I have a conflicted relationship with the term “think outside the box”.
While I fundamentally agree with its boundary-breaking premise, I’ve too often found myself in the unfortunate situation where an overly enthusiastic business coach is exhorting me and my bored-to-tears colleagues to “C’mon, guys, think outside the box!” Cue a collective eyeroll. Creative teams don’t like to be told to think outside the box – it’s pretty much what we do every day. And yes, we tend to lean into arrogance.
Now, if that business coach had said, “C’mon guys, think outside the outside of the box!” – that would be a different story. It would be a crucial rephrasing that both keeps the basic premise of thinking beyond one’s comfy boundaries and still massages the creative ego.
There are a bunch of people in this issue of VISI who have thought outside the outside of the box – particularly architects, which is especially impressive, given that making actual boxes is what they do. Have a look at the spiralling, rammed-earth Johannesburg home that Meshworks Architecture + Urbanism has created; KAA Architects’ Sea Point penthouse-meets-superyacht; a Bauhaus-meets-barn in Parkhurst by Peter Steere; and the raw-concrete wonders that are Jan Allan’s Kenyan lodge and TEAM Architects’ Bo-Kaap apartment. In the latter’s case, the crew at TEAM literally placed boxes outside of boxes (p96).
In fact, the talent we have in South Africa continues to blow away the VISI team – and to draw the collective applause of the international design and art community: check out Thabisa Mjo’s Dolce&Gabbana collab (p72) and Zanele Muholi’s exhibition at the Tate Modern in London (p74). On home soil, we spend time with lighting designer Adam Hoets and furniture maker James Mudge, and we chat to rising star Tanisha Neill. There’s so much thinking outside the box going on that the inside of the box is a lonely place…
– Steve Smith, Editor | info@visi.co.za
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