WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Supplied

A new platform for KZN’s creative economy makes its debut at the Hilton Arts Festival. With its ever-evolving cultural influence, KwaZulu-Natal becomes firm ground for the KZN Art Fair, an independent, professionally curated exposition, co-founded by Lungelo Mkhize and Angela Shaw to form strong roots in the province.

The Making Ground exhibition serves as a spotlight for the excellence and ingenuity of KZN practitioners shaping contemporary South African material culture. Taking its name from the poem Dunes by A. R. Ammons, a meditation on the act of building something of value in uncertain conditions, the exhibition, created in partnership with Belgotex, is arranged across four curatorial themes: industrial, mythic, earthen and geometric exploration. The showcase includes pieces by The Ninevites, Siviwe Jali, Astrid Dahl, Studio Kalki, ifa crafted by the KZNSA Gallery, Mess by Kevin Boyd, Crooks Goods, Belgotex’s Pietermaritzburg-based YUDU brand, and others.

Belgotex, a proudly South African flooring manufacturer with more than 40 years of experience in the commercial and residential carpet industry, committed to circular design principles and environmental responsibility, brings to life a collaboration curated by Lauren Lockhart-Barker, design strategist of The Forgotten Flexible, and Angela Shaw, co-founder of the inaugural KZN Art Fair.

“They get it; Belgotex understands the connection between high-capacity production, creative innovation and the design sustainability that emerges when the two are brought together,” says Angela, describing why Belgotex is a logical partner for this collaboration. “South Africa has extraordinary creative talent, but talent alone is not enough; it needs a manufacturing base that can bring it to life at scale, with quality, and on home soil,” adds Lauren Lockhart-Barker.

This landmark exhibition can be viewed at the Memorial Hall at Hilton College for free from 7-9 August 2026. | kznartfair.com

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The post On Firm Ground appeared first on Visi.

WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Craig Ferguson

If you haven’t come across one before, a rain 101 skin is a decorative, interchangeable adhesive cover designed exclusively for rain’s 101 5G smart router. It allows you to customise your router’s look to match the interior decor of your home or office – and thanks to the skins’ modern, easy-to-apply-and-remove material, you can change them as often as you want. For some of our 12 talented young creatives, it was about creating a piece specifically for the device. For others, it was focusing in on elements of an existing piece of furniture or art.

Here’s the story behind each of the 10 skins in the rain | VISI collection. Visit rain.co.za for more info.

Kaylee Higgins, By John; Designer

Being quirky, colourful and joyful defines By John. How did that translate into your rain | VISI skin?

“I wanted the skin to be unapologetically By John, so I went straight for our signature bold pink-and-red stripe. It’s playful, eye-catching and recognisable. If you know By John, you’ll know it’s us before you even see the logo.”

How would you describe your approach to design? What inspires you?

“I just want to have fun! My goal has always been to spread joy through my designs, so I create pieces that I know will make people smile. Life is serious enough, and I think a home should feel happy. I’m inspired by bold colour, unexpected combinations and not being afraid to take risks.” | @byjohn_

Ndivhuho Rasengani; Visual artist and sculptor

What principles guide your work?

“My practice is guided by curiosity, care and a respect for materials. I try to understand what a material naturally wants to do before imposing a form upon it. Movement is central to my process: how bodies travel through spaces; how objects hold memory; how light transforms perception. I want to create work that’s considered and precise, while still leaving space for discovery and interpretation.”

How important is connection in your creative practice?

“Connection is fundamental to my work. I understand making as a conversation between the personal and the collective – between my experiences, the places I have lived, the people I have encountered, and the histories carried through materials and gestures. Heritage is not fixed or purely historical; it is continually reshaped through movement, migration and exchange.” | @r.asengani

Leah Rolando; Photographic artist

Your work explores colour, abstraction and, to a degree, illusion. What inspired the art you used for your rain | VISI skin?

“The skin itself became part of the brief. It’s a square format with an opening at its centre, so the artwork couldn’t be arbitrary; the composition had to hold itself around that area while still feeling intentional. I went back through a recent body of work, looking for a piece where the geometry would sit comfortably within that frame – and this image did. The abstract subject worked with the router’s format rather than fighting it, and its palette of blues, yellows and pinks felt right for rain. In a way, choosing it was its own act of composition: seeing an existing work through the constraints of a completely new surface.” composition: seeing an existing work through the constraints of a completely new surface.” | @leahrolando_art

Zinhle Sithebe; Illustrator

Storytelling is baked into your vibrant, characterful illustrations. What story are you telling through your rain | VISI skin?

“The design is called ‘Hold Space for Your Dreams’. It’s a reminder to practice compassion for yourself – to give yourself permission to slow down, be aware and protect your vision from self-doubt, using intuition to seek the things that spark joy in your life. The hands in the design hold the heart, which represents holding space for yourself and nurturing the things you care about while highlighting inner joy as the goal, represented as a sun motif in the centre of the design. I hope to encourage others to practise mindfulness and be intentional about pouring into themselves positively through imagination and play.” | @zee_feels

Bonolo Chepape, Lulasclan; Designer

Bold colours, patterns and thoughtful storytelling underpin Lulasclan. How did those qualities influence the skin you created for the rain | VISI collection?

