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As winters go, this one was pretty long and bleak. And particularly cold, right? It was like the physical effects of a more distant sun and the psychological chill of lockdown combined for a cold front greater than any weather radar could pick up. “This too shall pass” is one maxim I’ve always relied on, though – and one that this painting has been a constant reminder of. It hangs on my living-room wall and was always there, in my peripheral vision, during the many lockdown months spent working from home. Painted in 1980 by local artist Penny Layland, it recalls balmy late afternoons warmed by a big, low African sun. It was a source of hope – that seasons change; that from dark comes light, and with it we…

STICKS Pure and graphic, the minimalist aluminium rods of STICKS – designed by Arik Levy for Vibia – can be used to transform linear light into a floating sculpture, to brighten corners and to highlight architectural elements using light. Create your own layout by adding connectible STICKS or stand-alone models to your composition. The STICKS measure 1.5m, 2m or 3m, linking together to reach a maximum length of 6.5m with a single electrical connection. vibia.com WIRERING Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, better known as Studio Formafantasma, are Italian designers based in Amsterdam. Since graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven, they have developed a body of work characterised by experimental material investigations and a critical approach to the significance of objects as cultural conduits. Studio Formafantasma’s WIRERING light range for Flos includes…

My mother turned 60 this August, and it is impossible for me to think about home without thinking about her. HOME IS NOT A PLACE; IT IS A PERSON. All my childhood memories have her in them. Each recollection is filled to the brim with sensory information that makes remembering feel like reliving. There is the sight of her on dark, icy Highveld mornings, making us Jungle Oats and sipping sweet tea in her sheepskin slippers. The sound of her clapping to the beat as she teaches me how to dance to Kylie Minogue’s Locomotion in our lounge after I ditched ballet for modern dance, and her cheers poolside at galas. The taste of kumquats picked from our garden, their citrussy smell and sour flavour always taking me back to…

WITH HIS WORK WELL KNOWN FOR ITS MODERN CLEAN LINES, celebrated architect and ARRCC director Stefan Antoni may not be the first name that springs to mind when looking for someone to design a game lodge in the famous Sabi Sand Game Reserve. It’s a choice that has nonetheless translated impressively well, creating sophisticated structures that manage the difficult trick of being different enough to stand out, yet still blending into the surrounding environment. Natural materials complement the shuttered cement with feature walls of hand-packed mica, panels of rusted Corten steel, stone and wood, helping it sit comfortably amid the scenery. FEATURE WALLS OF HAND-PACKED MICA, PANELS OF RUSTED CORTEN STEEL, STONE AND WOOD HELP IT SIT COMFORTABLY AMID THE SCENERY. To create separation and to help preserve the large…

Ask anyone what it means to reinvent design-hotel luxury for the 2020s, and Kelly Sawdon is best poised to answer. A partner at Atelier Ace – the studio known for its creative work on the global collection of Ace Hotels – Kelly was tasked with converting New Orleans’s 1908-built City Hall annex into what the company considers its first foray into luxury properties. The former office building, with its imposing edifice complete with Beaux-Arts flourishes, reveals little of its now offbeat interior. Enlisting the help of Pamela Shamshiri of the brother-sister interiors team behind LA’s Studio Shamshiri multidisciplinary design firm, Kelly set about conceptualising the hotel by questioning contemporary luxury. “New Orleans is such a complicated, beautiful and layered city; we wanted to do something that really celebrates that on…

DUMA MTIMKULU An interest in art from a young age was a foretelling of Duma’s future vocation. While studying fine and applied arts at the Tshwane University of Technology, he discovered ceramics, his major in his final year. He chose to specialise in this field for its opportunity for manipulation and for the freedom of creation. His other motivation was a deeply embedded emotional attachment that he finds hard to put into words. Inspired mainly by the material itself, the textures and the process, Duma also draws on the places where he works. “I enjoy the entire process from start to finish,” he says. “I love the idea of working on my own three-dimensional canvases.” @duma.mtkl NKUTHAZO ALEXIS DYALVANE With a background in visual arts (multimedia, media and retail), Nkuthazo…

