A little humour, a lot of soul

PHOTOS: Dook | PRODUCTION: Annemarie Meintjies | WORDS: Jacqueline Myburgh Chemaly

Just like their famous Big Blue and Kitsch+Kool shops the home of Phillip Cronje and James Robertson is anything but serious.

It’s hard not to start smiling when you walk into a Kitsch+Kool shop. From the laugh-out-loud selection of books to the satirical T-shirts, the kitchen goddess aprons to the politically incorrect greeting cards, nothing is serious and everything hits the funny bone dead on target.

Yet, while the colourful array of gifts and clothes may seem like an accidental assortment of child-like fun, there’s evidence of a finely tuned sense of style and design in everything.

You have the same experience when arriving at the home of Kitsch+Kool owners Philip Cronjé and James Robertson.

Midrand is where you’ll find the craziest compound in Gauteng with some of the most exquisite attention to detail – if you look carefully.

Crazy and coloufrul

At the entrance, a series of termite-mound-like cement towers greet me and I assume I’m in for a North-African design experience of sorts. No such luck. James and Philip’s home is a crazy, colourful collection of design and decor styles that make it impossible to categorise – a little like their approach to fashion and gifting ideas.

Kitsch+Kool started life about seven years ago, at a time much like the present, when South Africans were not feeling overly cheerful about their country and the economy. “We decided to do something silly,” says James – and it worked.

Kitsch+Kool instantly developed a following for its irreverent look at life: Gifts were unusual, often risqué, but always in good taste. Whether it was silly bubblegum that promised no ugly children, or retro kitchen implements, you were almost always guaranteed to walk away with something unusual.

The two describe Big Blue as a clothing business – they don’t see themselves as being involved in South Africa’s extremely complex fashion industry. “We’re certainly not in it for the ego,” James stresses. As we enjoy tea on the stoep overlooking the dam on their eight-acre property, a supplier bursts in.

Her new summer pants had virtually sold out over the weekend and James and Philip had asked her to come up with more. She’s done the new prints and will turn the delivery around in two weeks.

I witness another side, the business end, of the apparently quirky shopkeepers who sleep beneath an original Tretchikoff, collect coloured glass and are in the process of constructing a massive glass conservatory in their front garden.

It’s an enviable lifestyle, this seamless integration of business and pleasure that James and Philip have chosen. Their home, office and warehouse are all on the same property. There’s even a guest house, decorated almost entirely with Philip’s collection of Afrikaner collectables, where suppliers who have spent all day brainstorming ideas with them can stay overnight.

We climb up the stairs onto the roof of the guest house and survey the plot with its crinkle-cut “Great Wall” surrounding the property. James crushes pink peppercorns from a tree between his palms and we all breathe in the spicy aroma while enjoying the chattering birdlife from the nearby dam.

The hustle of neon-lit shopping malls seems a million miles away and that’s probably why James and Philip are able to remain original in a world populated with “wannabes” and “me-toos”.

Trusting the gut, not the trends

Not for them the latest in modern decor and design; they simply don’t watch international trends or call on the experts. They prefer instead to trust their gut, collect the old and the eclectic, and to buy those pieces that tickle their fancy but which may mean nothing to someone else.

Philip is the collector-in-chief. His pride is the glass display case packed to the brim with Madonnas, dolls, ceramic bokkies – all exquisite specimens, since these guys don’t settle for second best.

James’ folly is ceramic bulls. He wouldn’t like his friends to start giving him bulls as gifts, though, because he, too, has quite specific ideas of what type he likes. “If the house burns down, I’ll grab my passport and this one,” he jokes, pointing to a 1970s-style turquoise blue bull.

Philip is also the retro furniture fiend and spends weekends at auctions and flea markets picking up pieces for home, as well as for their decor shop called The Blue Room in Linden.

James and Philip thrive on the richness of South African society, saying it is the virtual anarchy of our lives that inspires them. It’s also what makes their business work. “A place like Europe is too organised and comfortable, Here, if you keep your eyes and ears open, there is so much happening around us in terms of cross-cultural icons,” says Philip.

It is this clash of cultures that has presented James and Philip with much of the humour and all of the soul that fills their lives. You can see it throughout their home and, fortunately, we can all share a little bit through the fun and energy in their shops.  

• Kitsch+Kool and Big Blue Head Office (Midrand): 079 894 5039/59, www.bigblue.co.za, www.kitsch-kool.co.za