micky hoyle Archives | Visi https://visi.co.za/tag/micky-hoyle/ SA's most beautiful magazine Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:19:29 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.8 https://visi.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-ICO-32x32-Black-1-1-32x32.png micky hoyle Archives | Visi https://visi.co.za/tag/micky-hoyle/ 32 32 Haldane Martin Designs Cheese Deli https://visi.co.za/haldane-martin-designs-cheese-deli/ Mon, 23 Oct 2017 06:00:48 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=552143 Designer Haldane Martin was commissioned to design the interior of the new Healey’s Cheesery and Deli on the Waterkloof Wine Estate in Somerset West.

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WORDS Amelia Brown IMAGES Micky Hoyle


Designer Haldane Martin was commissioned to design the interior of the new Healey’s Cheesery and Deli on the Waterkloof Wine Estate in Somerset West.

Healey’s Cheesery was envisioned to showcase the award-winning Healey’s Cheddar Cheese – most well-known for its slow-mature Farmhouse Cheddar, amongst the world’s top four cheddars since its launch in 2005 – and allow customers to taste cheese and wine together, while experiencing the cheese-making process first-hand.

The simple, contemporary farmhouse overlooks False Bay, and visitors to the deli can look through large windows into the cheese-making factory and maturing room.

The design concept centres around oversized spruce timber used to echo the large cheese wheels in both scale and colour. The main deli counter features stacks of the the warm yellow timber with the sawn ends exposed. The natural splits in the wood have been inlaid with red resin, reminiscent of red wax used to seal cheese wheels. The upright beams of the tasting table and café tables also utilise thick pieces of spruce timber like large blocks of cheese. The café chairs are wooden Ironic chairs by Ton, a retro farmhouse chair painted red.

The lighting also draws on the cheese motif. Round wooden pendants – like traditional round wooden cheese moulds – hang from exposed red piping between heavy wooden ceiling beams. These give the sense of an old farmhouse while keeping the aesthetic light and contemporary.

Raw steel has been used on the counter and table tops, and in the counter legs, signage and other design elements. The walls have been left as exposed brick, with a feature wall painted charcoal to modernise the interior.

Find out about Healey’s here and see more of Haldane’s projects on haldanemartin.co.za.

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Paarl Estate Home https://visi.co.za/paarl-estate-home/ Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:00:20 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=531016 The Rawson family home on Pearl Valley Golf & Country Estate near Paarl demonstrates a harmonious marriage of country living and modern style.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo


The Rawson family home on Pearl Valley Golf & Country Estate near Paarl demonstrates a harmonious marriage of country living and modern style.

Many of us have pre-conceived notions about people and their homes. Prior to visiting the Rawsons, I certainly had mine about what a family home on a golf and country estate might look like. When I found out this family had moved to the Paarl–Franschhoek valley from Johannesburg, another set of ideas of what their home might look like popped up. It turned out that homeowner Lurien Rawson – working with interior designers Dawn Dickerson and Carmel Naudé of HotCocoa Interiors & Design – had far more interesting ideas.

“We built our previous home in Joburg, and while a little bit of this is based on that home, I wanted to bring in a lot of the earthiness of our current surroundings,” says Lurien.

Growing security concerns led to the family leaving the City of Gold and moving to Pearl Valley about six years ago, first renting a house. They fell in love with the area at the foot of Simonsberg, and just more than a year ago they decided to buy a plot and build the family home of their dreams.

Lurien says it was an amazing experience working with everyone involved in the project, including the builder, John Truter from Gemstone Construction in Paarl, and the cabinetmaker, WK Kitchens & Furniture in Wellington.

But long before the first brick was laid, Lurien had started to gather inspiration, forming a clear idea of what the house should look like. “I arrived at HotCocoa’s office with a thick file of images I’d collected and my Pinterest board. We had loads of meetings; fortunately, we had a very similar picture of the house in our heads.”

