The winners of the 2019 100% Design South Africa Awards have been announced, including this year’s South African Designer of the Year.

The event, held from 7 – 11 August 2019 alongside Decorex Joburg, showcases a selection of top local designers across a variety of disciplines, from textiles and furniture to homeware and lighting.

The winners were chosen by an independent judging panel, including VISI Deputy Editor Annemarie Meintjes, Creative Director Tracy Lynch, architect Nisha van der Hoven, interior designer Tristan du Plessis, Ntombenhle Shezi of Kaya FM and Malibongwe Tyilo of Maverick Life.

The award for South African Designer of the Year was jointly awarded to Thabisa Mjo of Mash. T Design Studio and Mpho Vackier of The Urbanative.

South African Designers of the Year: Thabisa Mjo of Mash. T Design Studio and Mpho Vackier of The Urbanative, with 100% Design South Africa’s Creative Director Cathy O’ Clery.

Here, in no particular order, are the seven category winners:

Best Furniture Design: Preservation Bench by Houtlander for AHEC

Preservation Bench by Houtlander for AHEC

Best Textile Design: Ronel Jordaan

Best Lighting Design: Memphis Lighting Collection by Wiid Design and Ceramic Matters

Best Surface Design: MAXHOSA wallpaper by Laduma Ngxokolo

MAXHOSA Wallpaper by Laduma Ngxokolo

Best Product Design: Raw Studios for Inhouse

Best of 100% New Talent: Sifiso Shange of Afri-Modern, in collaboration with John Vogel

Best Stand: Wolkberg Casting Studios and Jacobs Collection

For more information, visit 100percentdesign.co.za.

The post Winners: 100% Design South Africa Awards 2019 appeared first on Visi.

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AKJP

Fashion designer Keith Henning (Adriaan Kuiters) and artist Jody Paulsen joined forces to start this creative collective.

Amy Ayanda

Based in Cape Town, artist and musician Amy Ayanda creates beautiful artworks and clothing.

Atang Tshikare

Through collaborations with various product designers, Atang has become a household name when it comes to surface design.

Arkivio

Find lighting, mirrors and homeware from this experimental Durban-based design studio.

Asha:Eleven

Asha:Eleven works with factories that care about what they do and who they do it with, as well as with small social empowerment groups who have incredible skillsets. They’re also inspired to reduce the negative impact that production has on the planet.

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bbellamy & bbellamy

bbellamy&bbellamy is a textile studio and curated fabric shop founded by David Bellamy and based in Muizenberg, Cape Town.

Benji + Moon

Local pet brand Benji + Moon’s products are sure to keep tails wagging.

Bofred

The brain-child of Christa Botha and Carla Erasmus, this collective creates original collections focused on lighting, furniture and art.

Bronze Age

Bronze Age is a Cape Town-based art foundry that specialises in the casting of bronze sculptures, utilising both wax and sand casting processes.

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Ceramic Matters

Established in 1997 by Gerhard Swart and Anthony Harris, Ceramic Matters’ decorative ceramics and corporate ware have garnered an international following.

Clinton Friedman

Based in Durban, designer and artist Clinton Friedman creates homeware and fashion items including scatters, art prints, dish cloths, aprons and serving trays.

Conrad Hicks

“Because I am a blacksmith, I am a toolmaker. Hence, as an artist I am fascinated by the instinctive relationship that I discover between beauty, form and function and how they are inseparable. I work to discover where that beauty lies. The tools that I make are the ‘creative’ component and the work, a record of the creative thought.”

Crystal Birch

London-trained milliner Crystal Birch worked under Piers Atkinson in the UK before she launched her eponymous brand of stylish hats – “which pair perfectly with one-piece swimsuits,” she says – in 2014. In 2018, she became a director of the 82-year-old hat factory, Parisian Milliners, where her unstoppable energy is directing the business into the 21st century while retaining its hand-made charm.

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David Krynauw

David Krynauw is the creative behind his own local solid wood furniture studio.

Dear Rae

Cape Town-based jewellery designer Karin Rae creates striking and whimsical pieces.

Dokter and Misses

It’s impossible to talk local furniture design without mentioning Adriaan Hugo and Katy Taplin’s brand.

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Egg Designs

Looking for contemporary bespoke furniture? Founded in 1996 by Greg and Roché Dry, Egg Designs has found the golden mean between personalised and trendy.

Elle Kay Fabrics

This Durban-based textile brand designs bold fabrics that embrace geometric and contemporary patterns.

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Famke

Jewellery designer Famke Koene creates simple, geometric pieces in sterling silver and gold.

