Timber Time: The Future Heirlooms Collection

WORDS Lynette Botha

A thought-provoking brief led to innovative interpretations – and resulted in the beautiful all-wood Future Heirlooms collection.

Last year Always Welcome and the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) joined forces to release a first-of-its- kind collection created by seven South African designers. The collection, aptly named Future Heirlooms, asked designers to think freely in order to create an object or a piece of furniture that encapsulates the themes of sustainability, longevity and quality. The lineup of notable South African talent invited to partake included Dokter and Misses, Mash.T Design Studio, TheUrbanative, Kumsuka, Kalki Ceramics, Joe Paine in partnership with Nathan Gates, and NØDE.

Using American red oak, the seven pieces were brought to life by hardwood furniture designer-manufacturers Houtlander, and timber importers BOS Timbers. They are “a celebration of material and memory, and ask pertinent questions about our approach to the environment,” says AHEC regional director Roderick Wiles. The designs – one- off functional objects and small furniture pieces – were displayed at Always Welcome’s Viewing Rooms in Sandton until November, before moving to Always Welcome Heritage House in Cape Town in January 2023.

The Always Welcome team hopes this project inspires important discussions around sustainability in South African furniture design.“We’re extremely proud of the work produced for Future Heirlooms,” says Garreth van Niekerk, director and co-founder of the collective. “Many of these ambitious pieces would have been impossible without the expertise and careful eye of our partners Houtlander, and the support of AHEC and BOS Timbers.”

Pieces include the Now Now digital grandfather clock and repository for family information and memorabilia by Joe Paine and Nathan Gates; Family Portrait – a playful, photo-inspired furniture piece – by co-founders of Dokter and Misses and new parents, Katy Taplin and Adriaan Hugo, and the Fulani chair by TheUrbanative’s Mpho Vackier.

“We aspire to be a brand that not only celebrates stories but also respects the way in which we tell those stories,” Mpho says. “But more than anything, for me, exploring a new material is always exciting. My approach to most of my work is guided by the material, its properties and limits, and letting it have a say in the final piece. Using sustainable American red oak is not only logical but very necessary for us to do justice to the authentic essence of those stories.”

View the full collection and learn more about the inspiration behind each piece at Always Welcome Heritage House in Cape Town until the end of February.

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