Nostalgia and order
No matter where she spends her holidays, Cillié always loves coming home. “I love beautiful things and orderliness, and my house has both,” she says.
“I believe everything should have its own place. The old school cupboard in my kitchen, a birthday present from Andries, has a bunch of cubbyholes inside – he knew it was right up my alley; it doesn’t get more orderly than that!”
A sense of nostalgia pervades all her precious items. “When I set my table, I use napkins that belonged to my granny Cillié de Wet; my mom Jacomi van Rooyen embroidered them. And I have a wooden cabinet with glass doors that my granddad Johannes bought on auction in 1956; I’ve had it since I lived in a flat. I even have a postcard of an old house in my hometown Montagu in the Little Karoo on one of my walls.”
Strong, bright colours are part and parcel of Cillié’s unique style. “Pastels are too bland for me,” she says. “If the room gets hot, I use cool colours such as green or blue. If it’s a cooler space, I stick to warm colours like red or yellow. I also use shades from rugs or paintings that appeal to me.”
Still lifes are changed regularly, such as when the seasons turn or during a celebration like Easter. “The contents of my frames are also changed frequently. I just ask my framer Philip Botha to fit new mounting boards. A beautiful mounting board can jazz up the simplest of pieces.”