Mixed well

WORDS: Remy Raitt

A playful mixture of colour and design has skyrocketed Luzelle van der Westhuizen’s label, Mengsel (Afrikaans for “mixture”), across the world. Even Marc Jacobs wants a piece…

The trained jewellery designer swapped her Cape Town trade for London – and a new career in printmaking. The orders have been rolling in ever since.

Luzelle’s quirky prints are inspired by sights that catch her fancy, from vintage Italian coffee makers to whales atop unfurling waves. VISI spoke to the South African designer about life in London, her new range of scatter cushions and the things that inspire her.

You studied jewellery design. Why the move to prints and textiles? 

When I was studying jewellery design, the pieces I created were always in a very illustrative style, derived from objects I liked. I’ve always loved graphic design and two-dimensional illustration, and was drawing from a very early age.

In London, I went on a little detour from jewellery and ended up working for a well-known textile designer. I went on a printmaking course and immersed myself in traditional printmaking, pretty much starting my print range straight away. It was a revelation – I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

Do you still make jewellery? 

I’m not making jewellery at the moment, but I can see little boat, whale and swan pendants hanging from the necks of fashionistas in the future…

What do you miss most about South Africa (design-wise, that is)? 

In general, European design can be very sleek and polished. I miss the raw originality and inventive use of materials of South African designs.

“Mengsel” is Afrikaans. Tell us about this name choice.
I’m Afrikaans and I wanted a name for my collection of prints and homeware that would retain my South African identity. I wanted a name that could set me apart from UK-based designers and which would actually mean something. I love mixing my own ink colours for my hand-pulled prints, so I felt that “Mengsel” was quite appropriate.

Where do you sell your wares?
I started out selling my work online on Etsy.com and my whole business grew from there. My work is for sale in UK homeware store, Heal’s, as well as smaller boutiques and galleries in the UK, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Luxembourg and, of course, at my South African stockist – Vamp Furniture in Cape Town. Australia is next.

My work is also sold via my own online store, mengsel.bigcartel.com (shipping worldwide). The response has been so amazing and sometimes I have to pinch myself when I realise that I’ve only been doing this for two years. 

Tell us about your work with international labels like Marc Jacobs.
The people from Marc Jacobs also contacted me via Etsy.com. They really loved my “Toucans” print design and wanted me to create a new pattern for a garment that would form part of their 2011 Resort Collection. I think they fell for the kooky, tropical style!

What inspires your patterns?
I live by the words of Paul Smith: “You can find inspiration in everything and if you can’t find it, look again.” Of course, I’m influenced by South African design, but I’m also very much drawn to Scandinavian design and the Mid-century Modern style.

The way that certain objects can fit into each other and be repeated to create an abstract pattern completely fascinates me and M.C. Escher is a big influence. My patterns are inspired by everyday objects, interesting animals, cityscapes and graphic landscapes. Colour plays a big part in my patterns. Sometimes I think about the colours that I want to use before I even know what I’m going to draw.

Your whale and boat cushions just arrived at Vamp in Cape Town. Tell us about them.
Both of these designs, as well as the new Swan cushions, are taken from my original print designs. I’ve wanted to do cushions for a long time and my customers kept asking me for the Boat and Whale designs on cushions, so I chose these images to start out with.

The cushions are made from a lightweight canvas woven from 55% linen and 45% cotton. I hope that they will brighten up a couple of homes and I think that they’re especially ideal for beach houses and the coastal South African lifestyle. I’m completely obsessed with boats, so you’ll definitely see some more boat prints from me!

Which is your favourite Mengsel pattern?
The Moka Express pattern is the one that helped kick everything off for Mengsel, so it’s very dear to my heart. I always think that people will grow tired of it, but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m one of those people who open my eyes in the morning and I’m like: “Coffee!” and lots of people can identify with that.

Any exciting future plans you would like to share?
I’m currently working on a series of hand-pulled prints for the London 2012 Olympics, which will be available via my online shop and various galleries. And then there is always my own Mengsel boutique that I’m dreaming of…

More information: www.mengsel.com, mengsel.bigcartel.com