Fanie van Zyl

We’re crazy about this industrial designer’s style. Make sure to check out his Jozi-inspired stainless steel bookends.

Frank Conradie

Frank Conradie is a successful illustrator, designer and co-founder of Run Rabbit Run studio in Cape Town.

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Galago

Galago is an ethics-driven, fashion-forward brand, crafted and inspired around Africa, drawing on craft and traditional techniques to create contemporary products.

Gisele Human

Gisele makes her jewellery designs by hand in Cape Town under her label WAIF.

Gregor Jenkin Studio

“Is it art? Is it design?” we find ourselves asking when we see the creations of Gregor Jenkin and his team.

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Haldane Martin

Established in 2002, this furniture and interior design studio has grown to be among the best known in the country, having picked up clients such as Cécile & Boyd and Woolworths.

Hamzeh Alfarahneh

Creative director and multidisciplinary designer Hamzeh Alfarahneh is behind NOT JUST A COMB, a collection of one-of-a-kind fabricated ductile combs.

Hoi P’loy

Hoi P’loy is a vintage lighting company based in Cape Town. The brand was created as a play on the Ancient Greek expression ‘Hoi Polloi’ as well as the name of company co-founder, Ploy Phiromnam.

Houtlander

Headed up by furniture makers Phillip Hollander and Stephen Wilson, Houtlander’s pieces draw on Scandinavian traditions. All made of oak, a durable wood with a lovely grain, Houtlander’s designs are minimalist, functional and sturdy.

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Imiso Ceramics

With her hand-pinched collection and his pieces inspired by influences as varied as the works of Picasso and the practice of body scarification, co-founders Zizipho Poswa and Andile Dyalvane continue to raise the bar for ceramics in SA.

I Scream and Red

Cape Town-based designer and entrepreneur Zaid Philander is changing the world “one stitch at a time”.

Ithaca Fine Homeware

The simple pleasure of sleeping under exquisite bed linen is unsurpassed. Ithaca’s locally made and hand-finished pillowcases, duvets and throws promise a perfect night’s rest. “As an interior designer, working with fine fabrics for many years almost left me no choice but to create something exquisite that we can use and appreciate in our homes on a daily basis,” says Ithaca owner Ilze Swart.

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Jade Klara

Jade Klara graduated with a B.A from UCT and a B.A from Vega. In her work, she plays with whimsical imagery and narratives. Jade currently works from her studio in Woodstock.

James Mudge

Creating beautiful furniture using traditional cabinet-making techniques is in James Mudge’s blood.

JimnoJean

For locally made gifts, beautifully wrapped and delivered countrywide, check out the online shop Jimnojean.com, which sells local artists’ work, homeware, jewellery, fashion and conscious beauty products.

Joe Paine

This product and furniture design label prides itself on creating products that are “inventive but simple, sophisticated without pretension, with a focus on outdoor application, plants and birdlife”.

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Koop Design

Founded by Richard Stretton, this studio combines a furniture design and an architectural practice. Much of the furniture is designed in collaboration with architects and interior designers.

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Laurie Wiid van Heerden

This award-winning designer is the founder of Wiid Design, a Cape Town-based design studio with a contemporary furniture range. Be sure to have a look at his iconic benches.

Lichen & Leaf

Lichen & Leaf is a multi-disciplinary Cape Town-based studio that sees Cynthia Edwards hand craft all the items alongside an outsourced team of talented artisans and craftspeople. We just love her bold earrings.

Lisa Firer

Ceramicist Lisa Firer’s unique porcelain vessels are created through a hand-rolled slab-built technique.

Love Milo

Love Milo creates a variety of products in cork and textile, in addition to prints on 100% cotton using sustainable and eco-friendly hand printing techniques and ink.

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MAG by Andile

Andile Mdakane launched MAG Urban African Accessories in 2016. Inspired by ancient African symbols rich with meaning, MAG earrings and brooches come in various shweshwe finishes.

Mantua

Mantua Silkwear scarves, which are locally crafted in Stellenbosch, aim to transcend trends, creating designs that are multifunctional, versatile and not limited to a particular season. Owned by textile and clothing designer Juandi Andrag, the scarves are inspired by art and the way silk reacts against the skin.

Mash.T Design Studio

Headed up by creative director Thabiso Mjo,  this interior and product design firm aims to re-imagine the African aesthetic.

MaXhosa by Laduma

The MaXhosa collection is a vibrant ode to the evolution of African style.

Merwyn Gers

Merwyn Gers Ceramics create functional objects from clay, including jugs, plates, mugs and bowls, from its studio in Cape Town.