The result? A thoroughly contemporary living space with a country aesthetic. Here, you’ll find the same planks used for flooring and wall panelling. Look closer and you’ll see the same planks fashioned into a breakfast bar. Behind those wooden wall panels is storage space, which helps to keep the home uncluttered and serenely minimalist. There are no oil lamps in this country home – lighting is controlled from a single electronic pad: One touch of its screen and Lurien has the perfect lighting for dusk, entertaining or any of the system’s other pre-determined settings.

“I wanted to add sentimental value; I didn’t want to just pop into expensive shops and select a lot of ready-made items,” says Lurien, and indeed, personal touches abound. “I had it made by a guy in Woodstock who crochets copper wire,” she says when a delicate copper wire vase catches my eye. “A number of the artworks here are by an artist who lives in Paarl.” And so on it goes throughout the house, including the children’s bedrooms, which were decorated with their personalities in mind.

This is a family home, not a holiday spot to be visited once in a while and saved for retirement – a fact that didn’t escape Lurien throughout the building process. Today, it is a place she calls her sanctuary, her place of freedom, as well as a work in progress.

“I love being at home and putting this together, down to making sure I have fresh flowers in the house every day,” she says.

“I grew up in what was then the Eastern Transvaal, and I’ve always loved the freedom that comes with open spaces. This home, its surroundings, and the ease with which the interior and the exterior merge give me a sense of freedom.”   

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Camps Bay Family Home https://visi.co.za/camps-bay-family-home/ Wed, 10 Feb 2016 06:00:17 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=518722 This modern property on the slopes above Camps Bay Beach exudes a warm family atmosphere.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Lindi Brownell Meiring


This modern property on the slopes above Camps Bay Beach exudes a warm family atmosphere.

For make-up artist Renée de Sambento, home means family, calm and comfort – which you sense as soon as you step through the front door of the contemporary four-storey abode in Camps Bay where she lives with her entrepreneur husband Pedro, six-year-old Sanchia, three-year-old Catalina, and Boston terriers Lola and Elvis.

Renée wanted to transform the existing house into a modern, open space that not only brought family and entertaining to the fore but also embraced the natural surroundings. When it came to choosing an architect, finding a studio that understood this need was paramount. Renée and Pedro turned to close friend Marco Bezzoli of archilab, who involved Michael Borgström and Jacqui Bez in the planning.

“The brief was a natural response to the existing building on the site,” says Marco: “to transform a cramped shell with no connection to the garden into an open, light-filled, easy-living space that would embrace views and allow family life to spill outdoors. Most importantly, we had to screen out the wind.”

“Weather is a huge factor in planning a Camps Bay home,” says Renée. “We made provision for the wind by creating a ‘cocoon’ space outside by the pool that protects against the south-easter in summer, ensuring we are able to entertain outdoors at all times.”

Aside from the temperamental weather (which also played a part in delaying the completion of the 18-month build), living in Camps Bay is packed with perks – including close proximity to the beach, magnificent sea views and a mountainous backdrop. “We wanted to have a spectacular view in whichever direction we faced,” says Renée.

To ensure uninterrupted views, archilab manipulated the sloping site and introduced a new pool and terrace adjacent to the main living areas. Combined with large glass doors that slide open all the way in both directions, “this action transformed the entire relationship between inside and outside, with the bonus of enlarging the living space,” says Marco.

The sleek interior design is the result of Renée’s “creativity and uncompromising eye for style”, he says. Her plan was to keep the decor as simple as possible. “I wanted a calm space that wasn’t overdecorated.” The result is an elegant combination of modern design pieces and family collectibles.

To reduce waste, the team recycled as much of the original structure as they could. “Summer solar heat gain has been mitigated by expansive shading devices and ample cross-ventilation,” says Marco. “Winter heating and heat retention are centred on window orientation supplemented by a high-efficiency fireplace and double glazing throughout. LED lighting, solar water heating and rainwater harvesting all contribute to the package.”

The sense of calm Renée feels when she looks out from the main bedroom over a green belt, the joy Pedro experiences when he picks a bottle from the cellar to share, and the sounds of splashing and laughter heard from the pool on a balmy summer’s day are just some of the reasons the De Sambentos love their home – a place where the doors are open all year round for family and friends to come together and kuier.