“I see homes and personal spaces as a means of self-expression. They act as living archives of pieces, memories and parts of us that tell the story of who we are. With this skin, I created a design that remembers who I am as a visual storyteller, while inviting curiosity for the collector. I chose colour combinations that fit with how colour impacts our lives and influences our feelings. The tones drawn from nature are met with a considered playfulness that energises us and sparks a remembrance of our kindred nature. It’s a design that should complement other objects within an interior, creating a relationship that blends functionality and art, yet still holds a conversation of its own.” | @lulasclan

Nindya Bucktowar & Nikhil Tricam, Studio Kalki; Furniture designers, ceramicists and artists

Studio Kalki balances sculptural form (and oft en ceramics) with craft smanship. How did you translate that approach into a two-dimensional skin design?

“Ceramic surface design affords us the opportunity to create perceived depth through glazes and forms. In the case of the skin design, we took inspiration from our iconic Fynbos patterning, adding deep, translucent glazes to the forms. Each piece was then waterjet-cut and individually glazed, so that the sense of depth is emphasised.”

What ideas or influences sit at the heart of your design practice?

“We try not to be driven by trends or pure aesthetic appeal – rather, we aim for a sense of refi ned, craft ed authenticity and a celebration of the process of making. Our colours, forms and concepts are oft en inspired by natural elements or historical architectural principles, emphasising structural honesty and tactile engagement.” | @studio.kalki

Caitlin Warther & Wendy Dixon, Spectrum Mirror; Designers and artists

Spectrum celebrates luminous colours and alchemical processes. How did you approach creating a skin for this collaboration?

“When rain approached us, we knew pretty quickly that the mirror itself had to lead the design. What we do at Spectrum Mirror is work with gradient chromatic mirror surfaces. Those surfaces are endlessly alive – they shift and catch the light differently depending on the time of day, the angle, who is standing in front of them. The colour lives within the mirror itself, moving through tones as the light changes. So the real puzzle was how to bring any of that quality to a vinyl skin, which is pretty much the opposite of everything we usually work with.

“We went through many ideas that did not quite get there. What eventually clicked was surprisingly direct: we photographed the actual mirror panels and used those images as the design. There’s something we love about that solution – it goes all the way back to the source material. The result is quite simple but bold, which feels very us.” | @spectrummirror

Sipho Khwebula Twala, Khwebula Arts; Furniture designer

Your work celebrates traditional craft through contemporary furniture. How did you bring that philosophy to your rain | VISI skin?

“This piece combines Nigerian and southern African Nguni culture, using ancient Nigerian Nsibidi symbols for journey, and the popular Nguni diamond patterns and shields. It’s about Africans on a journey of discovering that together we can go far. And yes, craftsmanship plays a huge part in my creative process. It’s the heart and soul of my creativity, because when I draw a piece, I’m already building it in my head – and while drawing it, I’m also planning what machinery I’ll use to create a certain joint or pattern. When I design, I don’t just draw; I’m also planning the entire production process in real time. Part of being a good designer is learning and mastering the art of building your own designs.” | @khwebula

Ryan Olivier, Vitalli; Furniture designer

Vitalli’s work is known for its materiality, craftsmanship and sculptural forms. How did that manifest in the piece chosen for the rain | VISI skin?

“We decided to pay homage to pieces that feel most synonymous with the brand. By analysing these alongside our key brand pillars, we began to uncover the direction that would best serve the brief. We wanted to harness a feeling of familiarity while curating curiosity and delight. The challenge was translating that into a 2D format, because Vitalli pieces rely on light, shadow, tactility, form and presence to communicate the depth of the work. To overcome this, we turned to scale and abstraction, playing with form, rhythm and materiality.”

What are the core ideas that underpin your practice?

“Instinctive. Elemental. Authentic. Our pieces are familiar, as though they have always existed and are being rediscovered through an abstract lens. The work is rooted in nature and in an honest approach to materials. We celebrate the character of the materials we use, leaving our pieces unsealed so they gain a natural patina with age. The markings they gather tell the story of their journey through life, making no two the same. We respect the process and a slower, more intentional way of making. We design collectable heirlooms that get passed down through generations, rejecting the throwaway culture.” | @vitalli.design

Amy Rusch; Multidisciplinary artist

How would you describe your artistic language?

“At the moment, materially, I work with waste plastic packets and thread, discarded sails, ropes, rocks and sediment. I’m drawn to materials that might easily be thrown away. Plastic is the material of our time, if I think about time folded upon itself in stratigraphic layers. These materials coalesce into a language that I’ve grown to understand as a sort of vibratory translation process. The works become pieces that feel like ‘sound drawings’ or ‘fields of energy’ – tiny dots and lines of thread repeated to form interconnected surfaces. The thread feels like a tool for drawing, but that drawing isn’t limited to a surface mark – the mark extends through the layered plastic, and the works become sculptural, depending on the resolution you’re looking from.”

