Cape Dutch now!

Creative director Tracy Lynch travels across the Peninsula in search of Cape Dutch and the Delft revival, discovering several leading local designers en route and inspiring her NEW HERITAGE decor feature in the SPRING FLING edition of VISI.

There is a growing demand for living environments that form an integral part of a person’s personality, fitting like a “third skin”, enabling people to be who they want to be. In line with this thinking, a strong emerging trend in decor is the theme of the “historian” who, according to the Heimtextil Trend Preview 2013/2014, is seen as “a treasurer of the past, seeking value and discovering ways to make history relevant to contemporary life”.

It was this statement from Heimtextil that inspired me to look at who and what is driving South African design today. Heritage seems to be a constant and relevant source of inspiration. The Cape Dutch style is unique to the Cape, and the architecture and decor that fills its historical buildings are providing inspiration for design personalities that in turn inspire me.

The images I share here are a visual celebration of an aspect of Cape Town’s unique history that has been reinterpreted by several creative personalities that live in and love the Mother City. I have chosen to highlight the work of David West, Kurt Pio, Michael Chandler, Deon Viljoen, Karen Roos, Cecile and Boyd’s, Gregor Jenkin, Jacques Erasmus and Haldane Martin.

David West

Award-winning fashion designer David West’s Holbol Collection is a clothing range inspired by Cape Dutch Gables. The garments were first shown in 2009 at the Whatiftheworld Gallery in Cape Town. Pieces from the Holbol Collection were specially reworked in 2010 for Salon Locale at Koopmans de Wet Huis. Finally they were sent to Amsterdam in 2011.

After a six-year hiatus from the local fashion scene, David’s collection employed his signature wit in exploring new frill ideas in nylon knits and traditional shirting. Informed by Cape Dutch architecture, this collection celebrated hand-me-down Eurocentricity made uniquely Capetonian – rundown houses of Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Flats sports club tracksuits and schoolgirl uniforms are all fused through phantom, grandiose ornamentation.

Kurt Pio

Artist Kurt Pio works mainly with themes relating to our country’s Dutch, English and French colonial past. He’s fascinated with the furniture and architecture styles they brought to the Cape and how that furniture and architecture was translated using European styles and African materials and craftsmanship.

His work looks at the colonial past and questions whether we, in the “new” South Africa, frown on our past and what these different colonies brought to our country, or if we celebrate our past in terms of the infrastructure this colonisation created for us.

Deon Viljoen

Deon Viljoen is a leading Cape Dutch expert with a keen interest in local and current design. He curated the exhibition Manet Is Too Tight to Mention at the WhatiftheWorld gallery in Woodstock in November 2010. The show combined pieces dating back to the 18th century alongside modern designs. The startling freshness of these combinations served to revitalise the antiques and lend them new cachet as devices in a contemporary decorator’s arsenal. Deon now runs a gallery in Stellenbosch, where you can see this dynamism at play.

Michael Chandler

While Michael Chandler was studying art history at the University of Cape Town (UCT), he began working at Stephan Welz & Sothebys – a prestigious fine and decorative arts auction house. Spending every day examining and cataloguing beautiful things, Michael learned an enormous amount about design over the past 400 years and was snapped up as a research assistant to Deon Viljoen (the leading expert on 18th, 19th and 20th century Cape Visual and Domestic History mentioned above). Deon’s passion for early Cape furniture and Dutch trade pieces quickly seeded itself in Michael, and this is easily recognisable in the work that Michael does today.

Deon approached Michael “to find a solution to upholstering a fabulous set of eight Cape Stinkwood dining chairs, circa 1810. Georgian English in taste, but made in the Cape, they are a wonderful example of a Cape interpretation of an English style that had just reached its zenith.” The result was embroidery inspired by shards of pottery that Michael has collected during walks on Table Mountain.

In July 2010, Michael started a small design studio – Chandler House – and his work is largely associated with these interests. Michael is currently doing research into arts and philosophies, and has great ambitions to contribute towards a revival of all things Cape.