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Cape Town Campus https://visi.co.za/cape-town-campus/ Tue, 15 Dec 2015 06:00:01 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=516245 A far cry from expected notions of an old boys’ union, this modern and masculine space at Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town is proudly future facing.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Tracy Greenwood


A far cry from expected notions of an old boys’ union, this modern and masculine space at Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town is proudly future facing.

One might be forgiven for assuming the Old Boys’ Club at a school as illustrious as Bishops would be cold and sombre, a masculine stereotype of dark wood panelling, sombre portraits and walls yellowed less by intent than by a patina of cigar smoke.

Instead, it’s a surprise to find that the home of the new Bishops OD Union in Rondebosch is light, bright and up to the minute in terms of architecture and interior execution. The interior design concept of the new building, which is wedged between the green perfection of an AstroTurf and a sprawling sports field, was done by Weylandts, headed up by Chris Weylandt, himself a Bishops old boy, and the architecture was handled by fellow old boy, Luke Scott.

The new structure stands in contrast to the heavy-walled structure, punched-out windows and deep porte-cochères that characterise the older buildings on this leafy campus. But there are architectural parallels that make perfect sense within the design context.

“The architecture and structure builds on the school’s tradition of colonnades, towers, quadrangles and courtyards with white wall architecture. The tall, vertical fin in the ground-floor museum and the old boys’ club room on the first floor align perfectly with the clock and bell towers of the old boarding houses,” says Luke. “I see the building as a backdrop to the various uses it will serve. The OD Union is one user but there is also the school museum and archive, a sports pavilion for cricket, rugby and hockey, as well as a range of ancillary functions.”

The interior design brief, says Chris, was left wide open. “We were tasked with creating a contemporary space that embraces the school’s values and traditions while taking it into the 21st century, to create a sense of modern masculinity. The OD Union has a massive influence on the school and is an important part of keeping the Bishops traditions and values alive well beyond the schoolgoing years.”

The union’s faith in Chris’s understanding of what was needed allowed him and his team carte blanche to fill the new building with objects that mix old with new, without sacrificing Bishops’ traditional values. It’s a platform that showcases the school’s proud history to new pupils and visitors alike.

“Good design never dates,” says Weylandts’ Kim Smith, who was instrumental in deciding on the look for the new space. “We used natural materials – wood, leather, steel and a neutral palette – to create a bold masculine statement.”

The language of history has been used throughout the building, from the incorporation of archival photographs and significant quotes, to the school motto etched onto the raw steel custom-made sideboard in the boardroom. “We pushed the boundaries by introducing high-design elements and focusing on handmade skills. Locally made sofas in natural hides from Namibia are integrated with customised solid oak and raw steel boardroom tables; designer chairs from the Philippines, handmade lamps from Thailand and vintage carpets from Turkey. Each product has a provenance that was carefully considered to create a unique inspiring space that remains unpretentious and welcoming,” she explains.

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Bo-Kaap Ad Agency https://visi.co.za/bo-kaap-ad-agency/ Tue, 01 Dec 2015 06:00:15 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=515217 Art, creativity and storytelling were the building blocks of the Radar agency’s new home in Cape Town.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Jean-Pierre de la Chaumette WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo


Art, creativity and storytelling were the building blocks of the Radar agency’s new home in Cape Town.

At three floors, 21 Rose Street in Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap stands tall compared with some of its residential neighbours. The earliest known record of the early Dutch building pops up at around 1817, when it started life as a wooden clog factory. Nearly two centuries and several incarnations later, including stints as a button factory, a residence and most recently an art gallery, it has found new owners in the advertising agency Radar. Considering the artworks that line its walls, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s still an art gallery.

“We were unhappy renters for 10 years,” says agency founder Jason Ray. “Having a home for Radar is important to us. It helps to express what we are about. We are not your typical agency and we don’t aspire to be one. It’s important that people experience us when they come to Radar.”

Indeed, creativity abounds at Radar: From the moment we walk into the building we are greeted by works of artists such as Zander Blom, Black Koki, Christo Basson and Andrzej Urbanski. Further along the ground floor, past vertebrae-like hot desks that fit together like a puzzle, is the boardroom. Its centrepiece, a table with a top made of tiny Lego blocks, brings a touch of creative play into a space typically assumed to be one of the most serous in any office.

