A creative force to the Manor born
● In the cavernous space beneath Marble on Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, Trevor Stuurman has had an exhibition running ever since the Joburg Art Fair.
The Zeitz Mocaa in Cape Town called and asked if they could collaborate for the fair and this is the result. It is an art exhibition, but also a manifesto; or a visual diary of his life one artwork at a time; or a testament to his fantastic taste; or a launchpad for his new business called The Manor, which is also just an extension of the way he has always been: a wellspring of creative ideas that find their full expression in an abundance of mediums.
If it sounds like a moveable feast, something you can’t quite pin down but makes perfect sense and seems to tap into the precise energy of the moment, it is. Because that is how it is with Trevor. What does he do? Everything. Intentionally.
He was one of Time magazine’s Next Generation
Leaders in 2021, his works appearing at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the Fashion Africa exhibition which moved from the V&A in London, and next week an exhibition in Paris.
This may be the new way of thinking about the world, about yourself, about identity, about work. By nature, he is completely collaborative.
“My home was always called the Manor. All my friends would come to visit me in Cape Town, and when I moved to Joburg it was a similar thing. All my friends are my collaborators. If you work with the same people, you develop your visual language and everyone understands it immediately. It’s important that you have people who can finish your sentences.”
We have ordered a salad, coffees and a smoothie from Freshly Ground downstairs on Keyes Avenue. They deliver the food to us at the exhibition, which is made up of works in Trevor’s collection and dotted with his furniture. It is his home.
“It’s almost like this year I am speaking in my own language. I don’t have to translate,
it’s like first-hand. Here it’s like my free self. It’s growing up and you see things through a different lens.”
Trevor has been like this since he was a kid growing up in Kimberley with the other wunderkind Thebe Magugu, the designer.
“Growing up in Kimberley was the best thing for me. The only time we travelled was going to my grandmother’s in North West and the occasional visit to Joburg. I think it was like a blank canvas. It was inspiring because you had to fill in so many blanks, so it gave you so much space to be creative because you were not overly stimulated.
“There were not a lot of inspiring spaces. Thebe and I knew each other since before we could even read or write, so we just had each other and our like-minded friends and we were able to create a community — and newspapers, magazines, music videos were the only portal into understanding there was another world out there.
“Now we find ourselves in spaces that we would dream about, and you see all these characters in Joburg that you grew up looking up to and at that point you did not even know who did what, you just saw fabulous people and you just imagined yourself in that circle.
“I think that is where the power of fashion steps in, because it transcends everything and communicates so much: proximity to power, proximity to opportunities. The freedom to dream is a very empowering thing.”
He studied film at AFDA in Cape Town. “Cape Town was like a bridge to Joburg, because coming from a very small town you need a launching pad. But Joburg was always the final destination in my head.”
He entered the Elle Style Reporter competition, which he won. “I had the same type of work ethic in my tertiary studies that I had in high school. I did absolutely everything and I started a blog documenting the street culture. Those spaces at the time were almost like runways. That’s where you would see everyone decked out in their Sunday best and they just had the most elevated expressions of themselves.
“The competition was my breakthrough into the industry. It was the moment I became a professional creative, because before that I was just creating for the sake of self expression and just wanted to document the culture, the passion, the people. They introduced me to the practical application of storytelling.”
His first international trip to London for the Burberry show was an epiphany. “I was able to witness excellence at the highest level and it unlocked something in your mind. It allows you to aspire to excellence in everything you do, in the most simple things like an Insta story, to every single execution, how I put myself together, how I plan a holiday. It makes me intentional about every moment. The simple exercise of waking up becomes creating a special ritual, aspiring to excellence in every pursuit and not leaving anything to chance.”
Now he is building — or rather manifesting — The Manor. It could be a publication, or an experience, or a collaborative artists’ residency, or a platform for events and experiences. Whatever it becomes, it is an organic extension of the creative force that is Trevor Stuurman.
“It’s about institutionalising all my efforts, because I do so many different things, and sometimes when you do so many things your efforts get lost in translation. I guess when there’s a governing body, or a property outside of your name, that solidifies your presence beyond yourself.”