WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Gina Dionisio; Cape Town Furniture Week / Hannah St Clair 

A totemic field is not merely a collection of objects but a charged system organised around symbols that carry presence and gravity. Meaning emerges through proximity, repetition, and exchange. In The Totemic Field – a collaborative exhibition by Joburg-based furniture designers Mash.T Design Studio, TheUrbanative, and multidisciplinary design studio Hoven – these ideas found compelling material expression.

Curated by Nisha van Hoven, the showcase was an artful exploration of the contemporary totemic – where waste, error, and experimentation are not by-products of design but generative forces, producing functional forms that quietly hold collective meaning. “They are definitely not static objects, they are very much adaptive systems. So you will see part lamp, part structure, part object. They refuse fixed identities,” says Nisha.

Featuring new pieces and prototypes, the exhibition positioned modularity not only as a functional strategy but also as a philosophy grounded in circularity, collaboration, and expressive African design. Each piece became a vessel of memory and intention, shaped by material, labour, and the many hands involved in its making.

For Thabisa Mjo of Mash.T Design Studio, the showcase highlighted the brand’s continued journey of generational artisanship, collaboration, and learning. “This story revolves around our metal spinner, Grandpa Jackson. We asked him to teach one of our young artists how to spin. And so this is the result of a year-long apprenticeship,” she says, pointing to the prototypes.

As the apprentice worked towards mastering the spinning process – a technique that resulted in the new Axis Collection – many components naturally didn’t make the cut. These were assembled into imperfect prototypes, such as the Mad Hatter, a standing lamp that embraces the imperfections of its materials, revealing a new aesthetic in which waste tells a story.

Mpho Vackier, founder and designer of TheUrbanative, presented new and reimagined pieces from the African Crowns, Homecoming, and Ndebele collections. “We wanted to push the materials and push ourselves,” she says. Among the pieces on display was the Fula Chair, upholstered in Mungo double-cloth fabric with a blue-stained natural ash seat – a progression from the Fulani Chair. “This chair has lived many, many lives. I think there are five versions. It was first made in steel, then charred red oak, and now we’ve revisited it in colour,” explains Mpho.

Crafted from solid kiaat and stained a deep rosewood, the Phondo Mirror is another addition to the 2018 African Crowns Collection. “This piece is exciting for us because we are known for working in steel, not timber,” says Mpho. “As novices in timber work, we wanted to push ourselves to see if we could integrate the things that we’ve learned from metalworking into working in timber.”

Each piece on display in The Totemic Field reflected the fluid and negotiated nature of contemporary making and collective life. Through time, labour, and exchange, the exhibition revealed the totemic field not as a fixed object to be observed, but as a living practice shaped collectively. mashtdesignstudio.com | theurbanative.com | hoven.co.za

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INTERVIEWED BY Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Courtesy of Olympic Paints

The Olympic Colour Cafe turns the idea of a conventional paint store on its head. This immersive environment – part gallery, part workshop, part cafe – dissolves the boundary between retail and ritual. Here, homeowners, decorators, architects and design enthusiasts can explore Olympic Paints’ extensive colour range, enjoy a coffee, collaborate with in-house interior design experts, and leave with a bespoke decor plan tailored to their lifestyle.

Designed by architect Nisha van der Hoven, founder of Hoven, the Olympic Colour Cafe blends contemporary design trends with local character, transforming traditional retail into a warm, tactile and inspiring environment where decor meets experience. We spoke to Nisha about the idea of curated living and how the Olympic Colour Cafe transforms the simple act of choosing paint into an immersive design experience.

The Olympic Colour Cafe moves away from the traditional retail model towards what you describe as a ‘curated living’ experience. How did this philosophy inform the conceptual foundation of the space?

“The project began with a simple question that stayed with me for months: what if paint was no longer just a product, but a medium for experience?

“Traditional paint stores tend to focus on efficiency – shelves of colour swatches, quick decisions, and a transactional moment. I was interested in slowing that process down and reframing colour as something more exploratory.

