HUT Design Challenge: “The Surfer’s Curtain” by Sky Designs

INTERVIEWED BY Steve Smith PHOTOS Jan Ras

Outlining the creative journey behind her unique design, Tania Jardim of Sky Designs shares insights into The Surfer’s Curtain created for the HUT X Always Welcome Design Challenge.

Launched at Cape Town Furniture Week 2024, the HUT x Always Welcome Design Challenge invited seven innovative designers to create limited-edition pieces using material reclaimed from the iconic Muizenberg Huts, which were undergoing refurbishment.

We chatted with Tania Jardim of Sky Designs to dive deeper into the inspiration, design processes, and challenges she faced while working on this exciting project.

What was the inspiration for your piece? And were there any aspects of the beach huts that inspired your design? 

‘The Surfer’s Curtain’ was inspired by the Muizenberg Beach huts both from a functional and aesthetic perspective. It was designed to be a multifunctional room divider/screen, just like the Beach huts provided privacy for the bathers so will the curtain, but at an intimate scale.  The curtain would function as a portable dresser where people could change and hang their items of clothing, and towels. The curtain was also designed as an art piece, which, similar to the beach houses, are admired for their vibrant, colourful repetitive silhouette facade. 

How would you describe your personal design aesthetic … and how have you incorporated that with the bold colours and history of the Muizenberg beach huts into this piece of furniture? 

I believe in a more sensory design and not just a design that appeals to visual stimuli. The tactile sense as well as the visual sense of tactility is important as it is a more sensitive and trustworthy sense. I enjoy playing with materials, colours, and simple graphics and I believe detailing is a strength of mine.  

I like to believe my designs are vibrant, playful, and meaningful enough to evoke emotion. I like a design that is full of depth and layers, and I believe this is achieved by using elements like textures, colours and shapes purposefully. Working with the Muizenberg reclaimed timber resonates with all of the above as it is rich in texture and meaning

Do you feel you have preserved the story and character of the Muizenberg beach huts in your piece, while also ensuring the design remains sustainable and functional? If so, how? 

The story and character of the Muizenberg beach huts have been preserved through the construction and the functionality of ‘The Surfer’s Curtain’ I have designed. The curtain was constructed using reclaimed timber planks, a red steel frame that highlights and showcases the reclaimed timber, a purpose-made long-length mirror (colour gradient from yellow to bronze mimicking the sun rising on the sea) and two purpose-made light pendants. 

The Hut competition initiative opposes the traditional linear design process of make, use, and dispose of (in landfills), which demands a constant supply of new resource material, and constantly adds to the carbon footprint. Not only are we reducing the carbon footprint with our designs, but the salvaged Muizenberg Beach timber pieces also carry with it history, and a story, which heightens the designs and brings about awareness with regards to sustainability and Muizenberg’s history. 

Walk us through your design process when working with reclaimed materials, particularly those as unique and iconic as the wood from the huts? 

My design process starts with research and a lot of sketches and detailing. I like to use different mediums when designing, for example, hand sketches, computer-generated models and drawings, watercolour painting and actual models, and I mix between the mediums to achieve the final product. The initial design concept was done using photos we received for The Hut competition and anticipating the planks’ sizes and inherent qualities. It was only after we received the planks that the ‘hands-on’ design began, which can be expected of a material of this type as each piece/plank is different. 

What challenges did you anticipate when working with these specific materials, and how did you overcome them? 

The reuse and recycling of material is usually seen as undesirable and unrefined but in my opinion, the opposite can be true. If treated in an innovative manner, the reverse may be achieved, and the perceived status of these materials could change. Working with reclaimed material has its challenges and one needs to understand the inherent quality of the material in order to showcase its potential. I believe the inherent quality of the Muizenberg reclaimed timber planks was the visual texture, the long modules of the planks, the patchy bright colours, the flakiness of the paint and the hundreds of different paint layers that carry with its history, and the story, of the Muizenberg Beach Huts. The reclaimed timber we initially received was very wet and we needed to let it stand and dry out for an extended period of time. The pieces were then individually picked and cut to the required size. The timber was carefully cleaned so, as not to remove too much of the character of the reclaimed timber. Any leftover screws were then removed and the screw holes in the timber were then repaired using inlays of the same colour timber. These repairs are slightly noticeable and will be seen as patchwork, but I think that it’s important to show as this material needs to be true to itself.

What emotions or memories do you hope your piece will evoke in someone familiar with the huts? 

The Iconic Muizenberg Huts always bring about happy memories of the Muizenberg beach and to some degree Cape Town in general. It takes me back to the feeling of the sun on your skin, beach sand in between your toes and the sight of surfers showing off their athletic skills in the water, all with Table Mountain in the background. My hope is that this piece will evoke the same emotions in those who view it. 

Visit the Exhibition

All the pieces from the HUT x Always Welcome Design Challenge are currently on display at Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral for several months and will be accessible to holiday goers, locals, press and creative communities alike.

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