Micah Donnoli

Micah Donnoli appeared on VISI’s radar thanks to his striking combination of concrete, wood and oxidised copper in a sideboard.

Michael Chandler

Michael is the founder of Chandler House, a small design studio, antique shop and art gallery. He has an eye for the old, rare and beautiful, and a keen sense of how it fits into the now.

Moss & Moon

Simone Stiglingh, owner of Moss & Moon Apothecary, is passionate about creating products that contain only natural ingredients and essential oils. She was born into a family who all have sensitive skin, so she has always preferred to turn to nature or the pantry rather than commercial products. Moss & Moon is a collection of her best recipes formulated into shard-like soap bars, oils, creams and tinctures.

Mungo

“From our mill to our shop, from us to you.” Mungo is a South African story of textiles inspired by history taking it into the future.

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Nic Bladen

We are captivated by this sculptor and jeweller’s botanical sculpture series (made using plant castings), which hits that sweet spot between art and design.

Nicky Levenberg

Textile designer and fine artist Nicky Levenberg created the contemporary homeward brand, AUREUM.

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Okha

Traditional craftsmanship and a contemporary aesthetic make this design studio and retailer one of our favourite purveyors of African luxury.

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Paper Republic

Gauteng-based Paper Republic specialises in the creation of functional paper products, decorative items and eye-catching installations.

PICHULIK

PICHULIK is drawn to the intimate relationship women have with jewellery – how it speaks of a woman’s travels, her mother or grandmother and the people she has loved.

Pierre Cronje

Inspired by the designs of the Cape Dutch Settlers and French Huguenots, and drawing on Shaker-style simplicity, Pierre Cronje revises these traditions into unique, iconic furniture pieces.

Porky Hefer

Artist Porky Heffer spent 16 years in advertising, then founded the creative consultancy Animal Farm and Porky Hefer Design in 2011. His public sculptures and product and furniture designs have won him international recognition.

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Quirky.Me

The home of “kooky decor and genius gifts”, this design business sells items collected by Ingrid Corbett, and sometimes created by Ingrid in collaboration with local creatives and artisans.

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Renée Rossouw

A trained artist and architect, Renée creates patterns, products, murals and art.

Robin Sprong

Robin Sprong Wallpaper is a Surface Design company that specialises in creating incredible imagery for interiors.

Ronel Jordaan

In 2003, Ronel Jordaan, having been a textile designer for 26 years, began researching the possibilities of using felt as a creative medium. Entirely self-taught and following her own creative instincts, she began to turn fine gossamer thread into robust felted forms.

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SamaSama

Sama Sama was started by Kimberly Lardner-Burke and Max Basler in early 2018, bringing out clothing with a focus on an understanding of movement, unrestricted feelings and with compassion for the body. The clothing is designed to be comfortable while maintaining style and using fabrics which are 100% natural.

Siyanda Mazibuko

“I more than love the process of creating or bringing imagination to life. I have this insane passion to imagine and create. For me, this is what design is about,” says founder of PATE Arts and Crafts.

Skin Creamery

Founded in 2014 by Hannah Rubin, Skin Creamery aims to be kind to the planet while being kind to your skin. We love the idea of minimising clutter in your bathroom by having a few well-designed products that don’t compromise on quality. And you can order refills, too.

Skinny laMinx

This Cape Town-based textile design studio, founded by Heather Moore, maintains a strong focus on Scandi-inspired, Japanese-influenced pattern and colour, with a dose of African chic thrown in for good measure.

SMITH Jewellery

Anna Raimondo, founder and Creative Director of SMITH Jewellery, celebrates the coast in her latest collection, entitled Shoreline.

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The Light Forge

A small Cape Town based studio making one-off, highly translucent slip cast porcelain and stoneware vessels.

The Lula Collection

Nature is at the heart of Lula, from the inherited craft of the weaver bird; the natural and organic material used to craft the product; and the human interaction with it. Browse its collection of hand-woven lifestyle products that celebrate local artisans making with heart.

The Urbanative

This contemporary African furniture and product design studio, founded by designer Mpho Vackier, creates products for stylish spaces, from planters, chairs and nesting tables to floor lamps and ottomans.

Tydloos

Tydloos.com makes bespoke wall clocks.

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Unfayzdesign

Founded by Fayaaz Mahomed, Unfayzdesign creates bespoke lighting and furniture using industrial and hand-finishing methods.

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Vogel Design

Furniture designer John Vogel, who trained as an architect, designs and manufactures imaginative pieces inspired by South Africa’s plants, animals and natural landscapes. His work has helped to define a distinctly South African aesthetic.