“The idea of ‘curated living’ emerged from this. Instead of retail alone, the space operates more like a micro design laboratory where colour intersects with material experimentation, furniture, art and everyday rituals like coffee. It allows people to encounter colour not only as a singular decision to be made, but as something holistic to experience, interpret and live with. By juxtaposing colour within a curated environment, the colour itself plays a role in a larger design story.”

You’ve spoken about dissolving the boundary between retail and ritual – how did this idea translate into the interior’s architectural language and spatial atmosphere?

“From the outset, I was interested in softening the traditional boundaries between product display and a curated living experience. Retail environments often prioritise clarity and speed, but colour is emotional and atmospheric – it deserves a slower encounter.

“Architecturally, the space is therefore quite calm and grounded yet tactile. Stucco plaster walls form a neutral canvas, Klompie brick paving anchors the interior in warm earth tones, and stainless steel and raw timber introduce a quiet material honesty. Living trees rooted within the colour testing stations introduce nature and its seasonal palette.

“This is probably counterintuitive to what one would imagine when walking into a paint store. Instead of the space shouting colour, we wanted to create a restrained framework where colour becomes the protagonist and for the consumer to feel a sense of calm during the colour selection process. This process in itself becomes ritualistic.

“The café window acts as a social threshold that draws people inside. The incorporation of coffee within the space was intentional and is a daily moment of pause for many. The opportunity to invite people to interact, experiment and linger makes the space feel less like a store and more like a studio or living laboratory.”

The project combines a gallery, workshop and cafe within a single environment. What strategies did you use to balance these distinct functions while maintaining a cohesive design identity?

“We structured the space around three anchors: technology and innovation, coffee culture, and creative collaboration. These elements organise the experience without separating the functions into rigid zones.

“Designer Pods allow collaborators to build small installations and material experiments, the colour testing stations function almost like laboratories where pigments can be selected, compared and explored, and the café introduces a familiar social ritual that softens the environment.

“Although each function serves a different purpose, they are connected by a shared material palette and a common narrative around colour exploration. The result is a hybrid space that feels cohesive rather than fragmented.”

Tactility appears central to the experience, encouraging visitors to engage physically with colour and materials. How did material selection and detailing support this sensory approach?

“Colour is never purely visual – it’s deeply sensory. It carries temperature, texture and atmosphere.

“For that reason, the interior encourages physical interaction wherever possible. Visitors can compose combinations on the colour palette wall, sort through pigments at the testing stations, or experience seasonal colour narratives through drinks developed by the cafe.

“Materially, we chose finishes for the space that feel grounded and tactile: stucco plaster, brick paving, raw timber shelving and stainless steel surfaces. Living trees rooted in the colour testing stations reconnect the interior to the natural world. Curvilinear forms also contribute to the softness of the space. These elements create a layered sensory environment where colour can be experienced through touch, smell and atmosphere, not just sight.”

Contemporary design trends are layered with a sense of local character throughout the space. How did you approach contextualising the design within a South African setting?

“Since Olympic Paints is a South African brand, it was important that the colour stories within the space reflect its local context. Prior to the launch of the Olympic Paints Colour Cafe, I worked on a seasonal colour story titled Fieldwork #1: Joburg Geologies. This provided an important point of departure. I’ve always been fascinated by the mineral landscapes of Johannesburg – the iron-rich soil, the subtle shifts in the colour of the stone, the dusty grasses of the Highveld.

“Those tones became the foundation for the palette: mineral greens, oxidised reds, dusty ochres and softened charcoals that echo the local landscape. These colours translate into various materials introduced within the Colour Cafe.

“At the same time, materials like Klompie brick and the integration of living trees help ground the space in a tactile, regional sensibility. The intention was not to create a literal interpretation of place, but rather to allow the atmosphere of the Highveld landscape to quietly inform the colour narrative.”

Rather than simply displaying paint, the interior encourages emotional decision-making around colour and living. How did you design the environment to influence how people feel, interact and ultimately choose?