What inspired the work that you are using for your rain | VISI skin?

“The piece is titled ‘The wind inscribes – reverberations of a Kalahari thunderstorm, 2024–2025’, and forms part of a larger body of work that’s been guided by the wind. The work itself is inspired by the experience of a thunder and lightning storm in the Kalahari. The stitched work in blue is connected to the marks inscribed into a piece of red sailcloth I flew in the Kalahari storm, filled with dust, lightning, thunder and eventually rain in the dry desert landscape.” | @amy.rusch

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WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Supplied

The Defender OCTA is a brutal car: brutal in power, brutal on off -road terrain, and brutal in looks. It basically makes its original 1948 ancestor look like it’s skipping through an English meadow, picking dandelions.

As you know, we love Brutalist design here at VISI, so to find out more about how Land Rover’s design team transformed the standard Defender 110 into the muscular OCTA, we spoke to Defender’s vehicle design director Davide Limongelli, and senior creative specialist for interior design Mark Butler.

The standard Defender already has a strong visual identity. What were the key design cues you changed to signal that the Defender OCTA is far more extreme?

Davide Limongelli: “Everything starts with proportion. With Defender OCTA, the most significant changes are immediately visible in its wider stance, increased ground clearance and larger, more extreme tyres. These elements fundamentally shift the vehicle’s presence and capability.

“For us, it’s essential that a Defender is never overstyled. Every element must have a clear reason to exist. On Defender OCTA, the increased width and stance aren’t there simply to create a more aggressive look – they’re driven by the need to enhance off-road capability and dynamic stability.

“Key features like the enlarged front apertures also play an important role. These are not purely aesthetic, but driven by function – specifically the increased cooling requirements of the V8 engine. As with every Defender, design changes are always rooted in purpose, and that are always rooted in purpose, and that authenticity is what gives Defender OCTA its more extreme character. Even the revised front graphics are driven by cooling demands rather than visual differentiation. The aesthetic outcome is a by-product of problem-solving.

“The visual strength of the vehicle is a natural result of its engineering. That’s where the balance comes from: when design follows function, you achieve a more authentic and confident aesthetic without adding unnecessary complexity.”

Which exterior element on the Defender OCTA best captures its performance-focused personality?

Davide: “Performance and off-road capability are intrinsic to Defender’s DNA, and OCTA builds on that foundation through proportion. Its stance is the through proportion. Its stance is the defi ning element. Rather than relying on added lines or visual drama, we use proportion to communicate performance.

“The increased ride height, wider track and more planted posture immediately give the OCTA a distinct personality. Even at a distance, it’s recognisably a Defender. The core DNA is unchanged, but the character is unmistakably more extreme.

“It’s all driven by proportion: the higher seating position, greater ground clearance and noticeably wider stance come together to create a vehicle with an even stronger, more commanding presence.”

Were there any influences outside the automotive world – architecture, industrial design, motorsport, military equipment – that informed the Defender OCTA’s exterior design language?

Davide: “With Defender, our primary source of inspiration is always the brand itself. It has such a strong, enduring DNA and heritage that we don’t need to look to external trends. Historically, Defender has been designed with a very industrial, logical approach – every line has a purpose; every graphic connects back to function. The design language is elemental, and the style comes from that logic. In many ways, Defender is the purest expression of form following function, and Defender OCTA continues that philosophy.”

Do you think the Defender OCTA design process involved redefining what “luxury performance” means for the brand?

Davide: “I would say that Defender OCTA extends what luxury performance means for the brand, rather than redefines it. Every Defender has its own character, and Defender OCTA is simply another expression of that.

“What it does do is showcase what we call ‘tough luxury’ at its most extreme, combining enhanced performance and capability with the refinement expected of a modern Defender, without losing that core sense of restraint.”

Aerodynamics and off-road capability don’t naturally pull in the same direction. What were the biggest challenges in designing a vehicle that needed to look planted and fast, while still remaining authentically capable off-road?

Davide: “The priority for Defender OCTA was always capability. To achieve extreme off-road performance, we needed increased width, higher ground clearance and enhanced cooling, all of which work against aerodynamic efficiency. This creates natural tension, but it’s a conscious decision. Thermal performance and off-road capability were significantly more important than aerodynamic targets in this case.

“There were also practical challenges, such as meeting global legislation. For example, in the US, the vehicle’s width required additional marker lighting, which introduced unique design solutions that add further character. Sometimes it’s the constraints that create the greatest opportunity for creative expression!”

There are some cool design details and surface treatments on the Defender OCTA that people might miss at first glance…

Davide: “One of the most satisfying aspects is the consistency of the graphic language. Defender has a strong visual identity built around simple geometric forms – particularly the square, which is a key part of the brand’s graphic identity.

