If all you want to do is give your space a fresh update with the help of a few well-placed accessories, maybe you should give this list of online buys (none of which crosses the R1 000 mark) a browse.

1. Oval Baskets R300 each, Mia Mélange

2. Colour Block Cushion R349, @home

3. Yvett Coaster Pack (4) R179, Country Road

4. Herringbone Platter R480, Studio 19 at Prestwich Collection

5. Ornamental Cactus in Planter R249, Eleven Past

6. Copper Candle Holder R199, Woolworths

7. Round Jute and Cotton Concentric Rug (180 cm) R599.99, Mr P Home

8. Diamond Magazine Rack R449, Present Time at Superbalist.com

9. Monochrome Wall Light R850, Mono Online Shop

10. Chihuahua Candle R199, Sarah Jane at Superbalist.com

11. Glass Vase R179, H&M

12. Large Black + White Wall Clock R750, Tydloos.com

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 1)   Single pendant light by Shaw Sisters. Available from www.meekel.co.za 

 2)   Trees in the Mist by Janet Botes. Available from www.stateoftheart.co.za

3)   Muuto Crushed Bowl. Available from www.yuppiechef.co.za

4)   Protea wallpaper by Jesse Breytenbach. Available from www.designkist.co.za

5)   Ceramic Egg Holder by Free Range. Available from www.designindaba.com/shop

6)  Suki Cheema Marble throw. Available from www.darkroomlondon.com

7) Kaleido plates by Clara von Zweigbergk. Available from www.thefutureperfect.com

8) Crushed Cup by Rob Brandt. Available from www.droog.com

9) Donna Wilson badger cushion. Available from www.heals.co.uk

10) Comme des Garcons Series 3 perfume candle. Available from www.shop.doverstreetmarket.com

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Jennifer created StateoftheArt.co.za as a virtual gallery as opposed to a physical space, harnessing the power of the internet to create a platform from which promising young artists could launch their careers. Galleries rarely work with unknown names leaving many young artists waiting up to three years to be represented. StateoftheArt.co.za gives these artists a foot in the door and provides a means for professional student and graduate artists to show and sell their artwork, The majority of proceeds from sales are given to the artists who create these works. So, when you buy art from StateoftheArt.co.za you’re directly supporting artists. 

The work on StateoftheArt.co.za is predominantly sourced from fine arts students and graduates emerging from South Africa’s most prestigious art schools, carefully selected in conjunction with a curatorial panel. With an extensive selection of styles and genres to reflect the characteristically subjective nature of art, buying artwork to suit your space, budget and personal taste couldn’t be any simpler.

The site itself is professionally designed and very easy to navigate, with work grouped according to price, subject, and artists. There’s even a virtual gallery, with curated exhibitions you can ‘walk’ through in the comfort of your own home. Added value bespoke services include corporate art solutions, art sourcing for interior designers and architects, collectors resale and art commissions. The best part of all is that the art is delivered to your doorstep once you’ve made a selection. Tell your friends overseas too – artwork can be purchased in a number of currencies, and is shipped worldwide.

Visit www.stateoftheart.co.za to check out the selection of work for yourself, and start your collection today.

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And so, online design and décor store Meekel was born. Launched in November 2011 the virtual shop offers handpicked, handmade South African goods to the local and international market. Jewellery, furniture, soft furnishings, art and everything between – if it’s local and it’s lekker you’ll find it on Meekel.

“It’s a labour of love,” says Kerry who works in graphic design from nine to five. “I focus on the homeware and Bobby (an architect and industrial designer) concentrates on the rest”.

And it’s not just the big names that grace the site. Kerry and Bobby have chosen pieces that speak to them, and won’t necessarily stock items just because they’re made by a well know designer. “The site has a really personal feel,” says Kerry, “we might only stock one item by a certain designer because we hand pick everything instead of just taking entire ranges”.