“Most paint stores ask visitors to make a decision quickly. I wanted to create the opposite condition – one where curiosity and experimentation come first. The Olympic Colour Café grew from that spirit of exploration.

“In my latest piece on Substack, I write about how ‘many of us were taught, quite literally, to colour within the lines. To stay neat, careful and contained’. For the Olympic Colour Cafe, the design explores ‘what happens when we allow colour to move beyond its expected role – when paint becomes not just a product, but a medium for experimentation, collaboration and experience’. Instead of standing in front of shelves comparing swatches, visitors are invited to engage with colour more physically – to test it, combine it, layer it and build a relationship with it.

“In my experience as a designer, I’ve often encountered fear around colour selection. Clients tend to see the selection process as a major decision and something so permanent. By turning colour selection into a creative act – composing palettes, testing pigments, experiencing curated colour stories through installations and even seasonal drinks – people begin to build a relationship with colour before committing to it.

“The environment also encourages visitors to slow down and engage emotionally with colour. In that sense, paint stops being the final layer of a space and becomes the beginning of a narrative – something people choose because of how it makes them feel, rather than simply how it looks on a swatch.” hoven.co.za | olympicpaints.co.za

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Discarded office furniture becomes bespoke art for the 2050 workplace.

UPCYCLE, a unique showcase which recently took place at Maker’s Landing at the V&A Waterfront, reimagines the future world of work through circular design. The exhibition was a collaboration between Sanlam, leading global property advisory company JLL, and its subsidiary interior design firm Tétris Design and Build – a world-class design, build and furniture business.

UPCYCLE saw a group of local makers and artists, alongside a local and international team from Tétris transform discarded office furniture into bespoke art installations.

Each piece of art was assigned a sustainability score, which guides incorporating sustainability aspects at every stage of design and build, covering eleven essential pillars. The artworks were evaluated according to factors such as the use of materials to minimise impact, design to foster improved air quality and water preservation, the inclusion of natural elements and light to promote well-being, as well as innovation.

Patrick Bongoy

The 2024 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize finalist is known for embracing an artistic methodology that revolves around the randomness and unique properties of the materials he works with. His process relies on actively listening to the materials as they guide and direct him, allowing for a fluid and organic creative approach.

For the exhibition, Bongoy used 80 unused desk bookshelves to create Carrefour – a four-stair structure that fosters a sense of connection, a place where people can converge and exchange ideas. His second piece for UPCYCLE, Sagan Palmier, was crafted from plastic dustbins, bookshelves and old meeting room tables. The towering lamp references the palm tree, which plays a significant role in African biodiversity production and agriculture.

Both installations invited the viewer to engage with the profound connection between art, environmental consciousness, and the power of recycling.

Ananta Design Studio

Sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen from Ananta Design Studio created a plush ‘sea creature’ for UPCYCLE. The design duo used a discarded office bin at the centre of their playful lighting installation, which incorporated tactile elements like dried seaweed flowers, beaded urchins and fronds woven from old cassette tape by the talented makers at re.bag.re.use.

”When we thought of the future of the workplace, we thought of a playful, sensory, and interactive space. We wanted to create a plush floor seated area – something that stimulates creativity, challenges the current perception of the workplace and acts as a connector to nature,” says Rucita.

Wiid Design

Laurie Wiid van Heerden and his team at Wiid Design created an outdoor sculpture that adds to the environment by offering itself as a sustainable haven for birds.

Birdhouse – Version 2, crafted from recycled office bins and cork, symbolises coexistence and community. This contemporary interpretation of a functional birdhouse emphasises the importance of conserving wildlife and biodiversity, while also reducing the abundance of waste by up-cycling forgotten office furniture.

Hoven Design

Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven imagined the ‘future of work’ according to a job description set in the year 2050. At the centre of their multi-faceted display was the Cabinette – a tiny work cabin.