“On Defender OCTA, this evolves into more refined details, such as the subtle ‘squircle’ motifs used on the front grille. From a distance, the vehicle reads as tough and purposeful, but up close there’s a clear sense of precision and sophistication, and that it absolutely belongs to a luxury brand. That contrast between robustness and refinement is what defines Defender OCTA’s character.”

How did the interior design team create a stronger sense of performance without losing the utilitarian DNA?

Mark Butler: “The interior of the Defender OCTA builds on Defender’s core philosophy of ‘tough luxury’, elevating it to reflect the vehicle’s heightened performance capability. New performance seats with re-profiled bolsters and integrated headrests provide the additional support required for more dynamic driving, while maintaining long-distance comfort. This distinctive seat design is carried through to the second row, creating a cohesive and immersive cabin environment. The sense of occasion is further enhanced by elevated material choices, including semi-aniline leather and Moonlight Chrome detailing on key touchpoints, combining durability with refinement.

“At the same time, the integration of performance-focused features ensures the cabin remains purposeful. Gear paddle shifters and the OCTA Mode button are seamlessly incorporated into the steering wheel, putting control directly at the driver’s fingertips. The translucent edge-lit paddles subtly shift from white to red when OCTA Mode is activated – an intuitive signal that the vehicle is ready to deliver its most extreme off-road performance.”

When someone sees the Defender OCTA in their rear-view mirror, what emotion or reaction are you hoping the design will provoke?

Davide: “It’s about presence. Defender has always been expressive, particularly through the vehicle’s ‘eyes’. It’s always had distinctive round headlamps, which we have evolved over time to feel more assertive. On the Defender OCTA, that expression becomes more pronounced, because it’s combined with a taller, more commanding front stance. The result is a vehicle that feels sturdy, unmistakable and purposeful.

“When you see it in your rear-view mirror, it should feel like something truly special – something with real character, presence and authority.” | landrover.co.za

Core Defender vs Defender OCTA Dimensions

Overall width: Core 1 195mm, increased to 2 063mm.

Overall length: Core 5 015mm, increased by 15mm (in the rear overhang) to 5 030mm.

Ground clearance: Core 222mm, increased by 33mm to a height of 255mm (a combination of increased tyre diameter and a suspension adjustment).

Wheels and tyres: Core’s 815mm-diameter tyre family increased to 838mm-diameter on OCTA; typical Core profile (275/45/22) increased slightly to 275/50/22.

The post Tough Luxury appeared first on Visi.

A soulful way of living begins with pieces made with care, quality and character. Noha creates premium furniture, lighting and decor shaped by genuine craft, natural materials and respect for how homes are lived in.

From solid timber and woven textures to leather, textiles and natural fibres, each piece is designed to bring warmth, depth and lasting beauty into everyday spaces.

Quality in the Craft

Every piece begins with the material. Responsibly sourced wood, reclaimed timber, tactile fabrics and hand-finished details come together through a slower, more meaningful way of making. Materials that might otherwise be overlooked are reimagined into furniture and decor with strength, soul and lasting presence.

Rooted in Honest Materials

Drawing from nature, local craft and the character of real materials, each piece carries a sense of origin. From visible timber grain to textures that invite touch, the beauty is found in quality you can see and feel.

Made for Everyday Living

Made for the moments that give a home its feeling. Quiet corners, shared spaces and daily rituals become warmer and more personal through furniture and decor made with care, craft and soul. | noha.co.za

The post Design that Lives with You appeared first on Visi.

PHOTOS Thea Cogil/Courtesy of Curación Collection

Sourcing clay from the land around him, South African clay artist Mick Haigh forms each vessel by hand before firing it in a long wood-fired kiln. Each piece carries the marks of flame, ash and chance, shaped as much by nature as by the maker.

His Kiln IV collection speaks to ritual and slowness, offering vessels made to be held, used and lived with.

Curación Collection shares this focus on process, material and intention: a commitment to the quiet beauty of everyday ritual. Here, Mick tells us about his practice and current body of work.

What do you hope people feel or carry with them after encountering your work in this space?

“Connection, that humans are not just visitors but part of this living planet. Finding your place at home here in this wild world changes a lot.”

Your work is shaped by earth, fire and time. How do these forces influence your approach to making?

“My approach is not cerebral; clay comes from the earth, not a plastic bag. Wood comes from trees and time from the sun. All these raw elements speak for themselves; I connect the conversation. My approach is counterintuitive: what can this clay around me do, what temperature will it vitrify at, how thick does the vessel wall have to be to stand up to fire, and how long will the fire heat take to vitrify the clay? So materials influence the making as much as my ideas about what to make.”

Can you speak to the role of slowness and process in your practice?

“Slowness and process intertwine through materials. Clay air dries at its own rate based on airflow and humidity, and wood burns at the rate of oxygen supply. My practice is governed by how my materials behave, and how much I can modify them.