He says: “The Cape has such a rich and unique history of design and interiors that it is only starting to be tapped now. The fulcrum between the West and the rest, which Cape Town straddled, juxtaposed and wove all sorts of different pieces into its own unique song.”

It is this siren song that has Michael designing wallpapers inspired by 18th-century Imari Vases – crockery that gives a nod to the pepper trees at Kersefontein and tea cloths printed with Vergelegen’s orchard layout. And he seems to be having fun doing it.

Michael’s beaded pieces, such as the reworked chandelier in the shapes of antique brass pendant, relieve us of the bead fatigue we have from the glut of beaded crafts sold on the side of the road.

For Mandela Day 2012, Michael joined a group in Delft, Cape Town, to help paint houses in bright colours with paint sponsored by Plascon. They “decided to bring a touch of blue-and-white Delft to our local Delft. The locals really loved the work as much as we did painting them. Happy Birthday Tata Mandela!”

Jacques Erasmus

So much more than a poet, Jacques Erasmus is an artist, a designer, a stylist, a chef, a baker, a curator and creator of all things beautiful, and Hemelhuijs is his home from home. It is in this welcoming, beautiful restaurant – which serves as a showcase of all that Jacques does so exceptionally well – that you will be able to experience, in some small measure, the passion of a man obsessed with beauty in all its myriad forms.

Karen Roos

One of the best-preserved werfs (farm yards) in the Cape Dutch tradition, Babylonstoren was founded in 1690, and the manor house dates to 1777. Today it has been reworked as a destination hotel, with a farm garden that pays homage to the Cape’s historical supply gardens, and places today’s farm revival trend and organic consciousness top of mind.

The interiors were designed by Karen Roos, former editor of Elle Decoration, South Africa. Karen used Plascon’s Canvas White in the hotel rooms. You can find her design-related posts on the Babylonstoren blog.

A Delft mosaic in the garden is inspired by Cape Dutch pottery, which also puts you in mind of the Delft carpet design by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders for Moooi.

Cécile and Boyd’s

Under the creative direction of Cécile and Boyd’s, the Hout Bay Manor hotel is now a bravely refreshed beauty. The 1871 Cape Colonial landmark has transformed the way we use colour, by allowing it to reflect the multi-hued cultural vitality of South Africa’s people. An otherwise dated colonial look is made contemporary through African reinventions of traditional decor techniques.

Haldane Martin

Haldane Martin’s Riempie furniture collection was inspired by early Cape Dutch furniture. The lines and proportions have been simplified for a more contemporary look. The traditional leather thongs have been replaced with more durable, colourful, recycled plastic. The timeless Malaysian rattan pattern has been scaled up to amplify its beauty. Visit Haldane’s website for more information and to see his entire collection. It is worth the visit!

Gregor Jenkin

Gregor Jenkin’s Turned Table collection is an unexpected mix of delicately turned legs with steel tops. The slim legs are a contemporary interpretation of a classic Cape Dutch table design.

Originally published on the Plascon Trends website. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @Plascon – we do!

Celebrating the Delft theme of the new SPRING FLING edition of VISI magazine, we have published a full Delft trend report online.

More from the SPRING FLING edition of VISI

• New and second-cycle
  Renovation and interior design is seldom a stagnant, once-off affair. The best spaces grow into themselves. See the before pictures of the houses featured in the magazine.

• Deft blue strokes
  Fabric, surfboards, shacks… Something is afoot, and not just in South Africa! From Babylonstoren to Russia, browse our full Delft trend report.

• Popcorn architecture
  We have inspiration from the Architecture ZA 2012 Biennial Festival to share. Watch our online film festival and read our report back.

• Mechanical futurism
  Some say steampunk is what happened when Goths discovered brown. Others say it grew out of a literary genre. Explore our steampunk trend report.

• Joburg Art Attack
  For at least one week in September, Joburg was hit by an art attack. Read the post-mortem and our guide to starting an art collection, written by the experts.

• Winning wishes
  In October, Warren Lewis will be giving away four paintings. Up for grabs over October and November is a Bodum Bistro Coffee Maker from Banks Kitchen Boutique. Enter the competitions here.