New Resoborg Mural

WORDS Michaela Stehr

The Boiler Room Cafe, a funky day-time eatery in Durban, has received a mini face-lift thanks to illustrator, designer and artist Wesley van Eeden (aka Resoborg).

The new mural depicts a woman hailing a minibus taxi, sticking to Resoborg’s love of featuring South African heritage in his local work.

The full artwork took eight days to complete, which includes preliminary sketches and digital illustrations that he presented to his client. From there, the image was projected onto the wall using a laptop and proximal. “The Boiler Room is situated on Umgeni Road at the original Lion Match Box factory in Durban. This road has a ton of traffic and lots of taxis so I was inspired by this and wanted to reflect the local environment in the mural. You’ll notice a giant cupcake sits on the roof of taxi to show a bit of quirkiness. After all, the bistro sells some awesome cupcakes!” says Wesley. 

Done in PVA, Resoborg is influenced by the brush techniques of traditional sign writers you will find around South Africa, such as street side barbershops. He explains: I wanted to give it a fresh feel, which is why I used the teal. I didn’t want it to be too explosive, so I brought in a light grey for the background and a darker grey to complement the tones. “For me, it’s important for the colours to pop but also to let the art sit in between brightness and calmness.”

See more of his illustrations at resoborg.com.