”The decentralised workforce of the future will rely heavily on a mobile toolkit, which is housed in a customised ‘cabinette’. This functions as a base station to perform tasks in the field. In the case of the Climate Restoration Engineer (a naturalist), the cabinette is an indigenous seed library, a herbarium for preserved plant specimens and a mobile apiary for the rehabilitation of insects,” says Nisha.

Cabinette was crafted entirely from old office furniture – old credenzas, dustbins and cubical screens were used to craft the mobile unit. The Climate Restoration Engineer’s work ‘jumpsuit’ and overgarment was made from the office cubical acoustic panel fabric and barrier mesh the designers found on the side of the road. ”Because we don’t know what the landscape will look like or what dangers we’d face in 2050, we decided to choose blaze orange as our primary colour – it’s non-threatening to wildlife but easily identifiable to the human eye,” says Nisha.

Tétris

Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi from Tétris South Africa created Work at Play, a series of rotating, swinging seats.

”We found these corporate workstation legs, sketched out our ideas and came up with this swing,” says Tshepiso. ”We thought about our children who are our future workforce, and what they would want. We created this functional seating system that encourages creativity,” says Helen.

Another creation from the Tétris team was the Oxygen Farm Work Pod – made from reclaimed COVID work screens and plywood. ”This is a fully functional green pod, which is ideal for bringing nature into an interior working environment,” says Helen.

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Meet the designers turning trash into treasure by transforming old office furniture into works of art for UPCYCLE: Office Furniture Reimagined

This unique showcase taking place at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront on 19 and 20 April 2024 will highlight how design has the potential to shape a more conscious workspace.

Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy, sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Studio Ananta, Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven of Hoven Design, and Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design have been tasked by global design and build company Tétris to create an artwork or installation using donated office furniture items in a direct response to the current office ecosystem that sees furniture often end up in landfills. Their four pieces will be showcased alongside Tétris’s furniture upcycling projects.

The team of designers representing Tétris is stacked with international talent. An acclaimed figure in architecture, interior design, space planning and workplace consulting, Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, has more than 25 years’ experience in designing luxury eco-lodges, retail and premium workplaces. Before joining Tétris he completed Klein JAN, the award-winning restaurant in the Karoo in the Western Cape for Michelin star chef Jan Hendrik Van Der Westhuizen.

Amaury Watine, Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA, has an extensive background as a product and space designer with particular interest in innovation, trends and technological developments. His work for Scaleway, a French cloud computing and web company, reflects a forward-thinking approach to space design focused on the end user experience.

Flying the flag for South African design will be Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi, both Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa. Helen has more than 30 years’ design experience in the commercial, residential, and retail sectors, where she uses her love of design and attention to detail to create spaces that people find rewarding. From the Pepsico HQ in Johannesburg, to curating the selection of African art for the Roche Johannesburg informal collaboration spaces, Wentzel has an incredible knowledge of local design and materials.

Tshepiso has more than 18 years’ experience in retail and corporate design. With an interest and joy in local design and craft that infuses her work, Lesufi recently completed work for NBA in South Africa and Ethiopia where she worked with teams to repurpose and refurbish 65% of existing office furniture and fittings to create dynamic workspaces that playfully include sustainability best practice principles.  

Each of the designers and artists, chosen by the Tétris team based on their body of work and reputation in the industry, play a critical role in shaping what the future could be and imagining new possibilities for the workspace. The brief was simple: create an installation or art piece from disused office furniture, and then use this creative moment as the foundation to define what ‘the future of work’ may be – functional and practical, or abstract and fantastical.

Laurie Wiid is well-versed in the art of using unconventional materials in his work. As the founder and lead designer of Wiid Design, Laurie is an expert at finding the niche between high-end and sustainable product design. For UPCYCLE, he will be creating a sculptural birdhouse using almost 30 old office dustbins in combination with cork, steel and concrete. 

Studio Ananta is a Cape Town-based design studio committed to fostering a circular economy and creating sustainable, ethical and eco-conscious products. The studio’s fantastical beaded creations, characterised by colour and bold patterns, are designed by the duo and crafted in collaboration with skilled artisan communities, such as the beaders at Monkeybiz.

