Kimbolino X Neighbourgood Cape Town Mural

INTERVIEWED BY Michaela Stehr IMAGES courtesy of Kimkimbolino

Cape Town-based graphic designer and illustrator Kim Bischofberger (Kimbolino) joined forces with Neighbourgood to create a bright Cape Town mural inspired by the sweeping arches of architecture. VISI chats with her about the process for her latest creation.

Tell us about how the plan for the mural came about.

I had been itching to do a mural for a while when my good friend and colleague, Anlo Neethling, founder and director of One Design + Development an interior design and project management company based in Cape Town (@one_design_and_development), contacted me to do a mural for the latest Neighbourgood project in Hill road, Greenpoint.

The beautiful bones of the building boasted a lot of archways, so Anlo thought of me, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but archways are kind of my passion!

Who is involved?

Anlo Neethling (founder and director of One Design + Development, an interior design and project management company based in Cape Town) was the interior designer and project manager, Murray and Kim Clark from Neighbourgood SA (@neighbourgood_sa) – the client, and I teamed up with the super talented Bazil Baxter (@bazil_draws_on_walls) to assist me in painting the mural (I say assist, but I want to make it very clear that I couldn’t have done any of this without him!).

What was the planning process like?

This was my first mural of this magnitude so the planning process was intense. Firstly, I decided to work in a 2D space when creating the artwork, as it was going to wrap around all the facets of the building, so I wanted it to almost seem like the doorways were leading into the building – inviting you inside. Anlo shared his interior mood boards and this gave me a sense of what the space needed to feel like – which was an eclectic, tropical, Palm Springs-inspired vibe. This helped me figure out what kind of illustrated and stylised elements to include in my artwork, for example, a palm tree and even a homage to the Green Point stadium.

I was given a lot of freedom (which works well, in my opinion) to create what I felt was right for the space, but also remained true to my style. After we got the design approved, I plotted the design out on a doodle grid (meter by meter squared) and Bazil and then translated the entire design onto the walls with painstaking geometry skills and some circle and stair stencils, and then painted.

How did you decide on a colour scheme?

I love working in bright, vibrant colour palettes, and that was perfect for this job. I also kept in mind the Neighbourgoods brand language, and also the space where the mural would exist – I needed to strike a balance between it being beautiful and eye-catching, without becoming overpowering.

I designed the mural using 6 colours (which ended up growing to 10), picked paint swatches from the Plascon range by matching my Pantones, got some swatches on the wall and then we went for it. We tweaked some colours by adding white to keep them more muted.

How long has it taken?

We were working on a live building site to meet tight deadlines, so there were some delays and workarounds to accommodate other aspects of the renovation, but all in all, it took two weeks to paint the front, side and also an additional back wall mural (to really carry through the concept). Bazil and I did the bulk of it but we had lots of help from the OneDD team and 3 exceptional painting assistants: Church, Manners and Willard. I also had 2 very supportive friends, Lisa and Shani, pop in to spend some time painting and documenting the process with us.

I also worked with Anlo on bringing aspects of the murals into the interiors, painting accent walls in the rooms, small touches like yellow circles around hanging pendant lights, and large archways on walls in the communal areas.

What were some complications?

As I mentioned, I created a doodle grid (the meter-by-meter plan of the design), but this wasn’t the initial plan – when I arrived on day 1 with my projector, I realised that this simply wasn’t going to work for a mural of this size, so quickly had to re-think the process. Bazil gave me a call to ask how it was going and talked me through how best to tackle everything. 

What did you enjoy most about creating the piece?

It was such a welcomed change of environment. I have always painted and worked with my hands, but it was a thrill climbing up and down the scaffolding (after my fear subsided and upper body strength kicked in), and I loved being outside, away from my desk and studio. I can see why so many artists plan to do mural seasons in summer, while the weather plays along and spend a few months travelling to paint – definitely something I’d like to plan to do in the future!

Anything you’d do differently next time?

I wouldn’t change a thing – it was such a great learning experience, I got to work with incredibly talented people and a great client, and even the challenges were fun to navigate.

What feeling or mood is the mural made to inspire?

Think Santa Barbara archways meets Palm Springs, a tropical vacation oasis in the city.

How did you plan your design to work with the architecture of the building?

Firstly, I did a site visit and took loads of photos. Anlo and I chatted through his plans for the exterior and anything I’d need to keep in mind, and then I just started playing around with my artwork on the building facade like a canvas, using the building’s windows and doorways and balcony columns as part of my design.

Any exciting mural plans coming up?

I have 2 new mural projects lined up for this year that are still in the planning phases, and also a really cool project for a courtyard mural in a client’s home. I’m very excited to have my artwork up on the walls of private/residential spaces, I get to create a little oasis for them which means a lot to me.

Follow Kim @kimkimbolino and Bazil @bazil_draws_on_walls to see what they get up to!

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