SOUL SEARCHING
Galia Gluckman pared back her mid-century house in order to display collections of artwork and furniture that tell a very personal tale
Collections of artwork, ceramics and furniture bring personality to a South African home
With its collections of paintings, ceramics and mid-20th century pieces, there is a wonderfully layered feel to the Cape Town home Galia Gluckman shares with her husband, Gary, and children, Ella, 13, and Levi, 10. ‘I think the trick is that we have acquired things slowly, and often in a creative way,’ explains Galia, who is an artist. ‘Much of what we own tells a story.’
The Gluckmans bought the property two years ago, having decided to move from Constantia to the mountainside suburb of Oranjezicht to be closer to their children’s school. The house was built in the 1940s but it had been altered a number of times over the years. ‘Decorative columns had been added to the facade in the 1980s and they didn’t really fit in, plus the layout needed simplifying,’ Galia recalls.
Although Gary doesn’t have any formal architectural training, he is adept at reconfiguring interiors and, together with Galia, he drew up plans to improve the flow of the house. Walls were knocked down to enlarge the kitchen and dining room, while
on the first floor, a slice of Levi’s bedroom was borrowed to replace a steep ladder with a new staircase leading to the second floor loft. ‘This is my studio, but it has also become a family room where we all hang out,’ explains Galia.
Before moving back to South Africa in 2010, the family had spent 13 years in New York, and the brownstone aesthetic was a strong influence when it came to renovating the house. The window frames and architraves have been picked out in dark grey while the floors, which were originally a mix of mustard-coloured screed and rosewood timber, were also darkened by recolouring the cement and staining the boards. ‘I’m not one to rip things out for the sake of it and unifying the flooring with one dark tone was all it needed,’ notes Galia. Similarly, she recognised the quality of the kitchen units and repurposed them in the new larger space.
As an artist, Galia works with colour all day long, but when it came to choosing the paint schemes for the rooms, she called on colour guru, Freya Lincoln. ‘Freya is very talented; she mixed all the colours for us,’ explains Galia. For the kitchen units,
they used a soft grey-blue while the dining room walls are a discreet light pink; the sitting room, meanwhile, has been painted a very pale shade of blue.
These subtle hues form the backdrop to Galia’s extensive collection of art, including her own vibrant works and creations by her mother. ‘One of my favourite pieces is the portrait she made of my dad in his tennis shorts,’ says Galia, who tasked her framing to a picture hanging service. ‘I think there is a lot of value in seeking professional advice when it comes to hanging art,’ she observes.
Like the family’s art collection, many of the pieces of furniture tell a story, such as the mid-20th century Danish dining table and chairs, which were inherited from Galia’s grandparents and remind her of childhood family meals, and the sitting room’s bench by TH Robsjohn-gibbings, a handsome design procured through a barter for one of Galia’s artworks. ‘I think that when you move a lot, you end up hanging on to the things you really love,’ notes Galia. She adds, ‘The house is always evolving. I am continuously looking for ways to improve it – that’s what I find most interesting.’