Local bespoke wallpaper and surface design studio Robin Sprong‘s latest wallpaper offering includes the abstract shapes and nature-inspired motifs of Swedish illustrator and pattern designer Alexander Adiels.

This collection of whimsical wallpapers was designed in Alexander’s small home office in Stockholm. Once a wardrobe, Alexander notes that his office may appear small and cluttered to some, but that he finds his creative fantasies thrive in a room without windows.

Alexander usually conjures his pattern ideas when he is not working. In an effort to defeat boredom, he likes to have numerous projects on the go at once. He uses both analogue drawings/paintings and digital techniques to add more interesting surfaces and structures to his work.

His style can be described as a mix between figurative and abstract, and his main focus is always to take a step back from how reality is perceived and “make it into something else, where each wallpaper is its own little universe”.

Love this collection? It’s available locally via Robin Sprong. Keep an eye out for another collaboration in 2021 and follow Alexander on Instagram (@alexanderadiels) to see more of his work.

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Joburg-based artist and designer Seboni Abner Makgamatha, aka Sir Abner, gives us some insight into his design ideas, including a recent collaboration with bubbly brand Pongrácz.

Tell us about your design journey.

I grew up in Mamelodi, and studied in Pretoria after school. My formal background is in graphic design and multimedia. I got into retail because I wanted to work in fashion; I just didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. I always saw fashion as a way of mashing everything together. It was the Zeitgeist of the art world, where things meet and make sense – you can always synthesise and weave ideas, and create something new.

You’re big on collaboration – why is it so important for design?

Collaboration is what got us to an era that I like to call post-post-modern, where niche and individuality are really becoming the theme. We can be so different – and we can collaborate on a project but still have individual voices of equal strength, for a bigger, sustainable cause. Because of collaboration, the world has become small. I could be working with anyone in the world, interacting not just with their work but with their culture, how they live, their points of view. It allows us to be open-minded.

You recently worked with the Pongrácz brand. What was your brief for the collab?

The brand liked my black-and-white aesthetic – I’m usually dressed in black or white, or a combo, because I don’t want to dictate what people should buy through my sartorial choices. Pongrácz has a feature within the brand that is a black-and-white stripe – and they wanted to see what I’d come up with using this small element of design.

Your Insta bio says “AntiFashion”. What does that mean?

When I think of fashion, I think of a mannerism. Fashion gives you a style, but fashion never really changes. Its styles, however, are always changing and evolving. My responsibility is to show other people what this can mean. I don’t favour a certain fashion, but I welcome styles. Everything is fluid, and it expands beyond clothes. It goes beyond sustainability, which relates to social impact. Inclusive fashion is also a thing. Who is modelling your clothes? This is all “AntiFashion” – using it as a tool to drive something bigger than yourself.

For more information about the collab, visit pongracz.co.za and follow @sir.abner on Instagram. Enter our competition and you could stand a chance to win a limited-edition lounger in Sir Abner’s winning Bold Print of the Year.

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Heather Moore, founder of local textile and homeware brand Skinny laMinx, is behind Making Friday, an initiative that invites the public to create their own patterns using her easy (and addictive) shortcuts.

Making Friday is a Skinny laMinx project that sees Heather teach subscribers how to create something new every week, simply for the joy of creating. The project is inspired by Heather’s own weekly Making Friday practice, where she’s had a date with herself, her studio and her creative ideas every Friday since 2008.

Heather decided to implement Making Fridays in her life at a time when Skinny laMinx was so busy she found herself unhappily drowning in admin, with little to no time to create. It was when she found herself in the dentist’s chair that she realised she didn’t need to find the time to create, she needed to make it.

If you’re drawn to patterns, intrigued by how they are made or are simply looking to add a meditative activity to your day, Making Friday is what you’ve been missing. Check out Heather’s easy-to-follow how-to video on Vimeo and download the worksheet here. Subscribe to the Making Friday newsletter for more insight into Heather’s creative studio practices at skinnylaminx/making-friday.

Want more? Skinny laMinx is also offering an online course on how pattern works for R450, using tiles from Lisbon as a tool kit. Find out more at skinnylaminx.com.

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While colour is often the best way of bringing life into a space, it can be a daunting task for most people. You may love green, but painting a whole wall in the colour can be pretty scary, even for the most outlandish of interior designers. First and foremost, the colour needs to be right for the space.

Tip #1: Start By Choosing a Contained, Small Space

This won’t be your main bedroom or dining room. Think smaller. Think guest bathroom. It’s the perfect place for your first foray into colour experimentation because even if you don’t get it spot on, it’s small enough to adjust and play around with. The guest bathroom is also the ideal spot in the house where people are willing to take the most risk when it comes to decor. Give your guests something to talk about even if the decor is completely different to the rest of the house.