“The sun and moon cycles happen independent of how busy we are. Our minds bend time. Natural materials like clay and wood behave outside of time. My practice captures this time, recording the slow process of turning malleable clay born of eroded rock over millions of years into hard, enduring rock again. Bending time through material provenance.”

What inspired you to create this body of work?

“My inspiration comes from knowing that living with meaningful objects can create meaning in our lives. How objects make you feel enhances your quality of life. Do we need more objects in this world? I think we need more feeling in this world.”

How does your current body of work explore a sense of place?

“Provenance is very powerful, connecting humans to source. Being rooted in the familiar warmth of earth, the non-challenging warmth of things made by hand for human comfort gives a sense of I am part of this place, not a superior observer but part of this living world which I affect and which affects me. Connection.”

What values do you feel you share with the Curación Collection, and the body of work you’re creating?

“Human living/leisure environment can only be as good as the evolved thought put into its creation. I create pieces which I feel are not available. I have thought about how I can supply vessels, artworks, pieces to enhance living spaces and quality of life. I feel much goes into the building and designing of structures, and not enough attention goes into how they feel because of what we put in them and how we use them. What we choose to live with. After decades of designing and making tabletop ceramics, I am now using my clay knowledge and skill to explore vessels as art pieces as feelings of expression. I strongly feel the living/workspace edit is long overdue. The values we have in common lie in the quality of feeling and expression, no more average to get the job done.” curacion-collection.co.za | mickhaigh.com

Mick Haigh’s work will be on display at Curación – 9 Orphan Street, Cape Town – from 6th August until the 30th August.

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WORDS Martin Jacobs PHOTOS Mathij S Labadie, Marcin Rusak Studio, Kasia Bielska, Pion Studi

When last did you stop to consider a cut-flower bouquet – impulse-bought from a market, gift ed on an occasion, arranged at a wedding? We admire the easy hit of nature at home, the colour, occasionally the fragrance. But the engineering behind cut flowers – the genetic tweaks for scale and speed of transport, the straightened stems for easier shipping and arrangement in vases, the bolder blooms bred at the expense of scent – rarely crosses the mind. Like most things we live with, flowers have become just another consumable. Except in the hands of Marcin Rusak.

Given the Polish multidisciplinary designer’s lineage, you could argue this was inevitable: that cut flowers, in his hands, would come to carry the weight of consumption, commodification, time, preservation and decay. “When the family history of over a century of flower growers and botanists ended with my birth, I felt there was nothing of a grower in myself,” he says. “What I remember from growing up surrounded by abandoned glass houses is mostly their textured industrial materiality, and the presence of disappearance and decay at every step I took exploring.”

Those glass houses loom large for Marcin. Across interviews and features – from Cabana and Vogue Poland magazines to Financial Times and Dezeen – he returns to them obsessively: their shattered panes, broken glass and scrap metal; their scents of rust and rot. Former sites of cultivation and beauty turned feral, they became his playground – spaces where collecting, assembling and an early fascination with decay laid the formative groundwork for a practice centred on transformation.

Born in Warsaw, where he lives and works today, and now in his late 30s, Marcin studied conceptual design at Design Academy Eindhoven before continuing his studies at London’s Royal College of Art. It was in London that a second pivotal encounter with flowers would reshape the trajectory of his practice. “I clearly remember the first time I thought of plants as a substance, a raw material,” he says. “It was at one of London’s flower markets that I realised the economics behind it, and the amount of waste it produces. There’s a common rule that what hasn’t sold in the first two days at the market has to be tossed. I’d collect the binned waste – wilted, fragrant, already in decline – and drag heavy garbage bags across the Underground to the eighth floor of the RCA in Kensington. The smell was unforgiving.”

Having explored the possibilities of resin as a material while at Design Academy Eindhoven, many years of experimentation followed – first in London and subsequently in his Polish studio (which he describes as a laboratory), working with discarded floral matter. In bringing these threads together, something akin to alchemy emerged: Flora, a material Marcin regards less as a product than as an ongoing process of transformation. “Flora is the result of years of research driven by my desire to capture and preserve the perishable beauty of flowers, which here float under the shiny surface of resin,” he explains.

“The process of creating each piece is very labour-intensive, as everything from collecting and processing the flowers to finishing the resin is done by hand. Each piece is composed like a painting – I choose flowers for their sculptural qualities, colour and symbolic significance. I make several compositions, and only when the effect is satisfactory do I translate them into the material.”

Much like Flora – available in a spectrum of coloured resins and floral compositions spanning themes such as baroque, tropical, classic and field, arranged either densely or with a more open spatial logic – subsequent materials extend the same inquiry under different conditions. Perma is machine-cut, revealing cross-sections of preserved fl owers, where petal forms and leaf flowers, where petal forms and leaf structures emerge within a more stone- like resin body. Glaes, by contrast, lends itself to solid, monolithic forms, its process deliberately producing light-catching fractures throughout the material, giving it an amber-like depth.

