Michael Chandler

WORDS: Remy Raitt

“I design highlights,” says Cape Town designer Michael Chandler. This twenty-something has a portfolio of work as diverse as the country that inspires him. From ceramics and soft-furnishings to jewellery and furniture, Michael’s design studio, Chandler House, is rapidly touching all sides of the design spectrum. 

While studying Visual Art History at UCT, Michael began working at Stephan Welz and Sotheby’s, where his overwhelming curiosity for antiques began to influence his personal creative projects. “Since high school I have kept these black notebooks that I fill with every idea I have,” he says, gesturing towards a cupboard bulging with them. Michael says that the doodles in some of the notebooks were inspired by Cape Dutch trade antiques dealer Deon Viljoen, who ignited his passion for the Cape’s domestic interior aesthetic, which is a strong theme in his work.

Michael says his style is a Cape Dutch angle on the 1940s Hollywood Regency look, and his African heritage gives it an extra edge. “I thought I could define my style as ‘Cape Regency’ but that’s been used before, so I settled on ‘Cape Splendour’ instead. Splendour is glamour without opulence. It is about good-quality pieces put together in a discreet way.” Recurring themes of blue-and-white oriental porcelain, Cape Dutch gable motifs and subtle African elements find their way into many of Michael’s designs, but each of these is always reinterpreted in a new and contemporary way.

“Cape Town was where the West met ‘The Rest’ – all the blue-and-white china you see in Europe once sailed past Table Mountain. I find this incredible exciting! The first settlers had to juxtapose their European objects with exotic pieces and, by doing so, they invented their own unique interior aesthetic. I find this very inspiring and relevant in 2012.” Michael says.

Chandler House is home to an array of designs, which anyone with their finger on the local design pulse would instantly recognise. Since his debut design, the ‘Corals of Curiosity’ embroidered scatter cushion, Michael has sold his popular Phrenology vases around the country, sent the beaded ‘Madame-Style’ mirror to Anthropologie in the US and UK, showcased his Cape Pendant Collection at SA Fashion Week, and is currently working with Robin Sprong on a wallpaper collection.

He’s a self-professed ideas man and after he conceptualises and shapes his designs in one of his notebooks, Michael hands over his quirky sketches to a careful selection of talented craftspeople from around the Cape Peninsula.

Michael says that the process from idea to item is not only influenced by his creativity but also by that of the craftsperson. “The crafter who creates one of my designs is one of the filters that will affect the final product, just as the material itself is a filter. In effect, it’s an informal collaboration,” he explains.  This chain of individual influence is what ultimately defines the personality of the final product. “I’m not too particular,” he says, “the work has its own life and if I don’t like it, it will be discontinued. I like to give it a chance to be what it wants to be.” The pieces that Michael and the public do like, however, will have a lifespan as long as that of Chandler House.

With plans to continue expanding his collection and hopes of designing a few interiors, Michael is on the hunt for a physical address for Chandler House. There are a few options on the table, so it won’t be too long before fans of his work will be able to have coffee with Mr Chandler himself, while he explains the influences behind each of his designs.

Follow Michael’s updates on Twitter and look out for him at Design Indaba this year.

More information: http://ohthatchandler.wordpress.com, www.chandlerhouse.co.za