Meeting the makers

WORDS, PHOTOS & VIDEO: Nadine Theron, Touchlab

Did you know that it takes 10 hours to make one pair of G-mo boots? That Frazer Parfum’s Tammy Frazer is the grandchild of the inventor of Oil of Olay? Or that the concept for the cover of the Loerie-award-winning World Design Capital 2014 bid book was changed two days before its deadline?

I attended five of Creative Week Cape Town’s Meet the Makers tours last week, in the run-up to the 2011 Loeries Awards. During every session, I was delightfully entertained by the fascinating personalities, methods and spaces of local creatives.

Products I previously just appreciated and desired from a distance leapt to life as I learnt more about the intricate processes and passionate people behind them…

Infestation, 149 Upper Canterbury Street

Upon entering Infestation’s design studio in the Earthlife building in Gardens, my breathing suddenly became easier. A light freshness sparkled off the studio’s walls, and a back wall came alive with views of Signal Hill.

Founder Christo Maritz guided the tour group along the journey to this space, telling us how it all started on his bed in a bachelor flat 11 years ago. 

“The great thing about the story is that it started off with a need to be different; not a need to own something,” Christo says. “Most entrepreneurs start their own business because they want to control it. But I started Infestation because I didn’t like the way things were happening in the design industry.

“I didn’t like the way clients dictated to us what to do and how we dictated to the suppliers what to do. I felt aware of this middleman the whole time. I felt the need to get out of there and I didn’t know what to do. A lot of makers we met this week have inspiring stories. They had this urge where they had to spread their wings and fly into the sky. I wasn’t one of them. I just wanted to get out of there.”

www.infestation.co.za

Liam Mooney, 64 Bree Street

The story of Infestation is completely different to that of, say, Liam Mooney.

Having just graduated from CPUT in industrial design, Liam’s first client was sent to him via one of his lecturers. “The job went terribly,” Liam says. “I had no idea how to deal with clients whatsoever. I barely knew how to design furniture. So it didn’t end very well.”

Liam went on to start the Whatiftheworld Design Studio with friends, and from there he launched his solo career. The Liam Mooney store now showcases a display of his favourite products at 64 Bree Street.

www.liammooney.co.za

Grandt Mason, 18 Roeland Street

In the old Cape Town Hospital building, Grandt Mason and sister Kate run their tiny shoe factory. Attendants of this tour were treated to a production tour of a Grandt Mason Original shoe, which included everything from a look into Kate’s fabric-selection process to the stitching and cobbling of the shoe’s exterior.

http://g-mo.co.za

Frazer Parfum, 108 Bree Street, St Stephen’s Church

A journey to Madagascar, Switzerland and India awaited those who visited Tammy Frazer next to Brewers&Union in Bree Street.

The selection of every note in each of Tammy’s nine signature perfumes was explained in detail as she carefully placed a droplet of each “Chapter”, as they are called, onto every member of her tour group’s wrists.

“Oh, and I do follow my nose!” she was quick to answer when asked about compiling the scents.

http://frazerparfum.com

A peek into the bid book

The week’s tours ended at Infestation with a sneak peak at Cape Town’s entry for the title of World Design Capital 2014. The bid book was borrowed especially for the tour, being one of only five in South Africa.

Drinks and a fiery talk from Christo Maritz, who’s still striving toward an integrated South African design industry, concluded the days’ events, which were no doubt a highlight on the Creative Week Cape Town calendar.

More information: www.creativeweekct.co.za

Watch our video for a fly-on-the-wall look into the Meet the Makers tours (if you can’t view the video in your browser, click here):