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willowlamp

Started by Adam Hoets and Sian Eliot, this studio designs and makes grand chandeliers using a patented method of attaching ball-chain to laser-cut steel frames. Adam is now the sole owner.

Wolf & Maiden

Wolf & Maiden offers an impassioned salute to the craftsmanship of old combined with a design ethos embedded firmly in the future. It’s fine handcrafted products are made from sustainable natural materials of the highest quality.

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Xandre Kriel

This photographer and furniture designer’s creations have a sculptural feel, and sit comfortably in that space where design and art meet.

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Zana

A mother and daughter duo, Sue and Robyn Britz, are behind this studio that creates fun, quirky pieces ranging from furniture to printed cushion covers.

The post Local Designer Guide appeared first on Visi.

Local designer Laurie Wiid van Heerden, founder of Wiid Design, shares the studio’s latest collaboration with Ceramic Matters.

The range of ceramic tables includes a 1.8m drop-leaf dining table, fitted with 45 custom-made ceramic tiles, and two side tables featuring three tiles each. The tables are made from American walnut and custom steel components.

The creatives became friends after travelling to Switzerland in 2013 where they exhibited at Design Miami/Basel as part of Southern Guild. The friendship has resulted in several successful collaborations including a hand-drawn bench and ceramic vases.

“Personally, I find it easy to collaborate when there is a mutual respect for each other’s work, especially if there is an established friendship and trust,” explains Laurie. “Ceramic Matters are true specialists in their trade – always professional with a great knowledge of design and materials.”

About the process, he says, “We finalised the overall concept together. My studio focused on the design work, construction, proportions and technical aspects relating to the steel and timber components; Ceramic Matters advised on how we could incorporate tiles and how their manufacture would be challenged by the design parameters.”

Once the technicalities were ironed out and prototypes were made, colours could be chosen. Each reactive glazed tile is unique, as colour differences occur during firing. The collection was finally assembled and finished at Wiid Design’s studio in Cape Town.

It’s another stunning example of local creative studios joining forces to create something utterly unique.

Keep track of Wiid Design (@wiid_design), who are among the creatives featuring at Le BHV Marais in Paris until 31 July 2017, and Ceramic Matters (@ceramicmatters) on Instagram.

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We chatted to Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design about his cool collaboration with Ceramic Matters.

When did your collaboration begin?

Our first work together was in 2013 after a trip we took to Design Miami in Basel, Switzerland.

How did the collaboration with Ceramic Matters come about?

Like-minded awareness/sensibility of design and a shared respect for each other’s aesthetics. We thought it would be interesting to combine the sharp, clinical precision of Wiid Design with Ceramic Matters’ organic surface treatment and interest in the qualities of the material.

What did the collaboration entail?

Discussing and playing with ideas and ultimately agreeing on the shapes and surfaces we all thought would work on the units.

What process goes into creating these vases?

The original shape is inspired by laboratory shapes with an emphasis on the scale and are made by myself. Ceramic Matters then used the moulds to cast the pieces, but rather than leaving it in the moulds to dry, the vases were removed and “slumped” to show the qualities (plasticity) of the material.

What are the glazing techniques and colours used? 

The pieces are created using a Ceramic Matters reactive glaze technique. The method and approach is grounded on what the Japanese used to call “the gift of the fire.” The shapes are essentially based on laboratory forms, therefore the texture and colour association was liquid/bubbling/boiling.

See these vases and more from Wiid Design in the lastest issue (VISI 79), where we get to look inside Laurie’s stylish Observatory workspace.

The post Wiid Design X Ceramic Matters Collaboration: Warped Vases appeared first on Visi.

15 South African design companies are off to take a bite of the Big Apple, being selected to take part in the Accent on Design section of the NY NOW trade show, which kicks off on this weekend.

Source, the company responsible for the majority of design and craft exports out of Southern Africa, is acting as agent for the South African companies at NY NOW.

Art in the Forest, Ceramic Matters, Design Afrika, Gone Rural, Imiso, Master Wire and Bead Craft, Maxhosa by Laduma, Monkeybiz, Mungo, Ngwenya Glass, Potters Workshop, Togu’Na, Wola Nani, Wonki Ware and Zen Zulu will all be respresented at the show. According to Trevyn McGowan of Source, these are some of the most original, dynamic and authentic products to be produced in Southern Africa at the moment.

Accent on Design has been the industry’s leading resource for innovative, design-led merchandise for over 25 years. To be selected to take part in this benchmark show, an independent selection committee must be convinced that your product is original, creative and authentic, that it makes new and innovative use of materials, that it addresses or solves problems and that it is functional and contemporary. NY Now draws over 35 000 attendees form over 80 countries, and is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the quality and diversity of SA design to the world.

