH A VIBRANT AND GENEROUS ENVIRONMENT. EVERYONE WAS SO KIND AND WELCOMING; IT WAS LIKE A DREAM. When I was in Grade 1, we were taken on a school trip to some farm. We were asked to bring our own lunch, as well as food for the animals. I remember my mother had packed me a sandwich and given me a head of lettuce as an offering to the farm animals we were to encounter. I was excited to see the various animals. When we arrived, we were first taken to the stables, and given permission to touch and interact with the horses. I offered one of the horses some of my lettuce, but he completely ignored me and chose the carrots handed to him…

A “capsule event” by the standards of this usually oversized design fair, Salone 2021 featured “just” 425 brands, who went above and beyond with great exhibits and informative representatives at their stands. Carousels of designer chairs filled the open spaces, and the brands who were not present kept their city showrooms open till late at night. Branded the “Supersalone”, the 2021 event exceeded all expectations – it had 60›000 visitors – and set the seal on the recovery of Milan as a design- and fashion-driven city. We’re already looking forward to the 60th edition of Salone del Mobile Milano, which will take place from 5 to 10 April 2022. Arrivederci! IMPERIAL SNAKES & ARCHITECTURAL MOTIFS 1. The snake is one of the oldest mythological symbols, present in many cultures, and…

Robert Silke didn’t have the childhood of your average ’80s white suburban kid in South Africa. “The Great White Lifestyle of the time was braaiing in the back yard,” he says on Zoom from the office of Robert Silke & Partners in Cape Town’s Wale Street. “I didn’t really come from that kind of a family. My mother, Eris, was this glamorous artist. She never learnt to drive – so she used to pick me up from school in Newlands, and then we would get on a bus and head into town. Nobody else’s mother did that at the time.” Once at the Cape Town bus terminus, mother and son would access town via the subterranean walkways of the Golden Acre Shopping Centre on the corner of Adderley and Strand…

Located on the largest of five islands in a remote archipelago off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar, Miavana’s villas look out over a picture-perfect white beach and shallow turquoise waters teeming with coral gardens and exotic tropical fish. To the east are views of the 10km2 island and a limitless ocean;to the west you can see the silhouette of the Madagascan mountains. Madagascar and its islands remain a place of intrigue and mystery,with legends of undiscovered treasure, dense rainforests and mangrove forests, underground caves, and exotic wildlife – and it’s a feeling echoed in the design of Miavana by architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens, who created playful, carefree, uncomplicated spaces that capture the imagination of childhood. Channelling fairy-tale stone fortresses,Miavana features an open-air central pavilion surrounded by a clear-blue…

Most famous for its legendary, reclusive, eccentric resident, artist Helen Martins, and her home, the Owl House, the town of Nieu-Bethesda is as far as you can get from South Africa’s big metropoles. From Joburg, it’ll take you just under nine hours to get to this remote dot nestled among the koppies of the semi-arid Great Karoo; it might be 15 minutes less from Cape Town. And that’s just one reason that made Joburg couple Marc Watson and James Moffatt’s decision to buy a house here a brave one. The other was that they bought it without seeing the interior. Visiting here as tourists in 2018, they bought the cottage based purely on its charming iron friezes and traditional wooden shutters, only guessing at what was hidden behind the heritage…

1. HOOKED ON CLASSICS: Trio of Moët & Chandon Impérial, Impérial Nectar and Impérial Rosé. The annual limited-edition gift bottles and boxes by Moët & Chandon are always as fun, festive and iconic as Impérial itself. The house’s signature Champagne was created in 1869, and embodies a seductive palate and elegant maturity. Moët & Chandon Impérial from R600; Nectar Impérial from R750; Rosé Impérial from R800 2. A SUSTAINABLE CENTREPIECE: Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. Ruinart’s move to replace gift boxes with a recyclable “second skin” made from pulped paper has resulted in a case that mimics the curves of the bottle, protecting its contents from light and moisture. The sculptural yet minimal surface evokes the walls of the crayères in Reims, the ancient chalk quarries where Ruinart Champagnes age –…