The room’s walls are also hung with several art pieces, and one wall is an artwork in itself. “In chopping away at the back walls of what is now the boardroom, we discovered some old Cape stone and brickwork, so I decided to turn this into a feature wall,” says interior designer Jean-Pierre de la Chaumette. “Radar has an impressive art collection, built up over a decade. It pretty much formed the foundation of the design scheme. I was keen to create a gallery-type space, so we kept the rest of the walls, ceilings and floors white to create a blank canvas upon which we could display the art.”

The first floor, which houses the finance and traffic offices, reveals a light-hearted, emotive art collection that includes works by Khaya Witbooi, Wesley van Eeden, Cameron Platter and Boeta Phyff. “We think it’s important to create an inspirational space, so that our finance people sit in the same kind of creative space as our studio,” says Jason. “We don’t have a ‘back office’.”

The creative team’s studio on the second floor features works that use text and typeface as a primary visual language, such as a series of 13 intaglio prints by Am I Collective creative studio. One of the most striking elements here is a graphic representation of the Bo-Kaap that was printed onto wallpaper and applied to the sliding doors of the cupboards.

The working spaces are not the only ones to benefit from the large art collection. Pop into the ground-floor restroom and you’ll find a collection of antelope horns, and on the second floor a collection of antiques and modern plates sourced from artists such as Michael Chandler, Theo Kleynhans and Catherine Ash. Look up at the ceiling on any floor and see the lines formed by the copper light fixtures, looking as if someone took a pen to the roof and drew a well-considered set of lines.

“It’s imperfect, real, quirky and personal, but this space allows us to showcase our love of art and design,” says Jason. “We surround ourselves with things we love, things that tell stories – and that’s what Radar is about.”   

Watch the video of the VISI Great Spaces Tour of Radar Agency here.

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South Beach Apartments In Camps Bay https://visi.co.za/south-beach-apartments-in-camps-bay/ Mon, 20 Jul 2015 06:00:53 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=169725 A revamped Camps Bay apartment block now offers luxury self-catering accommodation.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Michaela Stehr MODEL Henriette Pawlowski, Outlaws HAIR AND MAKE-UP Liz Kaplan CLOTHES Woolworths


A revamped Camps Bay apartment block now offers luxury self-catering accommodation.

Originally named The Bloomberg, the building underwent a face-lift after Tony Stern bought it in March 2014. He initially envisioned a quick renovation job, but then he saw the potential of the space and its unique position, and became invested in the project.

The building was stripped down to its shell and the renovations began. Tony collaborated with Greg Wright Architects in creating an experience that mirrors that of South Beach, a neighbourhood of Miami Beach. “After my experiences in Miami, I thought that this would bring something different to the beachfront and give it more of an upmarket feel,” he says.

The nine über-contemporary 55m2 suites are decorated in tones of white, silver grey and light wood, and feature state-of-the-art sound systems and Wi-Fi among the amenities. Silk-screen works by acclaimed artist Lionel Smit, a friend of Tony’s, introduce splashes of vibrant colour and a local element to contrast with the Miami vibe.

“Our operations are all based on self-catering,” says Tony. “We really want to provide superior hotel-type accommodation but without intrusive staff. Every room is serviced seven days a week and the fridge is stocked with basics. In most self-catering you are presented with a key and left to your own devices. We have hotel-school-trained managers on duty 12 hours a day to tend to requests and take bookings for people. We also have a night porter. We are as interactive with guests as they would like us to be”.

A sun deck complete with a glass-fronted swimming pool overlooks the sea. “We cut through the original concrete to add the glass front of the pool,” says Tony. “It was quite a job, as the beams formed part of the original structure. The centre beam holds the building up, so we needed to consult engineers to secure the pool.

“The glass of the pool is one of the major features of the building, because at night it’s lit up to give the building a neon Miami effect. We were going for something different in Camps Bay with a very cool, chilled building, so we added LEDs and neon in our signage too.”

