A designer to watch, and a watch that’s all about the design
● African time used to be a poor excuse for latecomers, but there’s no reason for tardiness with the arrival of a range of proudly South African watches inspired by the soul of our cities.
Called Nkarhi, the collection was launched at museum-meets-retail space True Story, in Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton on Thursday evening.
The event drew a chic crowd ranging from radio presenter Zizo Tshwete and actress Rami Chuene to a designer name you need to remember: Palesa Mokubung.
The launch was hosted by Mampho Brescia, who will have a tough decision to make later this year when the ninth Rugby World Cup happens in Japan. Will she wear the Springbok or the Land of the Rising Sun colours, considering she’s the Brand Japan ambassador for SA?
On to the event, and Mampho introduces us to the brains behind the business, Thembani Marhanele and Elmond Khoza.
Elmond comes up to tell us how he came up with the idea, explaining that he’s had a love/ hate affair with watches. With his dad being a watchmaker, he had no excuse for turning up late, but it did pique his interest.
The engineer, who owns a solar company, says he got the idea to create his own brand of watches five years ago.
“Timepieces are the nexus where luxury, engineering and true art merge,” he says.
As for the designer you need to know, this week Palesa was named as the first African designer to collaborate with Swedish fast-fashion brand H&M, joining an esteemed list of names including Karl Lagerfeld, Kenzo and Balmain. Palesa, who has been quietly designing inimitably African designs that celebrate women for over a decade, says she’s relieved to be able to finally share the news. “I’ve had to travel in secret [to the retailer’s Stockholm HQ for meetings], design and create fabrics in secret,” she tells me. The collaboration will be available not only in local stores but also in selected stores from the US to Chile, and the UK to Israel, come August. Can’t wait!
Back to those timepieces, and they’re available at Tall Story as well as online. The black-and-gold design, called City of Gold, is inspired by the grand old mining town of Joburg, and Capital, which sports a red strap and a white watch-face, draws its inspiration from Pretoria.