The name of the site was inspired by Bobby’s mother’s maiden name. “It’s a homage to her, she is a really passionate lady,” which is apt, as it seems Kerry and Bobby’s passion lies with the designs created within our borders. “We love it all so it’s tempting for us to not buy all the items on offer ourselves,” Kerry laughs.

At present items can only be bought in Rands, but Kerry says in the near future other currencies will be accepted too. In the meantime they have kept their approach and aesthetic global, enticing shoppers from around the world to indulge in Meekel’s offerings.

“Although we’re selling South African goods, we wanted the site to have an international feel … so from the name to the logo, we want to show that although it’s African design it is on an international level.” And anyone who has visited the online store would not be able to argue. A beautiful showcase of local design, Meekel is the place to shop, without even leaving home.

More information: www.meekel.co.za

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The new OKHA ONLINE website offers a wide range of furniture, lighting and accessories to add to your virtual shopping basket from the comfort of your own home. One of the advantages of shopping via OKHA ONLINE is that the showroom only displays a selected range of products, whereas the entire OKHA product portfolio can be viewed online.

Even if you prefer to buy via the showroom, the user-friendly site offers a great browsing experience. You can customize your pick by choosing the material, fabric and colours, after which the price of your purchase is calculted and displayed immediately. Once you’ve made your purchase, the transport, packaging and insurance is looked after by Stuttaford VanLines.

For some, investing in a piece of furniture before you’ve physically seen it is not yet the preferred method of buying, but online décor and furniture shopping is undoubtedly a growing trend.

For more information: http://www.okha.com/products or http://www.okha.com

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Representing a selection of studios from several countries across the African continent, Amaridian promotes emerging African design talent. The portfolio of design studios selected – including six from our very own shores – consists of those whose unique work displays innovation and commercial excellence.

South African design favourites included are Mud Ceramics’ handcrafted clay bead Mud Chandeliers, Ronel Jordaan’s felted wool pebbles, cushions and other designs, and Willowlamp’s striking ball-chain chandeliers. Then there are Greg and Roche Dry’s fun Egg Designs, characterised by an element of surprise, Twig’s sizable, sculptural woven objects and stools, and Zenzulu’s woven telephone wire creations.

From further afield is Mali’s Aboubakar Fofana. As a boy, Aboubakar would gather wild indigo leaves for his grandmother and found himself captivated by the ancient art of natural indigo dying. Today his heritage is expressed in the inspiring designs he creates, with a nuanced blue palette on hand-spun, hand-woven fabrics. Also from Mali, Diallo Design’s Cheick Diallo collaborates with skilled artisans to transform everyday materials such as nylon cord into imaginative, recognizable designs. His work, including the Sansa chair and Africa Remix armchair, is sought after by top collectors and retailers and has been featured in international exhibitions.

Swaziland’s Philiippa Thorne collaborates with talented Swazi weavers to create the Gone Rural range of handmade design objects. The Fair Trade organization creates beautiful bowls that combine traditional weaving of indigenous grasses with a ceramic or copper base. From Ghana comes Kpando Pottery – clay shaped into organic ceramic forms by women from Ghana’s Kpando community, under the guidance of Nii Noi Dowuona. The vessels are fired over bamboo, giving them their signature black metallic patina. Fellow Ghanaians Kweku and Josephine Forson create handmade wooden furniture under the Tekura Design name.  

The exciting partnership between Amaridian and Design Africa promises to make the all-important connection between African design talent and discerning international markets. It’s a crucial link and about time that such a platform was offered to some of Africa’s most creative minds.

More information: www.amaridianusa.com

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Online vintage shops are popping up all over the country. The latest addition is Cape Town-based Hoolie-hah, launched late last month. Owner Lorelle Bell sells vintage homeware and other period gems.

A design writer by trade, Lorelle says she’s always secretly dreamt of trading in vintage and local design part time. “Mainly to fund my vintage habit, and love of design,” she says, “and because there are only so many anglepoise lamps one family can actually use.”