For more information about South Beach visit their website here.

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5 Expert Tips for Decorating Your Home With Art https://visi.co.za/5-expert-tips-for-decorating-your-home-with-art/ Tue, 09 Jun 2015 06:00:17 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=134764 Decorating your walls with art has the potential to elevate the style of your home to a new level. Here are some top tips from interior decorator Helena Stuart-Cloete.

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IMAGE CREDIT Micky Hoyle


Decorating your home with art has the potential to elevate the style of your home to a new level. If sophistication and exclusivity is what you’re after in your personal space then hanging your favourite art pieces is the way to go. Here are some top tips from interior decorator Helena Stuart-Cloete.

1. Don’t match colours in art pieces to your decor colour, rather look at how busy your room is and choose an artwork that will complement the space. If you have a lot of busy patterns in your fabrics or colourful painted furniture, keep the artwork subdued.

2. Collage walls are notoriously tricky to get the scale and proportion correct, never mind matching colours of frames and subject matter. You could call in an art installation and picture hanging specialist to help. Otherwise plan your layout by putting all pictures and paintings on the floor. Try to create some form of symmetry (left and right at certain points). It doesn’t have to be exactly symmetrical everywhere, but I find it works well to start in the middle with a large piece and build outwards from there.

3. Group two or three pictures with similar subject matter or similar frame colours together.

4. A large single painting works very well above a bed. Make sure there is enough height to the ceiling and your headboard isn’t too high. I believe a bedroom should be a peaceful sanctuary therefore I suggest a serene and restful subject matter like an Andrew Cooper seascape.

5. Lighting is important to illuminate your painting. If you are planning to use down lighters in the ceiling choose the tilting kind to angle onto the wall area with a halogen bulb. It will provide maximum coverage (e.g. Osram Titan 60 degrees).

A promising artist’s work is a good investment. But when it comes to decor, always buy what you love and what speaks to you personally before thinking of how it will look on your wall. In this way, your art will bring you joy for a long time.

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Jackie Burger’s Salon 58 https://visi.co.za/jackie-burgers-salon-58/ Thu, 04 Jun 2015 06:00:30 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=122760 Jackie Burger’s new venture, Salon 58, is a testament to her love of art, design and all things French.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo


Jackie Burger’s new venture, Salon 58, is a testament to her love of art, design and all things French.

When we meet Jackie at her new office at the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch, it’s a week before the official launch of Salon 58. It’s a very different environment to that of her former position as editor of Elle magazine in the Cape Town CBD. Yet here, in this town some 50km from the Mother City, nestled among vineyards and mountains, surrounded by carefully chosen, exquisite furniture, it’s hard to imagine more fitting surroundings for the next stage in this fashion doyenne’s journey.

“One of the first shows I attended when I started working for Elle as fashion director,” says Jackie, “was a Dries van Noten show in Paris. It was at the Sorbonne, and I remember walking, after the ostentatious shows at the carousel, into more humble surroundings. I just fell in love with the principle of design being hosted in an arts and culture environment.”

The PJ Olivier Art Centre is housed in a building that dates from 1905 – it’s one of Stellenbosch’s historical beauties and has been declared a national monument. The centre’s primary purpose is to offer art education to local learners from grades 1 to 12 and to adults.

Jackie’s office, situated in what was previously a music room, celebrates all things French. There are armchairs reminiscent of 18th-century French furniture and shelves filled with books on fashion and art. Jackie’s small chinoiserie-style desk, dark brown with a touch of washed-out blue, was once pillarbox red. “I asked artist Nelia de Wet to rework it,” Jackie says. “I told her blue is a very special colour for me, and she gave it the antique feel.”

The neutral upholstery on her armchair appears at first glance to be inside out, the seams and fraying visible, much like the first mock-up garment a designer creates on a mannequin. “I want almost everything to represent a garment. This is old Italian linen; I wanted to have that kind of blank canvas.“

A week later, at the launch soirée for Salon 58, Jackie’s eye for detail and organic yet keen sense of curation is on display. An installation by designer Nicholas Coutts greets guests as they come up the stairs: His hand-woven scarves are presented on plinths like the artworks they are. Across the hall, a collection of vintage kimonos curated by Karen Ter Morshuizen are displayed on easels. Drotsky, designer Elaine du Plessis’ new label, treats guests to a fashion show. At every turn, the decor and fashion live in harmony with the art centre.

