-
The former hotel bar area was converted into a comfortable space for guests. The day bed, the study chair and the worn old Persian carpet are from various antiques shops. Harem bought the orange wall hanging in Arambol on a trip to India, and the linen cushions on the day bed are from HOT COFFEE. The metal hat stand was all that survived when Harem’s farmhouse in the Lowveld burnt down. -
Harem chose this corner for his painting studio because of the good natural light. The old work bench was a gift from a friend, the spring hare is from Mandibles in Woodstock, the antique bird cage is from Cape to Cairo in Kalk Bay and the traveller’s trunk is from Kalk Bay Trading Post. The linen wall hangings of a rhino and okapi are two of Harem’s works printed on linen by HOT COFFEE. -
Harem stands by the kitchen door to the courtyard, which was inspired by the Blue City of Jodhpur in India. -
Most of the plant pots in this sunny corner of the studio are from Liebermann Pottery. The peacock painting is an oil-on-canvas work by Harem and the Japanese Tattoo wall hanging is by HOT COFFEE. -
The kitchen was yellow already, which worked with Harem’s desire for an Indian feel. The cheetah painting is a work in progress. -
A doorway to the hotel scullery was boarded up and made into a chalkboard. The Jesus painting and the Moroccan lantern are from Kalk Bay shops Catacombs and Papagayo, respectively. -
A meditation corner in the studio overlooks the sea. Harem’s favourite plant, which travels with him wherever he goes, is a gasteria in a pot from Lieberman Pottery. The Japanese Ladies linen cushion cover is from HOT COFFEE.
WORDS Kathryn Williams-Jaftha PRODUCTION Annamarie Meintjes PHOTOS Dook
For most of us, home is a place we become attached to, for artist Harem it is a space he recreates every few years.
It is unusual for us to feature a space just as its owner is packing up to move and the building is about to be converted into five apartments. Then again, the artist who has called this space home for nearly four years has an unusual relationship with living spaces. It is tempting to describe the relationship as lying somewhere between detachment and serial monogamy.
Harem falls deeply in love with spaces and works hard to put his mark on them, and when it is time to move on he is able to do so swiftly, leaving what’s in the past behind. In fact, the 43-year-old artist and creative director of design company HOT COFFEE cannot recall ever staying in any one town for longer than four years ever since he first left South Africa in the ’80s to avoid conscription. “I was part of the last group to be called up for military service and I really didn’t want to do that, so I left South Africa. I ended up living in Israel for a while. Since then I’ve lived in Kenya, India, London and Lamu Island, among others.”
When we meet him, Harem is just about to pack up the contents of his studio and home in Kalk Bay on the Cape Peninsula. It is a spot he found in 2012 when he moved back to Cape Town after a few years in Joburg and on his farm in the Barberton valley. “It was a dilapidated old hotel; nobody had used the building for years,” he says. “There were dead birds and broken windows and rotting carpets. I had to clean it for six weeks before I could move in. But I love projects like that; I love realising the potential of a space.”
He took up the ground floor of the Kalk Bay Hotel, some 140m2 that used to be the dining room, bar and kitchen. He got to painting and decorating. A self-confessed obsessive collector, “but not a hoarder”, Harem collects from a variety of places, including second-hand shops that stock the old furniture he loves. He says his style is heavily influenced by his travels to places like Zanzibar and Lamu Island. “Often, people who walk in say it feels like they’re in another country,”
Harem says of his eclectic soon-to-be-former residence. His personal stamp is so evident in the studio we can’t help but wonder how he will feel in a few days’ time when he has to leave. “As an artist you can’t afford to get attached if you want to survive. I regularly create paintings I love that I then have to part with. I’ve learnt to let go.” As if having to part with work that he has spent weeks labouring over is not enough, Harem got another lesson in letting go in 2008 when his Lowveld farmhouse burnt to the ground. “I was away for the weekend when a fire destroyed more than 13 000 ha of land and my house. I was left with my laptop and the suitcase I’d packed. From that and other experiences I’ve learnt that your space is merely an extension of yourself, and you can always re create that wherever you are.”
Harem is moving to a property in Hout Bay, where he’ll no doubt put his own stamp on the place. “This is the end of another four-year cycle for me,” he says. ”We are planning on renovating a 1920s house in Barberton soon and now, with our new business, HOT COFFEE, will end up living with one foot there and the other in the Mother City.” We’ll be watching and taking notes.
