COMPILED BY Gary Cotterell and Sarah Buitendach
Gregor Jenkin is an undisputed South African design icon. Over almost 20 years, his solution-seeking brain has turned our preconceived ideas of furniture-making, art and a local aesthetic on their head.
2004 – 2005
The “Skildpad” exhibition was my first show. I upcycled army surplus as a way of reinterpreting the banal. We then presented “Van die Stel” and introduced the Cape Table, which was sold abroad through the Conran Shop. That table has since been discontinued – but we have a new iteration that recently went into production. Set a Light also got people talking – it is a stack of enamelware assembled without any specialist tooling, and references Africana pieces, cash bowls and ornamental Cape standing lamps.
Antique dealer Deon Viljoen pushed my interests in a novel direction when we collaborated on “Kaapentry”, the contemporary furniture exhibition at Goodman Gallery in 2005. In those early days, Michael Chauke was an invaluable resource to me, in the same way that Allen Chamboko, Fortune Hwenha and Charles Ncube have been invaluable since 2009. And industrial designer Adriaan Hugo has always driven and challenged me; his input was key in the design of the Quaker Chair – our response to the Shaker chair.
2006 – 2007
The “Infrastructure” exhibition in 2006 was my way of alerting people to the infrastructure present in our cities that we often take for granted. In 2007, I introduced the Turned Table as an interpretation of heritage furniture – it is now our longest-running production piece. This is also when I started making furniture with artist William Kentridge.
2008
The printer’s tray-inspired Foundrie Table and Cuckoo Clock were exhibited at Southern Guild’s first show at the Joburg Art Fair in 2008. The Foundrie Table is still in limited production.
2010-2012
In 2010, I created the Migrant/Migrate tables with Peter Gerber. Designed to stand as a herd, the wildebeest-like creatures are a comment on South Africa’s long history of migrant labour and colonisation. They formed part of the display at Design Miami in 2011. Through Southern Guild, I was the first designer from Africa to exhibit at the acclaimed US fair. The following year, I won the Design Foundation’s Icon Award. I was honoured to win it again in 2017; that same year I also took home the 100% Design South Africa Designer of the Year Award for our display “Still Things Move”.
2016
Throughout my career, I have made pieces inspired by incidental form and utilitarian architecture. These range from fireplaces to sculptures and even wardrobes. An example is Anvil, which I made for Tonic Design’s interior scheme for the Virgin Active Collection health club at the Silo District in Cape Town.
2017
I’ve worked on many interior projects over the years, including The Golden in Woodstock (in partnership with Cameron Munro and Justin Rhodes). In 2017, my team and I furnished the tasting room at Twee Jonge Gezellen and, with Charles Haupt of Bronze Age, created the bar for the space. More recently, we were commissioned to do work at La Petite Colombe in Franschhoek with Clift Granite.
2021 – 2022
SMAC Gallery represents my sculpture and artworks. Boland (2022), Rome wasn’t built in a day (2021) and Risen from clay (2021) are some of my current works that can be viewed at one of SMAC’s galleries. Last November, we presented an installation to celebrate the new BMW M5 at Southern Guild gallery, and Southern Guild continues to represent my limited-run and collectable design locally and abroad. “50 Years” is currently showing at Auto Atlantic in Cape Town. It includes work and images made as a personal response to BMW Motorsport’s 50th anniversary. Cars that we have built are also included in the presentation.
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