“Besides the one-on-ones I will offer, one of the main purposes of the salon is to host these soirées,” says Jackie. “It’s like taking magazine content and presenting it in an experiential format by giving women a chance to meet the designers, and the designers a chance to meet the women.”

Jackie says a visit to Coco Chanel’s Parisian salon served as inspiration for Salon 58. And here, in this place, we can’t help but feel as though we are experiencing a most exquisite French magazine, reinvented in a totally South African way.

For more information, visit salon58.co.za.

To book your spot at Jackie Burger’s “Noir” or “Lovely” soirées on 20 June and 15 August 2015 respectively, visit webtickets.co.za. In celebration of Women’s Month, this Salon 58 soirée will focus on the upliftment of women, celebrating being a woman and collaborating with an all-women team of creatives and collaborators – for women, and brought to you by women.

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The Haas Collective https://visi.co.za/the-haas-collective/ https://visi.co.za/the-haas-collective/#comments Tue, 26 May 2015 06:00:09 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=106017 The Haas Collective’s new inner-city design and advertising studio cum coffee spot was a neglected shell until three visionaries realised its potential.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Sam Woulidge


The Haas Collective’s new inner-city design and advertising studio cum coffee spot was a neglected shell until three visionaries realised its potential.

“I have such a fondness for this space,” Francois Irvine admits tenderly, referring to the building on Buitenkant Street that dates from 1902 and now houses Haas. “It’s like someone you have seen naked, someone you have known at their most vulnerable, someone stripped bare. You see, I know and love every corner of this building because I’ve had my hands on it.”

No. 19 Buitenkant Street, opposite the imposing façade of Cape Town Central Police Station, stood in a state of disrepair for many years until it was bought by Haas Collective’s Francois Irvine, Francois de Villiers and Glynn Venter, who were looking to relocate their design, advertising and coffee business from the Bo-Kaap to inner-city Cape Town.

Nine months of gutting, renovating and decorating later, the building was transformed.

“On the surface, everything looked OK,” Francois recounts, “but as soon as we started chipping away at the walls, sheets of cement fell off. When we lifted the big green floor tiles we found layers of Novilon, which we lifted, but then we found a layer of crumbling concrete and when we lifted that we found bedrock with rusting pipes and electrical wiring lying in water.”

“At which point did you become disheartened?” I ask him. “Every morning!” he laughs. “But we persevered.”

Working non-stop for nine months, the three men’s own blood, sweat and tears are now part of the building’s DNA.

Originally built to house a fabric ware-house, the building has also served as a café, a lawyer’s office and a notorious nightclub called La Fiesta. It has now been re-invented as a creative hub and stylish café. Its dark grey exterior walls and an interior of muted grey hues promise sophisticated conversations and hint at flights of fancy, but Francois believes these walls still hold their memories.

Grey, it has been said, is the colour of a whisper, and it is entirely possible to believe in whispering walls when ensconced in the warmth of Haas. There is much murmuring in terms of sound and colour and soft textures.

The decor is voluptuous and luxurious, but it is saved from decadence by glimpses of industrial functionality. “When it came to the interior design, budgetary constraint was the deciding factor,” Francois says. “We had just bought the building, so we could not wilfully, wastefully go out and buy new things. We were conscious of reusing what we had in a clever way. Wooden tables were made from old beams and metal scraps, and chairs were upholstered in fabric I’d hoarded for years. We used what we had.”

And the feeling of the place is not one of frugality. “In my design, my natural tendency is toward voluptuousness, but here it was very much a concern to not appear too decadent, to allow for the functionality of the space to come into its own. But I did want there to be touches of flamboyance.”

