The newly transformed interior of Salsify at The Roundhouse, a cornerstone of Cape Town’s fine dining scene, artfully blends history, seasonality, and sustainability.

Chef Ryan Cole, executive chef and co-owner of Salsify, has once again collaborated with designer Jean Francois de Villiers to create a unique, immersive dining experience.

The redesign remains rooted in Salsify’s three guiding pillars: history, seasonality, and sustainability. The centrepiece of the space is undoubtedly the Origami ceiling installation in the Seasonal Room. The room, known for its modular nature, has undergone several changes over the years.

Among the highlights of the new design is the transformation of the old private dining room into the Preservation Chamber—a space rooted in the preservation of time, history, stories and ingredients. 

We spoke to Ryan and Jean to find out more about the redesign of this historic space

What was your brief to the interior design team … how did you want it to represent the ethos of Salsify?

Ryan: As with the previous three interior design themes, Salsify is a space where we grow, evolve, and prioritise sustainability. We’re fully committed to minimising waste, being conscious of our consumption as humans, and embracing an ever-changing landscape. As we approach our sixth year, we’re stepping into our own, knowing exactly what we stand for, who we speak to, and how we want to engage.

The space is representative of the time we’ve taken to get here. It’s sophisticated but still playful. Old but still new. Luxurious without being stuffy or intimidating.

How did you choose to interpret the brief and what were the major changes from the previous interior?

Jean: When working with Salsify the three pillars of our brief are heritage, sustainability and seasonality. We have leant into the green and gold of the heritage nature of the space in the form of colour blocking on walls and the new fabric choice for the existing Fiver chairs. Major changes include new wallpaper by Cara Saven Wall Design, the installation in the Seasonal Room of origami lotuses crafted from the old Salsify menus, and a selection of art by EBONY / CURATED that will change throughout the year. New flooring by Oggie has been carefully placed over the existing heritage floors to protect them and add a lovely warm base note.

Is there anything of your own personal taste in the restaurant’s interior … or is it all about the concept?

Ryan: To some degree, it is really a collaborative effort. Jean comes with a concept, incorporates my ideas – or makes them fit with the concept – and then makes it all happen. We work together throughout the process, making sure we adapt or change direction where required.

An example – is the elements we have brought into our reception and those for the Preservation Chamber – formerly the Private Dining Room. I wanted to slow our guests down when they arrive at Salsify – making sure they can relax, truly separate themselves from the outside world while they are here, and fully immerse in the Salsify experience. I wanted to add a ritual to our reception, and also allow guests to pause in our Preservation Room before they head to their tables – enjoying a pre-drink in a space where they can learn about some of the work we do with preservation, pickling, and proofing.

Together with Jean, we refined this concept and chose the right pieces to fill those spaces.

What are the unique challenges or requirements when designing a fine dining space?

Jean: Alongside the obvious constraints of working with a heritage building, I think the challenge of a fine dining space is that the guests have different expectations of what their experience should be. We play into that by offering lots of different touches, be they visual or textural, conversation starters and little “Instagrammable” moments whilst not taking away from the most important thing: the food.

What’s your favourite bit?

Jean: My favourite bit is definitely the Origami installation. Hours and hours of work for my team and me, but well worth it. Seeing something as flat as paper becomes something so textured and varying is unparalleled. | salsify.co.za

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Clout/SA and The Keiskamma Art Project have collaborated on their first homeware collection, set to launch at the AAfrica store in V&A Waterfront on 22 August.

AAfrica store, the contemporary African design emporium in the V&A Waterfront, is launching “Stitched, a Story of our Home” – a new homeware collection facilitated by Clout/SA in collaboration with The Keiskamma Art Project.

Over the last 20 years, the Keiskamma Art Project has produced major embroidered textile artworks made by the mainly rural women and men of Hamburg, sharing their stories and experiences, as well as bringing to visual life the oral history tradition of the Eastern Cape.

Three artists from the project, namely Anelisa Nyongo, Nozibele Nxadi, and lead artist and production manager Cebo Mvubu, have lent their skills and their particular aesthetic to the design of the collection.

