Design Team hits the sweet spot

Three cheers for The Design Team duo Amanda Haupt and Lise Butler who’ve done it again with a playful new collection called Young at Heart, available through Black Fabrics.

And while the ranges are generally aimed at decorating children’s rooms, we’re prepared to bet that any adult with a sense of fun is going to fall for them. Once again, they’ve captured some unique South African themes in their innovative designs and colour combinations.

There are more than 190 samples in the latest collection.

First up is a retro boyish book, with a simple car print called Retro Road sure to be the star of the show. In an interesting twist, Design Team is now producing some of their designs on waterproof fabrics and they’ve produced a Retro Road umbrella that is a must-have for next summer.

The second book is more feminine, with plenty of egg shell blue and pink to satisify the commercial market. For the quirkier customer, a life-size kewpie doll print is already a huge success – look out for the walls at Big Blue – and it’s also available in a number of colour ways.

The Design Team has clearly made a decision to take their business up a notch, moving into the business of creating colour-coded books and ensuring that all their distinctive signature prints are accompanied by some simpler base cloths to complete the look.

“We want to move on from being used only as feature pieces,” Amanda said at the launch in Kramerville on Wednesday. The prices of the fabrics remain great value, starting at R210/m and wallpapers at R270/m. Some of their products have even come down in price.

Other big news is that The Design Team is setting up a shop at their Pretoria showroom, hoping to attract visitors to come and watch their teams at work and buy some one-off prints and pieces from their new furniture range. And watch out for their international-inspired range due out later this year – we’re sure they’ll give Paris and Istanbul the unique Design Team treatment.

More information: www.designteamfabrics.co.za