STEP INSIDE
Making waves at Milan Design Week, these products revealed SA’s talent, skill and cultural heritage to the world’s design lovers
South African design collective headed by awardwinning designer Thabisa Mjo, and supported by Nando’s, was received with much success at Milan Design Week this month, presenting work by almost 10 local designers. Titled Sacrosanct, the collection was a representation of our country’s handcraft heritage and diverse cultural identity, all set within a step-inside pod designed by Mjo. Exciting and unusual, these pieces celebrate our country through the beading, weaving, patterning and storytelling that make SA unique.
BEAD CRAFT
Tabisa Mjo’s Mash.T Design Studio’s Potjie Server was inspired by the potjie pot that her KwaZulu-Natal grandmother would use for celebratory occasions. Mjo elongated the round pot shape to form this oval server decorated with imagery of the KZN Midlands she recalls from her childhood. These inserts, all beaded by the Qaqambile bead studio in association with the Spier Arts Trust, talk to the cultural significance of storytelling through beading. The server has been hand-painted by collaborator Sakhile Cebekhulu in a pattern that represents the streets of Joburg, resulting in a furniture piece that highlights both past and present.
PATTERN PLAY
Meaning “rays of sunshine”, the Imitha Rug by The Ninevites continues founder Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg’s ode to indigenous local craft. It is made with 100% mohair from the Eastern Cape, and is woven in the Karoo, demonstrating the local materials and pool of talent available in our land. Taking the original black-and-white Imitha and filling it with colour to match the Sacrosanct exhibition, this new iteration is a further development of The Ninevites’ work that references the traditional patterns found in African baskets, pottery, murals and beadwork.
UNITY IN ACTION
Proof of SA’s collaborative design spirit, the Oromo Chair designed by Mpho Vackier of The Urbanative has been dressed in a colourful and bold fabric print by Lulasclan. The powder-coated steel chair is an example of The Urbanative’s afro-contemporary aesthetic, taking as its reference the organic lines of the hairstyle of the Oromo people in Jimma, Ethiopia, in the late 1800s. It is covered in Lulasclan’s bright Bantu Unity pattern, a design that celebrates the coming together of different people through its use of various shapes.
WEAVING SYMBOLISM
The Geometric Woven Mirror by Modern Gesture is a reminder of the tradition of weaving, as designer Candice Lawrence patiently weaves each piece by hand with wax cord. The shape created is inspired by her previous collection of Woven Necklace Lampshades that found its muse in beaded African jewellery, while the wooden ring symbolises wholeness and timelessness.
SHAPE AND FORM
The use of cork has become a signature of Wiid Design, and Laurie Wiid van Heerden’s African Cork Stools show off this recyclable, sustainable material in a light and dark option. The design of these stools, which can also be used as side tables, stems from the shapes of traditional African wooden neckand headrests. By reinterpreting such forms, Wiid takes ageold homeware into a new dimension for a contemporary home.
NEW AFRICA
When Agrippa Mncedisi Hlophe won the Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search 2018, it was for this Conti(new)ity design. At Sacrosanct, his hand-drawn pattern was turned into the fabric for a limited-edition tote bag. Representing continuity and unity through circular shapes, the dynamic pattern speaks to difficult turns in life from which one rises with strength. It’s an engaging new African print that encourages the belief in one’s abilities and dreams.