Passion personified

PHOTOS: Dook | PRODUCTION: Annemarie Meintjes, Klara van Wyngaarden | WORDS: Andrea Vinassa

One on One is an innovative concept store that has opened in the recently refurbished Parktown Quarters in Parktown North.

Step into the cool interior of One on One and you are transported into what feels like a Vermeer or Rembrandt painting – all dark, broody tones of grey, green, black and rust.

Designed by architect and co-owner Joe van Rooyen, the shop is situated directly beneath his architectural practice and is connected to it by a grey, industrial staircase. Raw brick and concrete pillars are juxtaposed with archways covered in gold leaf, and the room is dominated by a set of metal struts salvaged from a railway bridge in Vanderbijlpark, the standard-issue rust paint flaking and peeling to create a visually intriguing patina.

The store provides an evocative setting for the antique furniture that forms the bulk of its wares.

Co-owner Riaan de Villiers is a bit like a child in a sweet shop. A bean-counter by profession, he left corporate life to open an antiques shop filled with extraordinary pieces from Europe and England. Most, imported with great difficulty in massive containers, date back to as early as 1800 and are fashioned from cherry wood, pine and chestnut.

Designed by master craftsmen, they are heavy and show the marks of time: a colonial shop cupboard from Spain dating back to 1900; a farmhouse kitchen cupboard from Portugal dating back to 1900; a gypsy chest dating back to 1853 and a glazed school cupboard from central Europe dating back to 1880 are just some of the gorgeous pieces on offer.

One-of-a-kind items

The shop stocks only one-of-a-kind items, hence the name, and customers can expect one-on-one service from Riaan, who is barely able to contain his passion and enthusiasm for the new venture.

‘A few years ago Joe and I travelled to South America. While visiting antiques shops in Rio de Janeiro, we realised there might be a market for good quality imported antiques in South Africa. The criteria is that we will only put pieces in the shop that we would put in our own home,’ he explains.

The most striking thing about the scale of the pieces is that they are oversized yet elegant, each with a sense of heritage and an imposing presence. Sourced with the assistance of an agent in Europe, One on One stocks pieces from Holland, Portugal, Belgium, France, Germany and Eastern Europe. The good news is that a new container arrives every two months.

Riaan points out a bookshelf salvaged from the archives of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam when the information they had stored was put onto microfiche. ‘These are the original cast-iron bookshelves with shelves of slate,’ says Riaan.

Another notable piece is the chandelier that came from a convent in northern France and stands roof-height in its crate on the floor. Built in 1840, the convent was converted into a hotel in 1940 and was recently gutted to make room for apartments. A duplicate of the chandelier was made along the way, and Riaan was lucky enough to lay his hands on both the original and the copy.

Expect to find antiques and contemporary pieces, chandeliers, mirrors, candelabra, bookshelves, dining tables and chairs, wooden butcher blocks, standing lamps, vases, silverware – and even dog sofas. The range is exclusive and limited, and a few items, such as the glass and wood trestle tables, can be specifically ordered and sourced.

• One on One: 011 880 4949, riaan@1on1antiques.co.za, www.1on1antiques.co.za