Muizenberg Icons Reborn

PHOTOS Jan Ras

After months of judging and then manufacturing, the seven final pieces of the HUT x Always Welcome design challenge are on exhibition at St George’s Cathedrals’ Church House in Cape Town. 

With VISI magazine the media partner, the HUT x Always Welcome design challenge was launched at the 2024 Cape Town Furniture Week. Seven designers were invited to design limited edition pieces using material reclaimed during the refurbishment of the iconic Muizenberg Huts. Discover all the Hut Design Challenge entries here.

For those not familiar with it, Always Welcome is a multi-brand collective retailer local design and their HUT project celebrates sustainable design, repurposing of found materials and compact living solutions from the unique perspective of African designers. More than mere salvage, AW is inspiring African designers to re-imagine the wood as a living material imbued with a deep sense of our shared coastal heritage. 

Local designer manufacturers were invited to submit a design proposal at Cape Town Furniture Week 2024 where a limited-edition piece by local design outfit Kino was displayed. Setting the tone for the level of output of the challenge, Kino designed and manufactured a vanity stand from the reclaimed Beach Hut material. Their limited-edition design preserves and highlights some of the original iconic color paints on the timber and integrates recycled and upcycled material knowledge. 

After Kino’s piece was exhibited at Milan Design Week, a local judging panel, including VISI’s editor-in-chief Steve Smith, selected a final six from the entries who’d then go ahead and make the furniture pieces. Included in the selection were both recognised design studios and student designers. This inter- generational curation sparks a dynamic between the established and up and coming designers in our African design community.  

Here are the seven and their works … and, by clicking on each, you can read more about each piece, the inspiration behind them and the design methodology employed. 

• Inland X Stripped Collective – “The Muizenbar”
• Studio Kalki – “The Kalki Drinks Cabinet”
• Kino – “Vanity Stand”
• Tandem House Design – “The Tall Boy Locker”
• Sky Designs – “The Surfer’s Curtain”
• Cara Turner – “The Everyman Chair”
• Amy Claire Arthur – “The Balamory Bench”
• Priyanka Verma – “The Shark Attack Table”

The final exhibition of limited edition pieces was launched at the Circular Squared hub located in the Church House heritage building connected to the Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral.  

The pieces will be on display there for several months and be accessible to holiday goers, locals, press and creative communities alike. In addition to being housed in CT, the HUT team looks forward to exhibiting at future exhibitions held in various cities in Europe in 2025.  

The HUT pieces will be auctioned in collaboration with Strauss & Co in June 2025.  Proceeds will go to The Beach Hut Trust, as well as other charitable causes based in Muizenberg and a percentage will also go to the designer in the form of a royalty. Strauss & co are committed to building a collector’s market for our local design community. 

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