“I’ve loved twentieth century design – particularly furniture from the mid century – for a long time and continue to collect pieces. In recent years I’ve also collected kitchenware – appliances, tableware, enamel, glassware and even Tupperware,” she says.

She eventually decided to start the online shop, which originally traded through a Facebook page, when she made the conscious decision to “remind myself to remain open to simple things that amuse me and ignite my curiosity… I decided to put together a range of bags and homeware I’d collected and was continuing to find, and to offer them for sale.”

VISI spoke to Lorelle to find out a little bit more about Hoolie-hah, which works under the phrase “loving design… living vintage local handmade gorgeous”.

Why online?
It’s an ideal way for me to trade. I spend my days writing and have no desire to have a shop front. Being online allows you to reach more people and a targeted audience. Hopefully shopping online here will grow.

Do you only sell locally?
For now, I’ve limited it to Cape Town collections really. So the short answer is ‘yes’.  

How has the response to Hoolie-hah been?
The response has been very good for the short time that I’ve been online and given that I don’t have an enormous amount of time to spend on it. It seems like local designers and dealers are following the shop and sourcing items from me.

Where do you source the items you sell?
I love trawling markets, thrift stores, second-hand shops and some of the smaller vintage outlets.

What items do you sell, is there a particular focus on home ware or do you branch out further into fashion etc?
I started with more clothing and bags – to generate interest, sales and a response from younger people. I have teenage sons and my eldest one loves old leather satchels and worn cardigans and jerseys (much like I did when I was still at school, I hate to remind him). But I’d like to do mainly home ware, perhaps some furniture and also vintage leather.

What are your views on upcycling? Why have you joined the ranks?
I’ve always liked recycling pieces and using them for different purposes. I like some of the upcycling I’ve seen, like the sleek Scandinavian-style sideboards and desks, with painted drawers. But I don’t like things that are too gimmicky and that one would get tired of quickly. I’m trying to encourage our sons to appreciate things that have been well made and whose styles have become classics. I think this is a good time to reflect on responsible consumption and to choose to buy things that don’t become obsolete quickly because they’ve been badly designed or made. I’d also like to promote local designers whose work tends to be under-appreciated by local consumers.

More information: http://hooliehahtheshop.wordpress.com, lorellebell@gmail.com

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Cape Town Tourism has been working with group buying site CityMob to bring a special deal to Cape Town every week. This week the deal celebrates the city’s design – a relevant theme considering Cape Town’s semifinalist status in the bid to become the 2014 World Design Capital.

Citymob approached Between 10and5, a showcase platform for the South African design industry, to curate a collection of original artwork by Cape Town’s top illustrators. Each illustrator created an A2 poster inspired by their Cape Town icons in their own unique style. The posters are being sold on the CityMob site for R120 each including delivery. The deal went live yesterday morning and runs till the end of the week.

Online buyers can choose an original piece by Bruce Mackay, Chris Slabber, Michael Tymbios, Jaco Haasbroek, Simon Berndt of One Horse Town, Daniel Ting Chong or even snap up the whole collection.

Not only is this a great way to support local design talent, it’s probably the most inexpensive way to add contemporary art pieces to your collection.

More information: http://citymob.co.za/, http://10and5.com/

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With a whole lot of love and passion, the self-professed new kids on the block, TLC or Tammy Lauren Collective, are turning hidden South African gems into accessible pieces of vintage furniture.

Run by Tammy Foote and Lauren Terras, the brand new interior decor boutique “aims to provide the public with something unique, something that hasn’t recently been whisked off a mass production line and something that may have its roots (or at least a previous life) in South Africa,” says Tammy.

“We source, and revamp where necessary, classic pieces of furniture and decor items.”

The two are currently focusing on retro, Mid-century pieces and old South African farm type furniture. “We are also in the process of creating a design range that embodies ‘South Africanism’ in a subtle yet quirky manner by developing skills and empowering those less fortunate along the way.”