Francois is quick to point out that his partners Francois de Villiers and Glynn Venter were also instrumental in the look and feel. “I would put an idea forward and they would generally agree with it. Once or twice someone said he simply couldn’t live with an idea or a piece of furniture, and I’d let it go. Not once was there a serious disagreement. We constantly marvelled at how the three of us, all creative minds, could work together so harmoniously. We respect one another, and I suppose that’s the basis for any working relationship or friendship: mutual respect.”

The result of this creative collaboration is one of authentic glamour. There is velvet and steel and wood and crystal and glass. There is porcelain and paintings; there are animal heads and a taxidermy hare watching over the space. All of which Francois says reflects our history.

“Many South Africans grew up in homes filled with hunting trophies. The taxidermy at Haas is a reflection of our heritage. Designers often try to replicate other worlds, feeling flattered when they are told their design is so Sydney, or so New York. People have walked into Haas and said admiringly, “Oh, it’s so New York, so Meatpacking District. I understand their intention is to flatter, but I never once thought to recreate something other than what we know. What I tried to create, literally using what we had, was something that was true to the building, true to ourselves.”

And he did; the approving stare of the hare and the murmurs of the whispering greys attest to that.

Visit haascollective.com or visit Haas on Facebook for more info.

Check out VISI 78 where we venture upstairs to HAAS advertising, the ad agency that sits above the most beautiful coffee shop in Cape Town.

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Renovated Family Home in Observatory https://visi.co.za/renovated-family-home-in-observatory/ Tue, 24 Feb 2015 06:00:06 +0000 https://visi.co.za/?p=17100 Husband-and-wife team Heinrich and Ilze Wolff of Wolff Architects redesigned an old Victorian house in Cape Town to reflect their idea of an unpretentious and liveable home.

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PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Bibi Slippers


Husband-and-wife team Heinrich and Ilze Wolff of Wolff Architects redesigned an old Victorian house in Cape Town to reflect their idea of an unpretentious and liveable home.

“We were looking for a dump, and this was it.” Award-winning architect Heinrich Wolff begins the tale of how he and wife Ilze turned a decrepit hovel of a Victorian house into a contemporary home with a laugh. “The former owner was a narcotics user who stripped the house bare. It was in such a state it wasn’t even on the estate agent’s list, but it was exactly what we wanted: an empty shell,” Ilze adds.

They knew this was “their house” once they’d seen the light quality in and the view of Devil’s Peak from the front room. “It was a glowing moment in our search,” Ilze says. “We had seen so many buildings, but it didn’t make sense for us to pay for someone else’s expensive renovations that didn’t reflect our design ethos.”

Ilze and Heinrich both liked the fact that Victorian architecture is based around rooms, and decided to restore the front end of the house to its former glory. They added a wholly contemporary space to the back of this. “It’s this idea of grafting,” Heinrich says. “We wanted to show the younger generation’s capacity to reimagine our received culture. Because our culture carries baggage, we have to transform it into something that’s our own.”

Ilze says they were inspired by restoration work done by architects in Brazil. “They don’t just faithfully restore; they really add their own values to the space.”

They conceived the new addition to the house around the concept of a red cube, craftily divided into a kitchen, living room and open courtyard. A concrete slab supports the main bedroom and bathroom upstairs.

Ilze and Heinrich built the house themselves, resulting in some interesting challenges. “We hung the roof by its bootstraps and built the slab underneath it. We rebuilt some of the walls that carried the ceiling – so we kept historical things above and built new things below. Physically keeping the roof in the air was hard!”

At first they had no intention of building themselves, but extremely high quotes from builders drove them to take up the task. “We asked Gwen and Gawie Fagan for advice, because they also did their own house. They both agreed they’d do it all over again if they had the chance, but Gwen said if we wanted to give ourselves a real deadline, we should have children at the same time,” Ilze remembers.

They managed to finish the project before populating the front room with two boys. “It was going to be our work room and studio,” Ilze muses with a smile, “but things change.”

And if they could do it again, would they change anything? Heinrich: “We probably could have made it smaller. We sit very far from the TV.”

Ilze: “I still don’t know why we have two basins in our bathroom.”

“We were trying to elevate ourselves out of the middle class,” Heinrich says, laughing, aptly ending the story the way it began.

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