Welcome to Joburg’s Design mecca
ANSWERING the call for a consolidated design retail outlet and concept space, Always Welcome has opened in Hyde Park Corner – the country’s premier retail hub. Some of Africa’s greatest designers (as well as the need-to-know names breaking onto the scene) have come together to present a “dream house” of South African creativity.
The Always Welcome co-operative was founded by leading South African designers and manufacturers, in collaboration with Garreth van Niekerk and Alan Hayward from creative consultancy Coraltree Projects, who wanted the space to feel familiar, a place to kick back and unwind while perusing the best that the continent’s creatives and makers have to offer, including Trevor Stuurman, Dokter and Misses, Mash, T Design Studio and The Urbanative.
Located in the upper mall of the shopping centre, Always Welcome allows furniture makers, weavers, ceramicists, and photographers the opportunity to display their work as a collective in spaces designed to emulate living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and the like.
The interiors of these “nomadic retail” spaces were realised in partnership with luxury retail designer Stephen Klein of Klein Concepts, with branding and art direction by Vincent Truter, and in partnership with key local design groups such as Earthcote, Real Paint and River Fabrics.
Always Welcome’s showroom aims to represent the possibilities of a “dream house” built exclusively from local and continental design, with colours and lighting embracing the uplifting sense of renewed hope.
“It’s been an incredible journey working with some of the country’s most inspiring design minds to realise the dream of Always Welcome,” says says co-founder Garreth van Niekerk.
“The intention is for Always Welcome to take up residence in their Hyde Park Corner space for a minimum of seven months, beyond that we would love to be in a position to consider making this a permanent space, but we will cross that ‘welcome mat’ when we get to it.”
In addition, visitors can look forward to Always Welcome events, which are carefully designed to bring life to the space and engage new audiences.
From product launches, to event collaborations with other retailers in the same environment, to meetthe-maker talks, Always Welcome’s ever-changing programme will engage first-time buyers and dedicated design audiences alike.
SOUTH African motorists will likely be hit with yet another significant fuel price hike in March 2021 as international oil prices continue to climb. If current trends persist until month end, the petrol price is likely to rise by around 50c a litre, while diesel could go up by about 45c. This is the scenario portrayed by mid-month fuel price data from the Central Energy Fund. Although the rand is at its best level in about a year, international oil prices have risen at a faster pace, pushing past the $60 a barrel mark in February. | Jason Woosey
STAFF at Hotel Sky in Johannesburg’s wealthy Sandton district adhere to strict Covid-19 protocols, wearing masks and physically distancing from guests as much as possible; all, that is, except Lexi, Micah and Ariel.
For the three concierges couldn’t breathe germs on you even if they wanted to: they’re robots.
Robot hospitality is not new. Japanese hotels have been deploying them for years and in 2015 Tokyo’s Henn’na, or “Strange”, hotel became the first to be fully staffed by machines.
Several robot-staffed Tokyo hotels are now using them to serve guests with mild Covid-19 symptoms.
But Hotel Sky, which launched this year, is the first in Africa to use automated attendants, a concept that could cause a stir in a country with one of the world’s worst unemployment rates.
Unemployment is at 30.8%, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address on February 11.
“It’ll never replace people, but it is going to change the space,” Paul Kelley,
Hotel Sky managing director, said.
“I think that it is the future,” he said, adding that they planned to launch an off-shoot in Cape Town next month.
Lexi, Micah and Ariel deliver room service, provide travel information and can drag up to 300kg of luggage from the marble-floored lobby to the rooms.
If the hotel receives a guest with Covid-19 symptoms, the robots could be deployed instead of people as a precaution.
Steve Pinto, chief executive of CTRL Robotics, which supplies the droids, said they could also scan customers’ facial expressions to determine how happy they were.
“It helps management to understand how customers are experiencing hotel facilities,” he said, after getting a robot painted in a riotous orange and white pattern to take a selfie.
Reaction to the robots has been mixed. Even highly intelligent robots don’t always “get” what you want.
Hotel guest Ernest Mulenga said: “The human touch is still something that is appealing to me.”