Eyes Wiid Open

WORDS: Remy Raitt | PHOTOS: Henrique Wilding


Twenty-four-year-old Laurie Wiid van Heerden is creating design items that rival international offerings. Under his label Wiid Design, the young buck aims to create eco-efficient design with a global aesthetic.

“I studied product design at Cape Tech but didn’t finish. I wanted to venture more into the practical side but instead felt like a machine in a curated and limited environment,” Laurie says.

From there he was employed by Bronze Age Art Foundry where he worked with some of his creative heroes including Trevyn McGowan, Cécile and Boyd, Graham Viney, William Kentridge and Wim Botha – whom he still assists.

At the Foundry, Laurie developed an understanding for a range of materials, as evident in his body of work which makes use of porcelain, wood, cork, felt, paper pulp and metal.

From his first piece, the delicate Art Light – Porcelain, which appeared in Ebony stores in 2010, to the more Scando-inspired felt, leather, steel and European beech wood Art Light, Laurie’s work offers unique appeal.

His furniture items, such as the 3m benches that use sandblasted and treated old pine beams on solid bent 5mm mild steel legs sprayed in Porche duco paint, and his cork milk stool/poodle stool, further solidify this young designer as an asset to the local scene.

At the moment, cork is Laurie’s material of choice. Abundant in Portugal, the natural, recyclable, non-toxic and renewable material is extracted from the sobreiro (cork tree) every nine years, without having to destroy the tree itself. The material is also lightweight, flexible, waterproof and fire-resistant – making it an excellent choice for product design. Besides his poodle stools, Laurie has made use of cork in crafted tables, hanging pendant lights, desk lights and chairs. A solo exhibition with Amorim Cork, to celebrate 30 years in Africa, is also on the cards.

This wouldn’t be Laurie’s first exhibition. Anyone who attended the Freeworld Design Centre Safe Spaces auction would recognise Laurie’s name, as his reworked soccer ball received the highest bid. Wiid Design pieces are also currently on display at the Art in Clay exhibition in Franschhoek.

This young designer’s next move is to find his own studio space. “It’s almost a cliché to say I want a space in Woodstock, but that’s the place to be – everything is there,” he says. In the meantime he will continue to work in Wim Botha’s Simonstown studio, selling his pieces through Ebony.

More information: www.wiiddesign.co.za, www.ebonydesign.co.za