“What really got me excited was that this process forced us out of our comfort zone. It showed us that we could effectively use messaging apps and create work remotely even with international collaborators. Going forward, we can now challenge ourselves to not be limited by our location in the rural Eastern Cape; we can work with anyone anywhere in the world,” says Cebu Mvubu, lead artist and production manager of Keiskamma Art Project.

The homeware collection features a quintessentially African scene and depicts a rich landscape of trees, lush vegetation and birds such as Grey Herons and Little Egrets who feature prominently in the Keiskamma River Estuary in Hamburg, rendered in the inimitable embroidery style of the Keiskamma Art Project artisans. Included in the in-store backdrop to launch the collection is the Papa San sofa by Haldane Martin and the wallpaper designed by Clout/SA executive Tracy Lynch, which was launched at 100% Design Africa in 2023 and printed by Cara Saven Wall Design.

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Cara Saven Wall Design recently collaborated with artist Lucie De Moyencourt on Shellegance, a striking new wallpaper collection. The result, sixteen dynamic designs, is nothing short of a ‘shore’ thing.

On an autumn morning in April, when design-focused businesswoman Cara Saven, founder of Cara Saven Wall Design, and artist and illustrator Lucie De Moyencourt, each wrapped in seashell-patterned wallpaper, waded into the Atlantic Ocean, it was more than into a numbingly cold sea that they walked. It was into a tradition, one that stretches back to ancient times, of seashell-inspired art and decorating. For the seashell, with its abundance of shapes and forms, its subtleties of colour, and its intricate patterns, has lent its attributes to Greek and Roman antiquity, to Renaissance paintings, to Rococo furniture and to Art Deco motifs. In recent years, there’s been a renewed interest in the seashell, and it’s become part of an evolving trend dubbed ‘crustaceancore’.

The reason for Saven and De Moyencourt’s adventurous morning swim was twofold. In part, it was a form of quality control (more on that later); of greater importance, it signified the launch of a collaborative new project between the two creatives. One that marries seashell imagery from De Moyencourt’s popular Shellegance (a collection which began as a series of two-dimensional decorative ceramics and sconces) with Cara Saven Wall Design’s commitment to developing wallpaper ranges with local artists, under the banner of CS&CO. Titled Shellegance, the collection is the striking result of this collaboration, but it’s not the studio’s first with De Moyencourt. “Lucie was one of three CS&CO launch artists I approached early in the Covid-19 pandemic, primarily because I liked her art,” explains Saven. “But also, because she lived within 10 kilometres of me, at a time when we had no choice but to appreciate our own neighbourhood.”

“I love working with Lucie because, like me, she trusts the process,” Saven continues. “We both have super high standards, and also this weird thing where we don’t control too much but nonetheless make it work, only moving forward if the process is working.” A year in the making, the Shellegance wallcovering collection was not without challenges, primarily one centering around how many shells were needed for each design. De Moyencourt meticulously photographed and recorded numerous ceramic seashells, before working closely with Cara Saven Wall Design’s creative team to group, size and, finally, position them. “The result is a collection of 16 gorgeously coloured seashell wallpapers. And while these can be adjusted in scale and background colour, Lucie’s palette is so perfect.” The various designs, set against backgrounds of coral and aquamarine – and some against more neutral tones – appear illustrative; it can take a moment to comprehend that the shells reproduced are of De Moyencourt’s ceramics, and not hand drawn.

The project has been equally rewarding for De Moyencourt, who not only enjoys collaborating with Saven, but is also excited to see how the collection is incorporated both into commercial and private spaces. “As a former set designer, I love that first my illustrations and now my shells can be used on large surfaces at architectural scale,” she says. “These designs can be used at various sizes, from classic small patterns to a more contemporary oversized scale. It is so fun seeing what Cara’s creative studio can do; I can’t wait to start seeing these applied to walls everywhere!”