“We are thrilled to be participating in Tétris’s UPCYCLE exhibition which allows us the opportunity to explore how creativity, colour and craft can be used to reimagine the future of workspaces,“ commented Viveka and Ructia.

Acclaimed Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy is a fierce advocate for using art to give new life to discarded materials. Using materials such as disused rubber, the artist creates new life and symbolism with his artworks, making him the perfect contributor to the UPCYCLE project.

‘The concept of the workplace has undergone significant changes over the past few decades, and the future promises to bring more transformation,’ says Patrick, whose project will involve developing an artwork that helps workers lower their stress and anxiety and boost their performance.

Lastly, Nisha and Justus Van der Hoven’s unconventional and multidisciplinary architecture, interior design, film and exhibition studio Hoven will bring its experimental approach to the UPCYCLE exhibition. By combining their overlapping interests, the duo has shaped a unique process in their approach to projects and imagining new possibilities within an African context – particularly with regards to workspaces. The Van der Hovens have previously been involved in the architectural and interior design of workspaces such as Workshop17’s The Bank, Firestation, Kloof Street and Tabakhuis buildings, where they rethought the future of the physical, digital and experiential workspace and developed new space typologies designed for flexibility, variety and choice.

In terms if of the event, there will be a student-focused day on 19 April and a walkabout with the artists and designers on Saturday 20 April at 11h00, which will be led by Heath Nash of Circular Squared. A designer and serial social entrepreneur, he has been ardently advancing the notion of waste as value since 2004. The Head of Sustainable Design at Circular Squared, a non-profit that champions circular economic thinking, and the founder of Our Workshop, a shared upcycling and design studio in Langa, Heath is committed to social engagement and circular design in all his work.

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This pioneering exhibition taking place from 19 to 20 April 2024 showcases how human creativity can tackle the challenge of tomorrow’s working world.

Upcycle is an innovative initiative showcasing how design can champion circularity and contribute to creating more sustainable workspaces. This project will take the form of an exhibition in Cape Town, presented by JLL, a leading global property development company, and its subsidiary Tétris Design and Build, an interior design firm. The exhibition aims to raise awareness around environmental challenges and inspire others to take action.

“We see a brighter way forward for our clients, our people, our planet, and our communities… we’re unveiling opportunities that create a brighter future for all,” JLL states.

Tétris, which creates commercial environments that are inspirational and sustainable, is deeply invested in defining what tomorrow’s workspaces will look like in our ever-changing society. JLL and Tétris have identified that we need to contend with how the agile reconfiguration of the workspace in the post-Covid world has led to a mounting tide of discarded office equipment and furniture that either languishes in storage, ends up on an over-supplied second-hand market, or worse – in landfill. In Tétris’s view, designers and artists play a critical role in imagining new possibilities that help shape what the future could be, which is why the company has invited a collective of leading creative minds to spotlight the issue and to prompt its own organisation and the broader industry to reconsider their role.

With Upcycle, the aim is to put bigger issues of sustainability and regenerative design under the spotlight in a creative way. A select group of local designers and artists, including members of Tétris’s own local and international teams, has been tasked with breathing new life into discarded office equipment and furniture pieces. With these thought-provoking pieces that will ignite conversation, Upcycle is set to be an intriguing affair.

The select group of local designers and artists include:

• Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy
• Sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen of Ananta Design Studio
• Nisha and Justus van der Hoven of Hoven Design
• Laurie Wiid of Wiid Design
• Amaury Watine, who is the Creativity and Innovation Director Tétris EMEA
• Adrian Davidson, Design Director Tétris EMEA, as well as two Senior Interior Designers from Tétris South Africa, Helen Wentzel and Tshepiso Lesufi.

The exhibition will be open to the public at Makers Landing at V&A Waterfront from 19 to 20 April 2024. On Friday 19 April, design students will be welcomed for a special student-focused day, and on Saturday 20 April there will be a free curated walkabout with the artists and designers at 11h00. 

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