The rugs that a dream team of South African Designers and contemporary artists have created for luxury lodge Molori Safari are almost too gorgeous to tread on.

The ultra-cool series of rugs that now electrify the living spaces of the exclusive Molori Safari in the North West’s Madikwe Game Reserve originated in the height of Covid.

It was during the constrained days of early lockdown that Megan Hesse and Andrea Kleinloog of design outfit Hesse Kleinloog decided it was time to create carpets as part of the interior revamp they were doing at the bush escape.

Not long into the refit, the team realised that round statement rugs would be a brilliant addition to the space. They’d work with the bones of the place, and complement the artworks going into the lodge from owner Ivor Ichikowitz’s impressive art collection. But round rugs are hard to get at the best of times in South Africa, let alone during a pandemic.

Never one to turn down a challenge, and working with Koos Groenewald of creative studio Jana + Koos, Andrea and her team elected to have the rugs custom-made by Brabetz Carpet Mill in Durban. They also roped in five other major artists to help them bring the huge pieces to life.

In hindsight, the task seems almost farcical: no-one was able to visit the mill during lockdown, and everything was done over video and phone. But thanks to some seriously hard work, ingenuity and graphic-design savvy from Koos and the carpet crafters, the result is six sensational works by Athi-Patra Ruga, Cameron Platter, Jody Paulsen, Maja Marx, Nabeeha Mohamed, and Koos too.

“We started this project in the deepest, darkest depths of Covid uncertainty, and it was such a spark of joy during such a dark time,” says Andrea. “In many ways, the absolute fun and frivolity of colour, and the joy of engagement, were so welcome in the disjointed, masked-up world.” Over the next few pages, the artists weigh in on this jump from canvas to carpet.

Nabeeha Mohamed’s Rug

“I thought the rug was way better than my original watercolour artworks!” says Nabeeha of a finished product that brilliantly captures her trademark bold work, which often depicts domestic scenes. “It’s a combination of three different artworks, and it’s been translated beautifully,” she adds, noting that, prior to this project, she’d never worked with carpets and didn’t understand the skill set that goes into turning a flat paperwork into a luscious and colourful artwork of this kind.

Athi-Patra Ruga’s Rug

Of this practical manifestation of his “Future White Women of Azania” performance art series and his 2013 tapestry work The Votive Portrait of Her, the much-celebrated artist says, “It has been a pleasure to see a work that was live performance art move into two-dimensional petit point. With the Molori collaboration, it moved into a large-scale beauty that employed elements of texture and colour. This stays true to our studio’s ethos of stretching ourselves over various media to access all audiences.”

Jody Paulsen’s Rug

Molori Safari’s main lodge features the riotous carpet version of Jody’s 2013 felt collage, Eat Me (Bananas). His focus on textile-based art meant that Jody had always wanted to try his hand at creating a carpet – and so the Molori project ticked that box. He hopes that this vivid and mesmerising yellow-and-black piece triggers “a feeling of joy and happiness”, and that in it, guests experience the same sense of charm evoked by the original artwork.

Majamarx’s Rug

A painter who has been working with visual language for many years, Maya found it interesting to “see an artwork transformed”, and was thrilled by the request to turn one of her pieces into a rug.

The inky-hued artwork that the rug riffs off was inspired by ribbons and the way they fall to the ground. “It’s about the power of line,” she says, adding, “I really love the way in which the quality of the line and the embossed quality of the rug came together.”

Koos Groenewald’s Rug

For his carpet, Koos put on his hat as an artist – “an official side hustle” to his job as one half of Jana + Koos. He used a mixedmedia artwork that incorporated cork, and which was lying around his studio, as the springboard for his flooring masterpiece. “I would love everyone to see the cheeky side of this rug,” says the mind behind the rug project of his textured creation. “It’s a little bit naughty and has a little bit of nudity in it.”

Cameron Platter’s Rug

The acclaimed KZN-based visual artist is used to working with various craftspeople to realise his pieces, but admits he was amazed and thrilled by the end result of the Molori endeavour. His rug depicts “a deconstructed lion going crazy on a dance floor”. “When I was approached to work on this project, I was over the moon,” he says. “Based on an artwork called A Night of Bliss, the rug takes from the original and makes it better!”

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Cape Town-based multidisciplinary editions and publications company Bad Paper aims to provide an alternative to the gallery system: an environment where artists are able to explore the potential of their work as an edition or publication, while offering more accessible contemporary artwork to the public.

Bad Paper, which was co-founded in 2016 by visual artist Rodan Kane Hart and book/graphic designer Ben Johnson, collaborates with artists to create pieces ranging in medium, from sculptures and designed objects to prints and artist books.

Examples of recent editions include “Wastepaper Bin” by Cameron Platter, made from hand-carved jacaranda wood, which, with its accompanying Monster energy drink, succinctly summarises Cameron’s commentary on the current throwaway consumer culture. “At Work” is another new publication, a 280-page artist monograph that presents the past six years of Rodan Kane Hart’s work. The book contains all three of Rodan’s solo exhibitions, as well as a full chronology of his work since 2005, supplemented by insightful texts authored by art writer Sean O’Toole, artist Michael MacGarry and Hart himself. Composed of sculptures, process images, drawings, prints and photographs, Rodan’s work and thought process are intermingled, presenting a holistic portrait of the artist.