The launch of Shellegance coincides with another release from Cara Saven Wall Design, one that’s equally been a long time in the planning. After a period of research and development, the studio has proudly unveiled its Linen Seamless wallcovering, a surface that is not only richly textured, but hardy too. One that is both seamless and scratch-proof, like the studio’s existing substrates, making it equally suitable for hospitality and restaurant projects. And it was to quality check this substrate that Saven and De Moyencourt, clad in Shellegance-printed wallpapers, waded into the salty Atlantic. “Traditional wallpapers cannot go near water. Wanting to test the durability – and washability – of our new Linen Seamless substrate, we decided to print designs from the Shellegance collection on to this, and to take her for a swim,” explains Saven. “We immersed her in the ocean, pulled her out, immersed her once again. And she emerged looking like she’d stepped out of a salon, perfect!” | carasaven.com

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Cara Saven Wall Design’s latest collection for her CS&Co range – a cool collaborative project that highlights her favourite local artists, features South African artist Kooooooos, in a collection that’s both playful and whimsical.

Cara prefers the collaborations to happen by chance. “I don’t actively seek out new artists to join our range,” wall design specialist Cara Saven says, “I wait for them to cross my path.” She stumbled on a lobster painting by multidisciplinary artist and designer Kooooooos while scrolling on Instagram, which was the spark that set off the new quirky range. 

Kooooooos’ art differed from the previous collabs for CS&Co (featured here) and Cara thought that something a bit more cheeky with a playful and darker edge would work well, all messily packaged in a youthful and sketchy style. love messy,” Saven says, “I relate to a haphazard style. There’s a whimsy to Koooooos’s work, there’s a youthfulness to it, it’s not taking itself too seriously. It’s also very strong graphically so it ticks all the boxes.”

After a few brainstorming sessions, the pair finalised where they wanted to go with the idea and what images would fit on large-scale or smaller walls in homes, offices, guest houses, restaurants or any other space that called for a statement wall. “I’m very curious to see it being applied,” Kooooooos says. “It excites me a lot to imagine where they’re going to go.”

This resulted in five options, Bathers 1 &2, Wine Sloths, Tired Nudes and Beach Plz, all celebrating the naked form of women in a loose-lined style. pattern. I felt unsure if the work would lose impact if it was a very small, repeated pattern that’s almost like a texture rather than illustrations. But when Cara and I met, she said, “No, big. It must be big and the scale must be bold.” This is to allow the artwork to stretch across an entire wall as an impactful mural or be tweaked for the client’s desired effect in a space. “We worked some of them out into repeats, which is necessary,” Kooooooos says. 

“It’s important that if our clients want to change a colour, or change the scale, we can bend to their needs,” Saven says. “We even love people asking us for fully customised designs. If someone loves the style of The Bathers but would like mountain climbers, it’s so great to be able to go back to the artists and commission a piece like that.“

The result? A fun, flirty tongue-in-cheek collection that reminds you to not take life too seriously and revel in the finer things, wallpaper included.

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Cara Saven Wall Design has launched CS&Co, a new project that sees the local brand team up with three of its favourite Cape Town-based artists – Joh Del, Lucie de Moyencourt and Michael Chandler – on a new range of wallpapers.

Lucie de Moyencourt is known for her ink drawings and paintings of daily life in Cape Town and beyond, many of which narrate the ways in which people inhabit spaces, both natural and built. CS&Co draws on seven years’ worth of Lucie’s depictions of city life.

Clifton Beach by Lucie de Moyencourt

Artist, commercial illustrator and graphic designer Joh Del’s (Johan de Lange) infinitely detailed work brims with unexpected wonders and surprise. His signature palette of flat earthy hues that aptly celebrate South Africa’s abundance of natural beauty, from underwater life to indigenous flora, can now be seen across this range of CS&Co wallpaper.

Flowering Plants – Light by Joh Del

Michael Chandler is well-known for his hand-painted ceramics and fine illustration work. As part of CS&Co, you’ll find Michael’s highly-detailed drawings of nature, history and Cape Town transformed into large-scale wallpaper applications.

Cape Town by Michael Chandler

Visit carasaven.com to find out more about CS&Co.

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