VISI spoke to TLC to find out more about the new venture.

Who is TLC?

We are old friends – we celebrated our first birthdays together – but lost contact over the years. We recently reconnected only to discover that we share a plethora of passions; interior decor and basset hounds in particular.

The business evolved very organically as we both have different yet vital skills. We share similar ideas for the business and both have experience in the decor industry. One of us (Tammy) is based in the Eastern Cape and one in Cape Town (Lauren), which has proved to be very beneficial in terms of buying, selling and marketing.

Why unique decor items as opposed to mass-produced goods?

Anyone with a bit of money can go into a furniture chain store and recreate a catalogue room with pieces off an assembly line. It will probably look fabulous. But how much personality will that room exude? How many other rooms will look very similar and how does it reflect the personality of its inhabitants? It’s bit like being on the red carpet with someone in the exact same dress as you. Decorating your home is like finding your own style and any style guru will tell you that it’s better to have an understated look with one eye-catching accessory than looking like a Christmas tree.

You can create a beautiful space with one show-stopping piece while saving your bank account. Revived pieces will always be a conversation piece and they will always add an element of finesse to a room. Old furniture is so special in that, unlike other items, it increases in value, so it is something worth saving for and collecting. Older pieces also have a history that gives them depth; they are a bit like models who have a nice personality too.

Where do you source your furniture and decor items?

Ah, now that would be telling. Honestly we have become like second-hand store scavengers. We scour some really unlikely places and find absolute gems; we go to the occasional auction and generally keep a perpetual eye open.

Who upcycles the pieces?

This has been one of our bigger challenges, as we both decided that we wanted to draw in the community. South Africa is brimming with very skilled yet unemployed folk. We have tried to source people who can apply a specific skill to any particular piece that requires attention. We have someone who paints, another who has carpentry abilities etc. We are in the process of creating a group from a local charity who will be doing work on our decor range, which we hope to launch in the near future.

Why is upcycling important to you?

One of our favourite trends at the moment is ‘green design’. The reasons are obvious, but we are always blown away with the ingenuity that pours from South African minds in this regard. We hope that this evolves from a trend to a lifestyle, as there is no denying that we live in a consumerist era and mass production is the fuel behind this. When you scratch beneath the surface, you start to notice that a great deal of what is being made in large factories is simply cheap replicas of pieces that belong to a different decade. Most of these pieces were handcrafted, are better quality (hence their survival) and are sitting under a ton of other furniture and dust in someone’s garage or a second-hand store.

By creating a desire for revamped pieces, we hope to create an awareness that ‘newer’ is not necessarily better or more modern. There is definitely a place for your Scandinavian ‘out the box’ designer furniture, but there is no reason why it can’t sit aside a piece with history, that hasn’t further contributed to environmental damage.

How does TLC embody South Africanism?

Besides sourcing our pieces locally and using local craftsmen, we are also working hard at establishing affiliations with local artists and venues to build a platform from which to showcase design and decor both locally and internationally. In our upcoming range we really highlight themes prevalent in our country through imagery and the products themselves, to the extent that we hope they create a sense of nostalgia but offer something quirky, useful and timeless for the future too.

More information and shop online: www.tlcollective.blogspot.com, Twitter: @tlcollective1

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Some pieces from the impressive collection are made by well-known local designers, while others are created in collaboration with unknown artisans from South Africa and further up the continent.

From Missibaba handbags to bowls from Madagascar and Zimbabwe, and a few other countries in between, Alexia has chosen the best of the best. She’s sharing them locally and abroad through her easy-to-use online store, which in it self is a sensory experience.

A one-stop-shop for designer gifts, the array of contemporary products are kind to the environment, while promoting free trade and empowerment through design.

More information: www.deepdarkafrica.bigcartel.com, Specials and sales: deepdarkafrica.blogspot.com,
+27 (0)82 895 5018

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