When Chris Weylandt and his team set off to revisit the Namibian landscape that inspired the iconic furniture and homeware brand, he wanted to reconnect with the place where it all started. What he came back with was the first chapter in a campaign that highlights the way forward: telling the many unique stories which shape the continent and its people.
Accompanying him on the trip, was a very special heirloom — a beloved occasional designer chair that Chris’s father, Edgar, had imported from Brazil in the 1960s. Travelling with the chair through the beautiful, rugged landscape of his youth became a reminder about everything that the leading furniture and homeware brand stands for. The patience to wait for something worthwhile. The awareness that a chair is more than just a piece of furniture — something embedded with emotion and gaining meaning over time.
And then the landscape — a landscape Chris had grown up in and enjoyed as the playground of his imagination. The muted tones of rock and sand forming an outline against the endless sky. The unpredictability of the Atlantic Ocean — both fierce and calm. The raw textures of nature’s perfect imperfections. Elements that inspired and informed the aesthetics which has made Weylandts the much-loved brand it is today.
To capture the vast natural canvases that served as backdrop for the brand’s story, Chris and his team collaborated with filmmaker Lebogang Rasethaba and photographer Anke Loots, allowing Chris to tell his deeply personal story in the inspiring places where it all started for him. For Chris, the essential elements of the brand are still the same today: respect for great design, the importance of simplicity, and the celebration of the raw beauty of natural material like wood, rope and leather.
Through sharing his personal journey, Weylandt hopes to inspire others to do the same and share the things they grew up with and with which they choose to surround themselves. As the campaign unfolds, the brand will be delivering similar stories from partners in different creative fields – from fashion stylists to chefs – offering a platform for people to reveal their personal narratives.
“I’m excited about the concept of storytelling,” says Chris. “I believe that by sharing our stories with one another we can inspire better ways of living. We invite people to join our journey and design their own story.”
For more information, visit weylandts.co.za.