These materials extend the lifespan of what would otherwise be fleeting, and – due in part to their synthetic composition – are intended to endure for thousands of years. They take shape as credenzas and cabinets, tables, screens, lighting and sculptural objects that, while preserving floral waste, also prompt a reassessment of what we consider valuable, and how beauty is consumed and retained. Most are made to commission – an approach that itself resists excess production. Larger works are conceived as future heirlooms, developed in dialogue with each client, often incorporating floral matter that holds personal or emotional significance.

In parallel with his ongoing resin explorations, Marcin has, in recent years, turned to metal. His Tephra series takes its name from the geological term for fragments ejected during a volcanic eruption – a reference that nods to the works’ Pompeiian silhouettes. “These objects are built using specially treated flowers mounted on sculptural forms made of hand-welded steel wire and jute,” he says of the complex process, which allows plant growth to gradually envelop the structures. “They’re then metallised using a thermo-coating technique that covers the dense textures in a layer of molten metal.” Floral matter becomes ornamental within a restrained, monochrome palette. By contrast, in his Protoplasting Nature series, a similar thermo-coating process is applied to foliage rather than flowers, allowing organic growth to assume a more structural role in cabinets that reference 17th-century furniture typologies.

As much as Marcin’s materials and objects engage with preservation, they are equally concerned with decay. In his Nature of Things installations, vessels and domestic forms are composed from biodegradable materials, which include waste flowers, beeswax, sugar, sand and shellac, and are designed to decompose over time. These works embrace impermanence as both a process and an outcome. As Marcin says, “They provide a field for experimentation that takes as its starting point a critical commentary on the ideas of consumerism and planned obsolescence that contribute to the culture of waste.”

Marcin’s philosophical approach ultimately unsettles a broader cultural fixation on permanence. From his Warsaw studio – where, depending on the project, he collaborates with a team of up to 12 specialists with expertise in everything from artisanal production to digital modelling – he interrogates how beauty is consumed and how value is assigned. “Our desire to create, to make, to invent, is not something that we can – or should – suppress. It is fundamental,” he says. “But we can begin to question what needs to be preserved and what can be released. Loss, in this context, isn’t failure – it’s a recalibration. It reveals what matters. It invites reflection. It slows us down. It asks us to listen. What if loss was not an absence, but an alert system? A way of navigating? A reminder that our time with things – objects, people, places – is limited, and therefore precious?” | marcinrusak.com

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There are moments in design when restraint gives way to expression. When subtle whispers are replaced by confident statements. This is one of those moments.

Across architecture, interiors, fashion and jewellery, we’re seeing a renewed appetite for pieces that command attention rather than politely blend in. Sculptural silhouettes, unapologetic proportions and confident craftsmanship are defining a new era of luxury, one where individuality is the ultimate indulgence.

At the forefront of this movement is Van Deijl Jewellers, where exceptional design has never been about following trends, but about creating timeless pieces with unmistakable presence.

Fearless Design isn’t simply a style direction. It’s a philosophy.

It celebrates jewellery that transforms an outfit into a statement, a moment into a memory and the everyday into something extraordinary. Think sweeping curves of precious metal, vibrant gemstones chosen for their character rather than convention, and silhouettes that blur the line between jewellery and wearable sculpture.

Yet fearlessness isn’t measured by size alone.

True luxury lies in confidence, in pieces that reflect the personality of the wearer while showcasing the extraordinary skill of the artisan. Every Van Deijl creation balances striking visual impact with meticulous craftsmanship, resulting in jewellery that feels both contemporary and enduring.

This fearless approach resonates with a new generation of collectors who value authenticity over excess. They seek investment pieces that tell a story, spark conversation and become part of their own narrative.

Whether it’s an structured dress ring, an oversized pair of sculptural earrings, or a dramatic pendant that anchors an entire look, these are designs intended to be worn with purpose.

Because great design is made to be appreciated today and treasured long into the future.

In a world that increasingly values originality, Van Deijl Jewellers reminds us that great design has always required courage: the courage to reinterpret tradition with fresh perspective, to embrace craftsmanship without compromise, and to create pieces that are as distinctive as the people who wear them.

This season, bigger isn’t simply better. It’s bolder. It’s braver. And it’s unmistakably beautiful. vandeijl.co.za | @vandeijljewellers

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Spring has a way of drawing us outdoors. As the days grow longer and the air becomes warmer, patios, poolside spaces and gardens become natural extensions of the home: places to unwind, entertain and spend time with the people who matter most.

As part of this outdoor refresh, Fired Earth, Garden Master and Design House come together to show how colour, greenery and outdoor styling can transform everyday outdoor spaces into inviting retreats designed for real life.

A foundation defined by surface and colour

A successful outdoor escape begins with a strong foundation, where surface, colour and setting work together. In this outdoor refresh, Fired Earth’s considered finishes are complemented by Garden Master’s greenery and Design House’s outdoor furniture, creating a cohesive base for everyday living.

