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For one thing, good design doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be expensive; it just means whoever created the poor piece has been lazy and applied very little thought to its form and function. Even worse, if they have thought about it and it’s still a shocker… well, then perhaps it’s time to consider an alternate career plan. That all obviously begs the question: what defines a piece of design as “good”? I guess it’ll always be a subjective call, but legendary German industrial designer Dieter Rams pondered this at some length and ended up with a list of qualities he believed defined the key principles. Good design, said Herr Ram, should: be innovative; be aesthetic; make a product useful and understandable; be unobtrusive; be honest; involve as little design…

FOR YEARS, I LIVED MY LIFE at an unrelenting pace, never quite sitting still. Then the pandemic hit. Navigating countless emergency meetings and Zoom notifications, I had to reimagine my concept of home – and question, deeply, the life I wanted for myself. Over the past three years I’ve learnt that building a life you love is, by far, the most important act of design. A life you love means being intentional about how you show up for yourself. It’s choosing to build a life that’s deeply nourishing – not a life for show. It’s about coming home to yourself. I have a home filled with my favourite things. Every object has been carefully curated to tell a story. I’d bought my house shortly before my mom’s passing; in the…

× CAPE TOWN GIN ROOIBOS RED Launched in 2015, the award-winning Cape Town Gin & Spirits Company distils and bottles locally. Its Rooibos Red gin, infused with hand-picked organic rooibos, is vibrantly red in colour, and has the distinctive taste of rooibos, as well as a rich, earthy spiced flavour. Rooibos Red goes swimmingly with a good-quality tonic – or you can serve it in a negroni with equal parts vermouth and Campari. R299 | capetowngincompany.co.za × CAPE FYNBOS GIN CITRUS EDITION Cape Fynbos Gin is distilled in small batches and infused with more than 30 sustainably harvested indigenous botanicals, including wild dagga, buchu and honeybush. A† er distillation, the peels of orange, mandarin, lemon, lime and grapefruit are steeped in the spirit for seven days. The end result is…

× ART DECO by Norbert Wolf Prestel (2016) Written by an art historian, this book draws the reader’s attention to the emergence of Art Deco during the period between two World Wars, looking at the way it was influenced by massive industrialisation, and the concurrent emergence of groundbreaking movements in art, such as Cubism and Modernism. Beautifully designed to celebrate the style it describes and explores, Art Deco features hundreds of examples of architecture, interiors, jewellery and more. Wolf also looks in detail at Art Deco’s influence across Europe and its spread to the Americas and Asia in the first half of the 20th century, and finally goes beyond this era to the present day to explore Art Deco’s contemporary traces in various fields (including art and literature), so as…

IT WAS IN THIS ISSUE LAST YEAR that we reviewed this vehicle’s bigger sibling, the Range Rover -and we’ve now had a go in the sportier, more agile version: the Range Rover Sport. Originating from the pen of Jaguar Land Rover’s chief creative officer Professor Gerry McGovern OBE, the new Sport is, to quote the Prof, “closer than ever in terms of luxury to the Range Rover”. And what better way to test this statement than via an overnight road trip that samples some of the Cape’s very own luxury offerings? First stop was breakfast at The Silo Hotel, and a tour of its ultra-exclusive penthouse suite and celebrated contemporary art collection – an architecturally fitting start that complements the design philosophy behind the new Range Rover Sport. “Our latest…

VISI SMALL spaces ✖ CASA EN TRES RÍOS This small home in Culiacán on Mexico’s Pacific coast is, as its creators put it, “willing to be the simplest household in the neighbourhood”. Designed by architects César Béjar Studio, the narrow building is squeezed between two equally design-led properties, and represents an interesting response to its neighbours. Externally, it’s simple but bold, offering stark contrast to the colour, shape and texture of its fussier neighbours. Its solid mass appears to float between the adjoining walls, as if trying to find lightness in its condition of being heavy – but it also visually retracts to be slightly less visible and more private. The long, narrow house is built over three floors on a 330m2 plot, but has only one street-facing window. This…

IT’S A HOUSE, but only in the broadest definition of the term, says co-owner Sofia von Ellrichshausen of this structure in the foothills of the Andes mountains in central Chile. She and fellow architect and artist Mauricio Pezo have been sharing their academic and artistic lives for the past two decades, and together head up the internationally renowned art and architecture studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen. The couple built their new home in a secluded area surrounded by forest and freshwater channelled through small streams that come down from the mountains. Impressively big, it manages not to impose on its surroundings. “We call it a house, and it is our private home – but we also consider it a cultural centre, as it is meant for more than domestic use. It…

Smart Designs GamFratesi studio was founded in 2006 by Danish architect Stine Gam and Italian architect Enrico Fratesi. Their designs reflect tradition, and are embedded with unique stories, symbols and associations, always expressed in a minimalist way. gamfratesi.com | gebruederthonetvienna.com Be inspired, and share your coat-hanging solutions on Instagram, tagging visi_mag and am_visi.…

✖ MADS MOGENSEN PHOTOGRAPHER I always wanted the Foscarini Twiggy floor lamp, and recently we decided to get one for our home/studio in the Langhe area, south of Milan. It’s a simple, beautiful piece of design that gives offsmooth and brilliant light. I grew up surrounded by Danish Mid-century design (the late Børge Mogensen was my uncle – my father’s younger brother). The Foscarini lamp fits wonderfully with the minimalism of that golden period of Danish design; for me, it is a symbol of my life between Denmark and Italy. Mads photographed the unique, cloister-like Luna residence in the foothills of the Andes in Chile, on page 148. ✖ STU STOBBS FOUNDER AND CHIEF CREATION OFFICER AT MONKEYDONKEY CREATIVE AiGENCY Many great ideas have been conceived on the porcelain throne,…