The show runs until 20th August 2014.

For more information, visit source-sa.com or nynow.com.

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For the first time, South African design is out in full force at the Design Miami/Basel event in Switzerland, starting today and running until 16 June 2013. The work of 17 designers and artists is being showcased by Southern Guild.

“We are extremely excited to be presenting the fresh voice of South African collectable design to a Basel audience at the most important design forum in the world,” said Trevyn McGowan, founder and director of Southern Guild. 

Southern Guild is South Africa’s most high-profile proponent of luxury indigenous design and regularly curates and commissions large-scale exhibitions of unique once-off pieces by the crème of our country’s artists and designers. The most recent exhibition in South Africa was Heavy Metal at the Woodstock Foundry, Cape Town, in February and the annual Southern Guild exhibition at the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, in August 2012 (read more here). 

The work showing at Design Miami/Basel is mostly drawn from these two exhibitions, including Joe Paine’s steampunk-flavoured crank desk that VISI nominated for the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award at this year’s Design Indaba. Also drawn from last year’s exhibition is Dokter and Misses’s hand-painted solid wood cabinet inspired by Burkina Faso mud dwellings. Porky Hefer’s leather weaver’s nest for humans will also be on display. 

The ongoing collaboration between furniture designer Gregor Jenkin and artist William Kentridge, initiated at last year’s exhibition, has produced a new chair inspired by the artist’s torn-paper work. Willowlamp will also show exquisite brand new mandala-themed chandeliers. And sculptor Dylan Lewis embarks on an exploration of the functional with a monumental, abstract console.

Work by the likes of Andile Dyalvane (watch our video interview here), Brett Murray, Bronze Age and Conrad Hicks was selected from the Heavy Metal exhibition. Other designers include Michaella Janse van Vuuren, Ceramic Matters and Laurie Wiid van Heerden.

The press release says it best: “Artisanal, handmade and cerebral, South African design elicits a physical response as much as it invites a viewer to think. Some of this experiential quality derives from the handmade nature of the work. Its distinctiveness is grounded in social and political realities, narrative, a true bond with nature and a sense of human connectedness with little interest in passing trends or in highly polished, technologically driven visions of design.”

Well, Design Miami/Basel, and Europe in general, we hope you get the message, with love, from Africa. VISI can’t think of a better cast of designers to be delivering it!

www.southernguild.co.za

Kemang Wa Lehulere has won the 15th Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, read more here.

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Southern Guild ArcelorMittal SA Heavy Metal was an independent exhibition of high-end design investment pieces in the Woodstock Foundry at the same time as Design Indaba. Is this the beginning of a design-fuelled fringe festival?

Trevyn and Julian McGowan, the directors of Southern Guild, were not the only people to piggy back their event on the influx of design professionals into the Mother City. The European Light and Design Centre flew in Giullermo Simo Pascual from FLOS Italy to launch Patricia Urquiola’s new Tatou series, and Sodastream SA took the opportunity to celebrate the new Yves Behar-designed machine.

The Heavy Metal exhibition’s opening was perfectly timed: straight after the first day of the Design Indaba Conference. A live performance by Them Tornadoes, kinetic fire sculpture by Brendhan Dickerson, food trucks, and lots of wine and bubbly made for a stylish but laidback party atmosphere. Celebrated Malian designer Cheick Diallo showed work, and conference speaker David Adjaye made an unofficial appearance and whirlwind tour of the work.

With over 40 pieces on show, also noteworthy about Heavy Metal was the number of top South African designers and artists who were not exhibiting at the expo. Gregor Jenkin, Andile Dyalvane, Porky Hefer, Dokter and Misses, Joe Paine and many others chose to make a single statement piece for Heavy Metal, rather than creating a mass of low-cost high-turnover wares that typically do well at the expo.

“With the Heavy Metal exhibition we want to celebrate this age-old tradition of designers working in steel, bronze, copper, aluminium, gold and silver and the beauty of the raw material, but we equally want to throw a spotlight on the durability and appropriateness of this material in tough economic times when high quality investment pieces are, rightly, favoured over cheap, mass-produced, low-quality objects,” said Trevyn.

VISI thinks that it is fantastic that the South African design industry has grown to this point and the quality of the work on display said it all. In particular, we loved Ceramic Matters’s Dream Dolls, Dokter and Misses’s on-trend use of colour, Haldane Martin’s fabulous Hex brass tables and Guy du Toit’s whimsical hare tables.

For more of Southern Guild’s design collaborations, visit their website www.southernguild.co.za

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