Cool Spaces: Always Welcome Heritage House

WORDS Michaela Stehr IMAGES Supplied

What started as a small idea for local design and retail at Always Welcome at Hyde Park in Joburg, quickly grew to include a Viewing Room, and now welcomes Heritage House in Cape Town to the stable.

Spanning over two floors of an 18th Century Heritage House on the trendy Bree strip, Always Welcome brings together a variety of local talent in homeware, furniture and product design. 40 of the top leading designers and creators present a striking collection of furniture, lighting accessories, and homeware under one roof.

Ranging from established design houses like Dokter and Misses, Houtlander, The Urbanative, Kino, and Mash.T Design Studio, to emerging studios full of promise like Neimil, Deft, Node, and Ananta Studio, the project pays homage to the stories and skills of the growing design collective’s unique diversity and creative styles.

All housed in a gently restored heritage site, the 1771 building has housed many creatives, from blacksmiths and tobacconists to makers and retailers. Today, guests can expect a carefully curated mix of items to adorn homes across the country, from the classic and traditional to the modern and contemporary. 

Always Welcome Merchandising and Operations Director Alan Hayward has set out since inception to see each Always Welcome store being imagined as a response to the context of the city where it is set and curated to feel like stepping into the home of a good friend. In display, the new Cape Town store brings together an eclectic mix of design and art from the collective that moves away from conventional gallery-style presentations into one that is welcoming and more familiar. “We want visitors to sit on chairs, appreciate artworks up-close, take their shoes off to feel the rugs on their feet, and make the experience of Southern African design a more humane, comfortable one for anyone interested in design,” Hayward explains.

“Following almost two years of requests from the design community in Cape Town for Always Welcome to open a store in the Mother City, we’re so happy to have finally found the perfect home for our designers,” says Always Welcome co-founder Garreth van Niekerk. “of course none of this would’ve been possible without them, and the support of our new partners in the city, the inspiring Habitus sustainable heritage developers, who believe wholeheartedly in the mission of Always Welcome to expand the possibilities of Southern African design on the continent.”

Find Always Welcome Heritage House at 108 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town.

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