HENDRICK’S ORBIUM Hendrick’s has added a new experimental gin to its repertoire. Orbium includes extracts of wormwood, blue lotus blossom and quinine, and was created by master distiller Lesley Gracie. The concept for Orbium is to enhance the traditional flavours associated with gin and gin cocktails – quinine in the tonic, and wormwood in vermouth. The addition of blue lotus blossom adds a unique brightness and floral touch to the overall flavour profile. Good for • Classic gin and tonic • Martinis • On the rocks R500 | hendricksgin.com/orbium THE SEXTON SINGLE MALT A rarity in South Africa, this Irish single malt whiskey is made from 100% Irish malted barley that is triple copper-pot distilled and then matured in carefully selected second- and third-fill Oloroso sherry casks. The barrels add toasty, fruity flavours,…

Good things can come from bad situations: when Covid-19 arrived and local art collective Ilukuluku’s long-planned project for 2020’s AfrikaBurn event could no longer go ahead, the collective (together with inspirational UK designer Morag Myerscough) found a way to create something with a wonderful legacy anyway. In partnership with Bright Sparks – which provides space for extramural creative play for children aged 1 to 6 years, and is focused on improving educational outcomes for children in under-resourced communities – they spent part of the lockdown upgrading a Cape Flats school. Ilukuluku mobilised a team of volunteers, including a consulting architect, designers, and renowned mural painter Tim Bopper and his team. Soon the school – Disneyland Educare in Tuscany Glen – was being given a makeover that included extensive structural repairs…

The growth of a local brand is always worth celebrating – it’s proof that homegrown designers are expanding and succeeding. Design studio Lemon’s journey over the past decade has been gradual, but looking back to its origins as a custom print outfit, the evolution is significant. From print products such as artwork and wallpaper (still a core range for the company, and proudly designed in-house) to statement furniture pieces, the diversification speaks to co-founder Kevin Frankental’s vision to create collections of pieces that complement one another and can work in any environment – commercial, retail or residential. The latest step in this process is a new showroom in Cape Town – a conscious move to create a space that showcases the products in a working environment, and allows clients to…

SAMANTHA CHARLES, MANAGING EDITOR If your house were on fire or floodwaters were rising, what’s the precious item you’d grab as you had to leave? If we’re talking about material objects, it would definitely be my one and only son’s (who will be turning 21 soon) baby-photo album, still neatly packed away in its box. It’s filled with irreplaceable pictures, his handprints and footprints, and drawings and memories that I will forever hold close to my heart. Also stored beneath that album in the same box are all our primary personal documents. As for the rest of the stuff… it’s all replaceable! It’s safe to say that without Samantha, VISI’s inimitable managing editor, you probably would not be holding this (or indeed any) issue of the magazine in your hands…

THE FIRST GLANCE, THE ARCADIA LOOKS LIKE A HOUSE – a very striking house, but a house nonetheless. Architecturally assertive and sculptural, it even stands out among its Fresnaye neighbours – a collection of imposingly big properties one wouldn’t exactly classify as retiring daisies. According to its architect Roberto Forte, whose firm Forte Architetti is based in Sicily, with additional offices in Milan and Cape Town, that was the goal. “The brief from my client at Axis Property Group was clear,” he says. “He wanted a luxury residential complex that wouldn’t read as just a regular block of flats. Each of the five units had to be unique, but still needed to present as a whole.” Additional requirements from the client were that future residents enjoy absolute privacy from one…

RELOCATING FROM PIETERMARITZBURG TO CAPE TOWN in 2018 was something homeowner Karin de Klerk had always dreamed of doing. But it also provided the perfect opportunity for her as a developer, working with her daughter Elzanne le Roux-Preis – who is an interior designer – to mastermind a light-filled sanctuary in which to live. From the start, Karin says, it was all about striking a balance – between light and dark; sophistication and ease; minimalism and richness – and this is something this top-floor, three-bedroom apartment in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront has definitely managed to do. Undertaking the total revamp of her newly acquired apartment was exciting yet a trifle daunting, says Karin. “I knew I just wanted a place I could feel relaxed in, something modern that shows off…

