Southern Guild presents Inkundla at Design Miami 2022 – a collection of 16 handcrafted objects existing in the material plane but born of the spiritual one, featuring the likes of ceramicists Zizipho Poswa, Andile Dyalvane, and Madoda Fani; artists Nandipha Mnthambo, Porky Hefer, and Rich Mnisi; sculptor Stanislaw Trzebinski and design duo Dokter and Misses.

Inkundla derives from the Xhosa word for the entrance to a homestead’s cattle enclosure; it is a place of community, the sacred and mundane, where ideas and gripes are exchanged. The handmade objects – distinct in their materiality and form, bound by their exploration of spiritual themes and the intent of hand – visually and functionally narrate the everyday lifeworlds of objects. That is, things imbued with symbolism that elevate the everyday towards the divine.

Highlights include:

Ceramic and bronze sculptures, uBuhle boKhokho, by Zizipho Poswa that are colossal in scale and intricacy and draw inspiration from the way African women express and celebrate themselves through hair.

Andile Dyalvane’s three ceramic forms pay homage to the grounding power of nature and, specifically, the large nests of sociable weaver birds the artist spent time studying on recent travels to the plains of the Karoo desert and the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Dokter and Misses’ new hand-painted LALA Limo server brings geometric planes into conversation with an arresting energy. It is a design commemoration of the birth of the duo’s first child and speaks of tension and potential, science and nature, trauma and joy.

Rich Mnisi’s Nyoka (Snake) console and Vutlhari (Wisdom) chandelier command a tense sensuality in the booth and drew on his family history, African mythology and the duality of fear and beauty.

• The complete list of artists include:
• Adam Birch
• Andile Dyalvane
• Charles Haupt
• Cheick Diallo
• Chuma Maweni
• Conrad Hicks
• Dokter and Misses
• Galia Gluckman
• Justine Mahoney
• Madoda Fani
• Nandipha Mntambo
• NØDE
• Porky Hefer
• Rich Mnisi
• Rodney Band
• Zizipho Poswa

Design Miami will be held from 30 November to 4 December 2022. For more information, visit designmiami.com.

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Southern Guild gallery will return to Design Miami this December with an exhibition of new ceramics commissioned specially for the fair. “Studio Visit” will feature more than 60 works by leading South African ceramic artists Zizipho Poswa, Andile Dyalvane, Chuma Maweni and Madoda Fani.

Southern Guild returns to Design Miami in December 2021 with Studio Visit, an exhibition of ceramics specifically commissioned for the fair, from four of South Africa’s most accomplished artists working in clay. Encompassing both monumental pieces and smaller studies, the gallery’s presentation will include several new series and individual works by Andile Dyalvane, Zizipho Poswa, Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni. These artists explore aspects of traditional Xhosa culture and spirituality in their work while drawing on their personal experiences and deep belief systems. All four are encountering significant global interest with recent acquisitions by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and other important foundations and collectors.

Studio Visit will present a depiction of an artist’s working space focusing entirely on ceramics, a thriving contemporary art form in South Africa and one of the continent’s great indigenous craft practices. Rising interest from museums and the public at large indicates that the world is suddenly appreciating what humans have been making since at least 9400 BC (when the oldest piece of African pottery was found in Mali).

Historically, domestic pottery played utilitarian, social and spiritual roles in San, Xhosa and Zulu culture in particular, defying Western categorisations of “art” as distinct from “design”. The diversity and innovation we are witnessing now in contemporary South African ceramics – from the deeply symbolic sculptures of Andile Dyalvane to the large-scale ceramic furniture of Chuma Maweni – pivots on this tradition, which finds its most well-known form in the beer pot, or ukhamba, a communal drinking vessel passed from person to person at ceremonies and social occasions.

As a medium, clay offers these artists broad scope for creative expression and storytelling. Studio Visit takes us behind the scenes of their practice as they foreground new techniques and achieve some of their most technically ambitious work to date. The booth will recreate a ceramic studio with large atelier windows and the 65 new ceramic works displayed on banding wheels, pedestals and tables, including a large hand-carved timber table by Chuma Maweni with collectable furniture by two of Africa’s most accomplished and recognised designers, Cheick Diallo and Gregor Jenkin, adding to the atmosphere of the studio setting.

Looking for more on local art? Take a look at Jan-Ernst’s new Ocean Pop Collection.

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Cape Town-based gallery Southern Guild is heading to Design Miami 2019 with a bold new offering, including the Molecules collection by acclaimed South African designer Porky Hefer.

The new collection of hanging leather pods will form the gallery booth’s centrepiece. The series comprises three large suspended orbs with titles that allude to the chemical compounds they represent; Dihydrogen Monoxide, Fluoroheliate Monoxide and Hydrogen Difluoride. The orbs, which are dressed in brightly-coloured leather, a nod towards the international colour codes all atoms are known by (white for hydrogen, red for oxygen, green for chlorine), were manufactured by Cape Town-based leather artisans Wolf & Maiden. Inside, a soft and inviting interior beckons viewers to climb inside.

Molecules reveals Porky’s fascination with the reactions and energy a piece can generate in empty space. Inspired by the fact that molecules are made up of atoms held together by chemical bonds that form as a result of the sharing or exchange of electrons, the artist encourages viewers to explore the complex bond of human connection, one that goes beyond the one between people and deeper into the natural world.

Southern Guild will showcase 13 never-before-seen works that encompass energetic colourways, forms of the future and attention-commanding shapes. Along with Porky’s Molecules, you can expect to see collectible furniture, kinetic lighting, sculpture and large-scale ceramics by Dokter and Misses, Rich Mnisi, Andile Dyalvane, Justine Mahoney, MAK with NØDE, NØDE, Madoda Fani and Zizipho Poswa.

Design Miami 2019 runs from 3 – 8 December 2019. For more information, visit southernguild.co.za.

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Southern Guild is putting “future-primal” South African design on the map at Design Miami 2016.

This renowned fair sees a smorgasbord of talent gathering from across the globe to showcase or experience all things design.

The gallery has selected a group of talented local artists and designers representing South Africa with their contemporary “Afrofuturistic” edge.

“Southern Guild presents a future-primal take on collectible design,” explains the team at the gallery. “This sensory environment offers groundbreaking interpretations of classic forms, dictating a new pulse for limited edition African design.”

Artists and designers include Andile Dyalvane, Dokter and Misses, Atang Tshikare, Porky Hefer, Charles Haupt, Daniella Mooney, David Krynauw, OKHA, Jan Bekker of Sirkel Jewellery, Gerrit Giebel, Jesse Ede, Paco Pakdoust + Wayne Barker, Otto du Plessis and Xandre Kriel.

Design Miami runs from 30 November to 4 December 2016. Click here for more information.

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