Bad Paper’s temporary setup is at the A4 Art Foundation in Cape Town, as part of their Parellel Play residency until August 2018. Check out Bad Paper’s editions and merchandise at badpaper.co.za.  

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Earlier this year, the creative duo behind leather accessories brand Missibaba, designer Chloe Townsend and her business partner Lizel Strydom, found themselves inspired by Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 buzz.

They started thinking about how they could express its ‘Live Design, Transform Lives’ theme, and that’s when they decided to approach some of the country’s leading design and artistic talents to recreate their signature weekender Missibaba BOOMBOX bag.

The result? A range of nine unique designs created in collaboration with well-known names such as fashion designer Stiaan Louw, artists Cameron Platter and Michael Taylor, and jewellery designer Ida Elsje. The Missibaba team also designed a colourful hand-woven version too. 

Missibaba hosted an auction on 25 September 2014 for the bags at the WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town. The proceeds from the auctioned BOOMBOX bags will be donated to SHIFT, an organization that helps to empower youth and rural communities through skills transfer.

For more information, visit missibaba.com.

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Here at VISI we are always excited for excellent new local design, especially by fresh new talent. For instance, we love Bloemfontein-born Atang Tshikare’s geometric architectural line drawings etched onto the wooden tables made by Cameron Barnes Furniture. Better known as a graphic designer, Givan Lötz also explores the optical limits of geometry with his unusual mirrors, not to mention Meyer von Wielligh’s naturally elegant Leaf sideboard.

Speaking of limits, two artists stood out for us as having really pushed their materials. Cameron Platter continued to subvert the ordinary with incendiary new meaning with his plastic garden chair that is in fact wood. Meanwhile, getting somewhat controversial, Michael MacGarry presented chopsticks made out of human bone. Interestingly, because of the human material, the work can’t be sold and we can’t help wondering what it’s fate may be!

A perennial VISI favourite, Dokter and Misses (whose design of Wyatt Hairdressing is featured in VISI 68 SPRINGLOADED) show off just why their refined formalist-with-an-African-twist designs are amassing an international cult following. Their collaboration with Dawn Dludlu in particular has us gaga. In fact, isn’t it awesome the frontiers that craft is being taken to – have a look at Marisa Fick-Jordan’s striking wirework.

One of the highlights of the Southern Guild show is always seeing artists and designers punch out of their comfort zone. Take artist Conrad Botes who takes his comic-book style and produces real three-dimensional functional furniture – we’re sure that a Botes headboard and bedside tables would enhance our dreams at night.

Photographer David Ross also showed what he’s learnt about design from behind the camera all these years with his range of mobiles (as seen in VISI 68 SPRINGLOADED). Oh and, also previewed in VISI 68 SPRINGLOADED, are Philippe Bousquet’s delightful scrap metal sculptures that, with his dogs and robots, bring retro-futurist fun and animation to the otherwise predictable genre of lighting.

One of our favourite must-have pieces though is designer and sculptor Xandre Kriel’s Samoosa table. Besides its metallic beauty, that a designer found inspiration in the rather ordinary samosa for something so beautiful blows our collective minds, making us want to open our wallets and get drastic with the plastic. But then, if we’re going to bring out the plastic there’s also Pierre Cronje’s wonderful Puzzle Bench, not to mention the exquisite collaboration between artist John Murray and carpet manufacturer Paco Pakdoust – although perhaps the latter is almost too good to walk on!

Of course you can see all of this for yourself by visiting the museum until Sunday 3 November. Presented in partnership with steel giant Arcelor Mittal SA and featuring over 200 works by 100 artists and designers, this is Southern Guild’s most extensive exhibition since being founding in 2008 – incredible considering how busy they’ve been promoting SA design overseas this year (read more here).

www.moadjhb.com, www.southernguild.co.za

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The second part (Part 1 here) of our online exhibition of the charity art show that Lauren Beukes organised in aid of Rape Crisis, following the worldwide acclaim for her book The Shining Girls – as reported in our SPRINGLOADED VISI 68.

Read Lauren’s thoughts and see Part 1 of the online exhibition here.

The second part of the online exhibition, showing in the gallery above, includes work by Stephen Rosin, Ree Treweek, Keri Muller, Liza Grobler, Cameron Platter, Marc Schoul, Lara Feldman, Lauren Fowler, Lorenzo Nassimbeni, Louisa Betteridge, Kim Stern, Michelle Baron, Morne Visagie, Paul Senyol, Matthew Hindley, Wim Botha, Michael Chandler, Peter Eastman, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Stefan “St(e)ak” Naude, Rowan Foxcroft, Rikus Ferreira, Syndi Kahn, Shany van den Berg, Richard Scott and Willeen le Roux.

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