WIN WITH THE PAUSE ROOM The Pause Room is giving away a vintage-style wall hanging and three cushions by HOT COFFEE, valued at more than R4›900. Printed on natural fabrics, Hot Coffee creations are available exclusively via The Pause Room online, or at any of its three Cape Town-based shops. VISIT VISI.CO.ZA/WIN TO ENTER. SHOP START Have you browsed VISI’s online shop? Visit shop.visi.co.za to make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive offerings, from pendant necklaces made exclusively for VISI to handmade ceramic tableware. ›E ›S›D YOU ON››E: ›HERE IN YOUR HOME DO YOU MOST ENJOY SPENDING TIME? More than 1›000 of you took our poll to let us now. Here are the results: 33% Living room 32% I prefer to spend time in the garden, on the patio…

“ Buildings that resemble vacuum cleaners, refrigerators and rocket ships.” That is how Cape Town architect Robert Silke simplifies the Art Deco aesthetic. Living in an Art Deco building himself – the Holyrood apartment block in Queen Victoria Street, built in 1938 – Robert is a passionate proponent of the movement that infiltrated art, fashion, jewellery, automobiles, furniture and architecture in the years between the two World Wars. His first major project was to turn one of Cape Town’s most recognisable buildings of this style, the Old Mutual building in the CBD, into an apartment block. The reinforced-concrete structure, clad in granite, holds another telltale Art Deco signature: stylised scenes and motifs on the façade – these portraying African indigenous cultures, carved into the stone. Art Deco got its name…

“What’s home got to do… got to do with it? Who needs a home that will always be broken?” I can’t help singing those words in my head as I ponder the idea of what home could possibly mean to me. For six decades I have had the sense that Cape Town wasn’t really the place where I was meant to be born, because I’ve never ascended to roots or rest. I questioned God about this and I’ve yet to get a reply. Always when I thought, “This is it, this is home,” there was something pushing me through that space. And even my chosen profession of journalism – I just wrote for years every day, put my life on the line while the heart broke. Psychologists would say this…

HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN REPEATEDLY PAST AN OLD house in your neighbourhood that you find deeply interesting, looking at it carefully each time and thinking, “I wonder who lives there… What would I do if that place were mine?” Certainly very few will have actually pushed ahead and persuaded the property’s current owner to part with it, then undertaken a major renovation. But that’s precisely what interior designer Charlotte Collins managed to accomplish. Having become fascinated with this beautiful heritage home, several years ago she finally persuaded its elderly owner to part with it. It may have needed much work, but Charlotte could see the potential. And then there was the home’s hard-to-beat location. Situated across the road from historic Leeuwenhof, the official residence of the premier of the Western…

“IT’S A GREAT HOUSE TO WAKE UP IN every morning, and a great house to dwell in,” says interior designer and artist Lisa Twyman of her home. “It makes you feel free, positive, motivated, excited.” Lisa and husband Will Haynes fell in love with the plot situated in Salt Rock, on the Indian Ocean coastline north of Durban, because of its geography – so much so that the build became very much about the garden. “We did not want to impose on it or mess up the flow of it too much,” she says. “During the first few years that we lived here, any extra budget was spent on the garden and planting.” ADDING TO THE HOME’S RADICAL OPENNESS IS ITS STRIKING CENTRAL COURTYARD. The key principle for Lisa and…

“We wanted this space to be a special place to connect with nature and make memories with friends and family,” says Keri Paddock, who together with husband Sam (founder of GetSmarter and JEFF Fitness) and toddler twins, Violet and Fletcher, makes every effort to spend as much time as possible at India House on Kerala Estate. Home to the elusive Cape leopard, caracal, duiker, buck and impressive birdlife, this private reserve boasts access to spectacular mountain hikes and trails, and proximity to the Witte and Bastiaanskloof rivers. “We say the water has magical properties because we always feel so fantastic after a swim,” Keri says of the picnic-perfect river frontage just 150 metres from their door. After purchasing the Bainskloof Valley property two years ago, the couple tasked Bridget George…

