Cool Cape Town Office: Rain

WORDS Michaela Stehr IMAGES Andrea van der Spuy

This trendy Cape Town office space for Rain, SA’s mobile data-only network, merges classic heritage with a contemporary cool aesthetic.

The project for the Rain office overhaul was tackled by local interior design studio Bone. The company gave the studio a brief to source locally and implement the renovation while the team were still working in-house.

“As the site is a heritage building, dating back over 200 years, the space is divided up into rooms, which we had to work within,” explains Nicola Orpen, co-founder of Bone. “In terms of aesthetic, we wanted to give each space its own identity and retain the feeling of home within the building.”

Moving away from traditional tables and chairs, the space features a comfortable meeting lounge. “The ‘office canteen’ is presented as a kitchen and separate dining room with a family-sized table, the position of this being selected as it is slightly separate from the office building to allow for a physical separation from work when having your lunch,” says Nicola. “This design ethos was carried throughout the space where possible.”

Bone carried out the facelift with the utmost respect for the beautifully preserved heritage site, creating moody and quirky pockets throughout, with bold colours, vibrant patterns and complementary wallpapers used together with carefully curated furniture pieces.

“The building, while historic and presenting lots of characterful elements, is still quite severe and stark as many of the original elements were lost during rebuilding in the 1800s,” Nicola continues. “This allowed us the opportunity to create bold and unique elements within each room. Window treatments within these rooms include bold velvet curtains, which help with acoustics, the drafty windows in winter and fit the homely feel we set out to create.”

Visit bonestudio.co.za to see more of their work.