Kanoen Furniture

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

Kanoen Furniture is a sideline of Milkwood Design and Production, a graphic design studio established by Rainer Swarts and Ludwig Schnetler. Kanoen benches are made of Spanish reed and mild steel, but the inspiration behind them is undoubtedly Mzansi.

“The bundles of reed used in our range,” explains Free State-raised Ludwig, “are of different lengths in order to resemble the bundles you see women carry on their heads over long distances.”

The rural inspiration behind the benches goes beyond the initial visual titillation. “Growing up in the countryside, some of us were given African names. A school friend of mine was Mafuta; years later we still call him that. We named the one bench Mafoeta, changing the spelling slightly by replacing the ‘u’ to include the ‘oe’ in Kanoen. The large bench with the backrest is called Moena, which is derived from the word referring to an older man, and the smaller seat is called Oemfaan, which comes from the word for a young boy.”

Nostalgia aside, we are smitten, and city thangs that we are, we’ll happily bring our own cushions for a chance to lie about on one of these benches to add a tad of rural to our city prettiness.

For more information, visit Kanoen on Facebook.