The pool deck sets the tone. Finished with Fired Earth Velvet Wood Deck Dressing, the timber surface is protected while retaining its natural warmth and texture, allowing it to stand up to daily use around the pool while ageing beautifully over time.

Painted exterior walls introduce another layer of intention. Fired Earth Severe Weather in Blizzard White adds softness and depth, creating a calm backdrop that enhances both planting and natural light. Garden Master pots, refreshed with Fired Earth Pot Paint in Black Coal, bring cohesion and contrast to the greenery, tying surface and planting together visually.

Colour here is not merely decorative. It defines mood, frames the architecture and creates balance, setting the stage for the outdoor furniture and lifestyle moments that follow.

Designing for how we live outside

An outdoor space succeeds when it invites you to spend time in it. Garden Master’s Sienna Italian and Furu round pots introduce layered greenery, softening hard surfaces and creating moments of visual interest throughout the garden.

The planting wraps around the pool area, blurring the boundary between built form and nature.

Poolside living is elevated with Design House outdoor furniture chosen for both comfort and style. The Annecy rope patio set creates an inviting area for entertaining, while the Knysna Sun Lounger paired with lounger cushion covers offers a relaxed place to unwind beside the pool. Positioned around the deck, these elements encourage slow spring afternoons by the pool, easy transitions from sun to shade, and relaxed evenings spent outdoors long after sunset.

As evening approaches, lighting becomes part of the experience. Design House outdoor wall lights add structure and warmth to exterior walls, while Design House Filament Bulb String Lights introduce a softer, atmospheric glow that extends outdoor living well beyond sunset.

Even the pool itself is designed for ease, with the Bluechem Aquarius pool cleaner ensuring the space remains inviting with minimal effort.

An extension of the home

What sets this outdoor refresh apart is its sense of continuity. The materials, colours and finishes used outside echo the same design principles applied indoors, allowing the garden and pool area to feel like a natural extension of the home rather than a separate zone.

By starting with surfaces and colour, the space becomes adaptable. It can host quiet mornings by the pool, casual afternoons with family, or relaxed evenings of entertaining – all without needing to change or add a thing.

Where outdoor living begins

Whether it’s a quiet morning coffee on the patio, a warm afternoon beside the pool, or an evening spent entertaining under soft lighting, great outdoor spaces are designed to be lived in. Through thoughtful colour choices, layered greenery and considered styling, outdoor living begins long before the finishing touches are added.

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WORDS Neyani Mphephu PHOTOS Supplied

In the past, greenery in urban settings has often been seen as an aesthetic addition rather than a functional necessity, and almost always the first line item cut when a development budget tightens – which is exactly what makes green connectivity, the growing movement to weave nature through the built environment as deliberate, functioning infrastructure, one of the more quietly radical ideas reshaping urban design in cities like Lisbon, Bangkok and Cape Town.

Green connectivity goes beyond simply planting trees. It is the deliberate weaving of natural systems such as street canopies, green corridors, pocket forests, urban farms and water-sensitive landscaping through the built fabric of a city, so that nature does not merely sit alongside urban life but moves through and with it.

It is this thinking that drives the work of organisations like Mission for Inner City Cape Town, whose Greening Lead, Vincent Truter, describes the city’s green network in terms that go well beyond horticulture. “Every street, every park and every public space is not only part of an ecological system,” he says. “It is also part of a nervous system. It is quietly influencing how people feel, how they move and how they recover from the intensity of urban life.”

At its core, green connectivity challenges cities to treat green space as essential infrastructure, not just an amenity. And it has a host of environmental benefits that address global warming.

The hothouse

Cities are getting hotter in every sense. There have been a number of successful initiatives globally to combat rising temperatures in metropolitan centres. One of these programmes is Forestami – launched in Milan in 2019 – an urban forestation initiative that includes creating green roofs and restoring polluted land in the Italian city, with the aim of planting 3 million trees by 2030.

Since its launch, research conducted in the metropolitan area found that urban forests provided an average cooling effect of 3.5°C on mean temperatures and up to 5.5°C on maximum temperatures within a 180-metre range. A clear demonstration of green connectivity working in practice with measurable results.

Cape Town’s tree canopy cover was measured at only 6% in 2020, against a world norm of 10% to qualify as an urban forest. Cllr Francine Higman, Ward Councillor for the City of Cape Town, warns that “if we don’t continue investing in greening, we risk creating places that become increasingly hot, less resilient to climate change and ultimately less attractive places to live, work and invest.”

Georgina Smit, CEO of the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), echoes Francine’s warning: “If we do not intentionally weave green spaces into our development strategy, we risk losing critical green and blue resources and their myriad benefits.”

While one of the most overlooked benefits of urban greenery is its ability to cool cities naturally, Vincent argues that what is even less discussed is what trees do to the human nervous system. “Breathing slows. Conversation changes. Children move differently,” he explains. “Green spaces are not only performing ecological work. They are also performing nervous system regulation.”

Beyond the green

A truly green-connected space goes beyond planting trees on a pavement.