'AND THIS POCKET is for the FL,” Angelo helpfully pointed out as he uncovered the small inner compartment set discreetly above the main pocket on my blazer. He had already guided me through the foldaway cuffs, the silk inner lining and the carnation stem holder. A blank stare might have escaped comment, but my innocence compelled me to enquire, “What?” Angelo stopped and surveyed me. A mischievous smile formed on the face of the usually taciturn tailor. “How old are you again?” he asked, before explaining why a gentleman might have need of a discreet pocket for his “French letter,” or at least its modern-day equivalent. And like that, as a 15-year-old, I was initiated into the charming world of bespoke tailoring. Angelo Meale was our family tailor, having made…

OF THE MANY RECENT JOBURG-TO-CAPE TOWN semigrants, there is one that will especially thrill any former City of Gold dweller who has transplanted their life to the land of promenade walks and mountain marvelling. Behind the Victorian broekie lace veranda of 87 Kloof Street in Gardens, you’ll find Tonic. The design studio, founded and headed by award-winning Philippe van der Merwe and Greg Gamble, has been a fortress of fine interiors and furnishings in Johannesburg for decades – and now they’ve headed south. A visit to the new showroom could make anyone feel disgruntled with their own home. Among the trademark sexy sofas, glossy servers, a sophisticated layering of items and materials, an exceptional eye for art and craft, and an always impressive use of colour, there is much to…

IT’S BASICALLY A SOUTH AFRICAN INTERIOR DESIGN MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. Take a brand like Always Welcome, whose collective approach showcases SA’s independent designers though their stores in Joburg and Cape Town; add that to interior design experts Andrea Kleinloog and Megan Hesse of HK Studio, who have long been champions of local design – and you can expect some retail design magic. Working with Always Welcome’s product designers, HK Studio’s curation is all about taking you on a room-by-room journey of southern African design, providing a fresh perspective on and context to the exceptional cra’ smanship and design of our local independent furniture, lighting and decor accessories talent. Located in a historic building in the Mother City’s Heritage Square, Always Welcome’s space has been enlivened by Robin Sprong’s wallpaper…

× ESSENTIAL EARTH GLOBAL “Sometimes it’s not the home itself that is small, but an area within it,” says Essential Earth Global’s Adrian Lombard. “An unused area below a staircase can be transformed into a home-office nook; a tiny spare room can have a dual purpose of home office and spare bedroom, using clever storage space and a futon or sofa bed that folds up easily when not in use.” PROJECT EX AMPLE: DE KLEINE PRINCE, PRINCE ALBERT “While this project in its entirety is a sprawling farmstead, there are moments within where space had to be maximised,” says Adrian. “For example, the Garden Suite is a small room, so the adjoining Leccino Stoep had to be a space that extended the suite, and was also able to serve many…

It’s an apartment of strong ideas – and one totally appropriate to its sought-after location: Paris’s 10th arrondissement has long had strong links with the performing arts in a tradition that dates back to the 18th century. With this in mind, architects Dev Gupta, Olivia Charpentier and Alexandre Goulet of GCG have combined colour and specific finishing details to create a space that revolves around the apartment’s beautiful reception room. “We have worked this space with a theatre-opera inspiration that’s reflected in the interplay of mezzanines and balconies,” they say. “The flow revolves around the central space, which offers fleeting views and perspectives of the other rooms.” Indeed, bathed in sunlight, the living room is the centrepiece of this beautiful design. It benefits from a triple volume animated by vertical…

FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, I’m a modest guy. I don’t care much for designer clothing or luxury brands. But as I began furnishing my new apartment, I made a discovery about myself. When it comes to furniture, I am a graduate of the Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane school of taste – because, honey, I like my furniture expensive! It all began when I purchased my beautiful beige three-piece Bonsai L-shape couch from Estora Home. True to 21st century norms, I had discovered the furniture makers on Instagram Stories – after the CIA read my mind about needing a couch and sent the post my way via an unsettlingly accurate algorithm, of course. Initially, I had planned on getting a simple grey L-shape sleeper couch as a fail-safe…

THE BRIEF WAS A SIMPLE ONE: “Use your creativity and the power of AI to design the hottest sneakers you can imagine, then create a brand and showcase it in an advert.” VISI partnered with “creative AiGency” MonkeyDonkey to run the competition across our digital channels, with the winner receiving a week-long mini online internship and AI branding with the crew at MonkeyDonkey. The AiGency’s founder Stu Stobbs was the judge, and of the entries received, Thato Scwebu’s came out tops. “I thought Thato’s entry stood out because she not only designed a beautiful and striking visual,” says Stu, “but she also incorporated AI into the product concept by designing a ‘smart shoe’.” Our winner Thato describes herself as “professionally a tattoo artist; aspirationally a multiplatform creative entrepreneur”. We fired…

NVERMARK IS THE TYPE OF RESIDENCE THAT MAKES ITS PRESENCE KNOWN to passers-by. Situated in the Cape Town suburb of Higgovale, its facade is distinguished by a pair of parallel cantilevered concrete planes jutting out authoritatively from the undulating skirt of Table Mountain. Seen from the road, the home’s wraparound floor-to-ceiling glazing disappears from view thanks to the floor and roof slabs’ four-metre overhang – a function that allows the owners complete privacy and a view that need not ever be interrupted by blind or curtain. Architecture nerds will no doubt see the influence of Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House, a Los Angeles landmark and a seminal building in the Modernist canon, which protrudes similarly from the Hollywood Hills over the cityscape below. Like Stahl House, Invermark is inherently site-specific, characterised…