One of VISI’s favourite architects Robert Silke talks about the personal objects that have inspired and defined him.
WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Jan Ras
It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that Robert Silke has had a seismic impact on Cape Town’s urban landscape. His designs for a series of apartment blocks and hotels in Sea Point and the city centre have kicked off a move away from right-angled steel-and-glass cubes towards softer, retro-inspired and ultimately more approachable structures. Tuynhuys apartments in Gardens, ANEW hotel in Green Point, Tropicana hotel, The Flamingo apartments, and now The Cole/Dolce Vita in Sea Point – all have inspired a flowering of architectural copies around the city.
While undoubtedly an homage to Art Deco and Modernism, Robert’s designs take it a step further, adding another layer to the architectural lexicon, playing with those idioms, and showcasing a contemporary interpretation that not only makes for striking architecture, but that also amplifies the original Art Deco/Modernist buildings nearby. And giving some insights into his aesthetic and passions are Robert’s keepsakes…
Daimler Super 8
“Classic cars are a romantic pursuit, and this was the last-ever Daimler. Only 750 were made, and (in a fit of madness) I imported this 2006 unicorn. The interior is a gentlemen’s club in burled walnut, pleated ivory leather and lamb’s-wool rugs – with a funereal facade in ‘Garnet’, a pearlescent blackened ruby. This feudal stretch saloon was meant for those who get driven rather than those who drive (making me a chauffeur!), but the technology comes from the future. The body is pressed aluminium; the chassis is aluminium; the air suspension system is in cast aluminium too.
“When Danny DeVito enthused (in Other People’s Money) over the perfect suspension and technical prowess of the last-ever golden horse carriage to have rolled off the production line, this is basically it.”
Memphis Carlton Room Divider Miniature
“I lost out on the full-size version bidding against Lucie de Moyencourt at the Prop House auction – but my stepmother Rhonda Raad gifted me the consolation prize of an authorised miniature, apparently signed by Ettore Sottsass himself. Which is more than can be said for the one from the Prop House…”
Eris Silke Portrait
“If only all mothers could paint how they believe their sons look. Or looked.”
Bronze Wall Scones
“We discovered these at the antique lighting shop near Kalk Bay train station, and had them refurbished and rewired by Neville Henry at Classique Lighting in Wynberg, with glass tulip shades from The Lamp Workshop in Voortrekker Road When I asked Neville whether I should clean them up, he answered, ‘You can polish them in no time, but it will take you decades to get back to that patina.’”
Mickey Mouse Watch
“My late grandparents brought me a classic Mickey Mouse wristwatch from Disneyland, in about 1982. Although it was my grandfather’s last gift to me, four- year-old boys are neither sentimental nor careful, and I’m not sure if that watch even survived until Aubrey’s untimely death in 1983. I seem to recall it was too big for me then, and would certainly be too small for me now. But if happiness is to be defined as the adult fulfilment of childhood dreams, I finally got to turn back the proverbial clock in 2018, while travelling through Chicago. We took an Uber down South Side (yes, like the rap lyrics) to the “jewellery department” of Walmart where, for the princely sum of $12, we bought back my childhood. And I’ve been looking aft er it ever since.”
Wink Recliner
“We love Japanese art and design. One of our great finds at The Space Agency was this original 1981 Wink recliner by Toshiyuki Kita for Cassina, upholstered in what can only be called grey-school- pants material. We found a pale teal distressed leather at Woodheads that (along with branding marks) served to reinforce the recliner’s alien corpulence.”
Mr Allsorts Totem
“Lifelong friend Colin Braye (of Vorster & Braye) gift ed us a supersized version of his magnificent Mr Allsorts lamp as a housewarming present – a campy nod to Memphis Postmodernism.”
Walter Battiss Drawing
“Picked up at a fi re sale at Stefan Welz & Co, this original ink drawing gets more interesting the longer you study it. People are drawn in, only to recoil.”
Strelitzia Nicolai
“Any garden I was the owner of was going to have at least one giant strelitzia. I’ve been obsessed with strelitzias since boyhood, when one of my mom’s friends, Geraldine Aron, published the children’s tragedy Why Strelitzias Cannot Fly.”
Maralunga Sofa
“While browsing Cape City Modern’s [online Mid-century Modern furniture merchants] Instagram account, I scrolled past something in tubular steel (sold, of course) – only to scroll back, having seen something important in the periphery of the same image. Deceptively upholstered in staff-room-blue cloth was a rare-as-hen’s-teeth Maralunga sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina. Bendable and posable thanks to a sophisticated and elaborate system of concealed bicycle chains and gears, it cleaned up nicely in tan leather!” | robertsilke.com
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