Georgina cites Newinbosch Neighbourhood Estate in Stellenbosch as a leading example. It’s the first estate in Africa to achieve a 6-Star Green Star Sustainable Precincts certification, with its on-site nursery, pocket forests, green corridors, urban farm and circular waste processing.

Closer to the city, Green Point Park demonstrates similar thinking at a much larger scale. Its Biodiversity Showcase Garden is home to approximately 300 indigenous plant species and 25 000 individual trees, shrubs and groundcovers, while a sustainable water system sourced from the Oranjezicht spring saves roughly 580 million litres of potable water annually.

But designing a green space is only the beginning. Ensuring that it survives and thrives requires long-term care, partnerships and community stewardship. “Success isn’t simply measured by how many trees we plant. It’s measured by whether those trees survive, mature and continue to expand the canopy,” says Francine. Connected green space, she emphasises, should always be designed around people: “shade where people actually walk, seating, accessible public spaces, biodiversity and opportunities for people to spend time outdoors.”

Future forward

The next evolution of cities may not be primarily technological, but relational. “The question is not whether cities will become greener. That trajectory is already underway,” says Vincent. “The more important question is whether they will become more coherent across their systems. Because cities do not only shape landscapes. They shape people.” missionforinnercity.org | @missionforinnercityct

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WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Courtesy of Merchants

Merchants has transformed into a contemporary space that champions installation-based storytelling through African design. The newly released limited-edition hand-felted blanket series – a collaboration between textile artist Stephanie Bentum and Merchants’ creative director Tiaan Nagel – is a continuation of Merchants’ evolution and ongoing commitment to local makers and collectable design.

“We’re shifting toward a more gallery-led articulation, and away from traditional retail. In this new chapter, we’re working directly with a few designers from our community to develop products that are true to their handwriting, but original and unexpected. Pieces you will only find at Merchants. It reinforces our curatorial point of view; a filter our customers trust to be innovative, forward-leading, and rooted in craft,” says Tiaan.

For Tiaan, selecting the right collaborator is essential. “Authentic storytelling, elevated craft, and a strong sense of place. We’re drawn to designers who are already exploring these ideas in their product development. Take Stephanie, for example – weaving and wool are part of her family history. We were excited to work with her as both designer and as master craftsperson to create something that communicates that depth of knowledge in an instant – but in a directional, modern way,” he says. “It’s not about suppressing their point of view or translating it into ours. It’s about working together to arrive at something original, something that could only come from this partnership. I’ve always admired Stephanie’s ability to let the material lead the work. This collaboration gave us the opportunity to explore new colour palettes, scale and application while respecting the integrity of her process. The result is a collection that reflects a shared appreciation for craftsmanship, thoughtful design and pieces designed to be lived with for years to come,” he adds.

Released in three distinct colourways – Natural, Multi-Stripe and Indigo – the limited-edition collection demonstrates how subtle shifts in colour, texture and composition create different expressions of Stephanie’s felt-making practice, with pieces that move between throws, blankets and sculptural accents within the home.

“Every collaboration asks different questions of the material,” says Stephanie. “Working with Tiaan encouraged me to rethink not only colour and proportion, but where my felted knit practice could go next. It challenged me to explore familiar materials in unfamiliar ways, creating pieces that could live in new ways while remaining true to the hand of the maker.” The collaboration began with a clear creative brief. “I received a mood board, packed neatly into a specific size with three colour stories – seaside blues, natural clay tones and vibrant coloured stripes,” she explains. ”Collaborating with Tiaan wasn’t about changing my personal style but an interpretation of his concept based on an existing technique by introducing a new colour story.”

Felt is essentially a non-woven fabric made by compressing fibres together. Since heating causes wool fibres to shrink, one of the main challenges in creating pieces for this collection was the finishing process. “The yarn for the knitted base is treated with a ‘Superwash’, and the top layer comprises non-Hercosett wool tops, resulting in one fibre shrinking and the other not,” explains Stephanie. This meant she had to work out the exact dimensions of the knit and develop a production technique during the fulling process to achieve the desired size of the throw. “Despite first doing test runs, going into production we had to be conscious of the tightening of the different fibre qualities during the complete process and in particular at the finishing and drying stages. It was important to ensure that technical constraints did not hurt the creative process,” she says.

“The handmade nature of a product involving skilled artisanal labour with a keen eye on careful structural detail, including the use of colour combinations, evokes an emotional connection to the item placed in a space where the touch of texture transcends basic function and elevates into luxury,” she adds.

Stephanie has spent more than a decade exploring the technique across fashion, interiors and film, using locally sourced merino wool and mohair from farmers who follow animal-friendly practices. “I only work with natural fibres; it’s my mantra. The blankets are made from 100% South African merino wool, which is a highly tactile texture,” she says.

The Merchants x Stephanie Bentum limited-edition collection is available in-store and online. merchantsonlong.co.za | stephaniebentumtextilemaker.com

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