The arid, semi-desert landscapes of the Karoo are an acquired taste. This is a place where extreme harshness – scorching heat on summer days, icy cold on winter nights – coexists with the delicate beauty of plant life, and where the bone-dry air is scented with dust yet still clean and crisp. Sunrise and sunset are soft and subtle, the land stretches seemingly endlessly to the distant horizons, and the sky feels somehow higher above than it does elsewhere. This is also a region renowned for its mohair. The mohair fibres produced by the angora goats of the Karoo are some of the best in the world, and prized around the globe (most especially in the textile centres of Italy and Japan). And designer and rug maker Frances van Hasselt…

The much-anticipated new Land Rover Defender makes its debut – and has some venerated hiking boots to fill. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That was pretty much the scenario facing Land Rover’s design team when coming up with a replacement for a car that had, over the past seven decades, become a cult classic. Change too much of the revered Land Rover Defender’s DNA and its die-hard fanbase would be up in arms – but change too little and you risk an instant anachronism, out of sync with the versatility required of a modern offroader. A change was desperately needed. The outgoing Defender remained basically unaltered since its launch in 1948 and, while its suspension, drivetrain and interior were slowly upgraded over the ensuing 68 years, by…

Your evocative works are seen around the globe, with your street-art pieces holding a strong social commentary and meaning. Is this theme extending to your studio work and your transition into fine art? The works always flow over into one another and inform each other. Often there will be one theme that flows over from public work to a new media work to a painting, and references and links between them. Next year at my solo show in Cape Town, the works will be in different mediums. I’ve done a whole series on the streets of Johannesburg connected to that show. I like the feeling of being able to be quite expansive and explorative. What is it like to be the first female voice in the Hennessy collaboration – especially…

VISI’s first encounter with Puleng Mongale’s work was via her socio-political series “When The Madams Are Away, The Help Will Slay” (2016), a meditation on blackness and the remnants of a past that most prefer to gloss over. In her latest works – a series of compelling self-portraits – Puleng’s focus is on the idea of “home”: she presents herself adorned in traditional Basotho attire, against backdrops that evoke feelings of nostalgia. We spoke to her to find out more about her process. How did your journey with art begin? Growing up, I used to express myself through my appearance. In high school, I fell in love with writing, and went on to study English and communication science at varsity in the hope of becoming a writer. After graduating I…

How did you became interested in building? I have always been obsessed with spaces, both internal and external. Even as a child, I was daydreaming of renovations and perfect rooms. There’s a lot of building history in my family too: my late father was a master builder. I guess it runs in the blood. Why did you start your website, SAbauhaus? There is a lack of practical information about building a house in South Africa. The website covers what I’ve learnt over seven residential projects, especially what works and does not work – from the perspective of someone who ends up living in the house. I also want to tell people that building, although not stress-free, is still achievable. If I could do it, so can you! What is the…

LUCIE DE MOYENCOURT Paris-born artist Lucie de Moyencourt captures scenes around Cape Town to express her passion for the city. Her black-and-white ink works feature favourite spots, from the Sea Point promenade to the Grand Parade. luciedemoyencourt.com | @lucie.in.wonderlands JOH DEL Illustrator and graphic designer Johan de Lange, aka Joh Del, creates brilliantly detailed botanical illustrations of indigenous flora, as well as whimsical, imaginative scenes. johdel.com | @joh_del Known for its beautiful wallpapers, the Cara Saven brand was launched in 2006, and specialises in designer wallcoverings, canvases, vinyls and framed prints. With a focus on perfect printing, Cara’s aim from the beginning was to put striking, large-scale imagery onto walls without compromising on the quality of the prints. Featuring some of South Africa’s favourite artists on walls outside of frames means that…