Tip #2: Choose a Colour You Love, Not One That is Trending

Luckily, when a colour starts to trend, it does so with a couple of other ones at its side. I for one, cannot live with red in my life. But along with the red trend, are exciting tones of fuchsia and pink. Choose colours that you know will not cause you to commit grievous bodily harm to the people around you, but rather will have you swooning every time you walk into a room.

Tip #3: Go Bold

In a world of so much sameness and mass production, why wouldn’t you choose something that makes a statement about who you are? Colour and pattern is the perfect way to do this. It sets you apart from everyone else and makes your home just that… your home. This can be done by finding a paint colour that speaks to you or by choosing a bold wallpaper design this is either custom designed to suit your space or says something about what you love – think the East, bold botanicals or birdlife. Why not take a real leap and combine colour and pattern? Now we’re talking.

Tip #4: Colour as a Mood

Think of colour as your mouthpiece when you’re not around. What do you want a space to say? Should it say opulence, fun, moody, eccentric? When it comes to opulence, think purple; fun, think yellow; moody, think charcoal; and eccentric… any colour other than grey will work. Colour helps you create emotion and moods in a way that nothing else can.

Tip #5: Nature is a Colour

It amazes me how much better almost every space looks when you add a touch of nature to it in the form of plants. There is no space that cannot be enhanced with a gorgeous fiddle-leaf fig, hanging fern or a little sprig of something in a vase. If your space looks like it’s lacking in something, the chances are it’s a plant.

This article is brought to you by Pongrácz, which has released a beautiful, on-trend purple-hued bottle in the form of Pongrácz Noble Nectar, available in selected liquor stores and online. 

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Making use of stencils and spray paint, Barcelona-based visual artist Javier de Riba covers the floors of abandoned buildings and public spaces in colourful mosaic patterns.

Reflecting on each building’s history with every floor he transforms and the history of mosaic tiles in the region, Javier aims to question the value of spaces and objects in the public arena with his work.

Javier works as part of the Reskate Arts & Crafts Collective, which focuses on graphics projects that deal with the issues of sustainability and humane treatment.

To see more of his work, visit javierderiba.com.

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The winner of the Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search for 2018 has been announced.

Selected from a group of 10 talented finalists, who themselves were chosen from 420 pattern design entries, Agrippa Mncedisi Hlophe took home this year’s title.

Agrippa Mncedisi Hlophe

Agrippa, who hails from Port Shepstone, designed a flowing pattern that represents continuity. “That’s why I went for circles,” he says in this clip about the 2018 finalists. “It’s a universal shape, and it represents unity and continuity. In life we all go through problems, and we go through rough patches where we’re forced to take difficult curves, where we fall and rise again, but when we rise, we rise with more knowledge and stronger hearts and minds.”

Agrippa Mncedisi Hlophe’s winning pattern design

Agrippa was announced as the winner of this year’s Talent Search at Keyes Art Mile in Joburg, which featured a magnificent installation of suspended chairs designed by Tracy Lynch of Studio Lee Lynch, all featuring the patterns designed by the finalists.

The designs were also translated onto lamp shades, which are displayed in the window of Juta Street store Anatomy, an installation also designed by Tracy.

Follow Nando’s Hot Young Designer on Instagram to keep up to date with more news.

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Local family-run textile brand Mungo has released a vibrant new 100% cotton kitchen cloth, colloquially named the Vadoek.

This reinvention of the classic tea towel is bright, textured and offers optimum absorbency.

 “At the moment I am intrigued by the beautiful symmetry of checks and the amazing colour fusions that they produce when the yarns overlap,” says Mungo designer, Lenore Schroeder.

While kitchen cloths are often hidden from the public eye, Lenore aimed to create something that could be put on display and that brings an element of colour and quirkiness to the kitchen.

Lenore’s research led her to discover the mock leno weave in the pattern books of Mungo’s Master Weaver Stuart Holding. The weave is perfect for absorption and carrying hot plates.

The Vadoek is available in nine colourways.

For more information and to shop online, visit mungo.co.za.

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The recently launched Bloom collection by Portuguese fabric brand Aldeco, now available locally, is inspired by the biodiversity of nature, birds and the rainforest.

The range, which features a blend of florals, geometric designs and tropical touches, is focused on the richness, beauty and rhythms of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

The collection is made up of 30 new designs and is available in South Africa at Black Fabrics.

For more information, visit blackfabrics.co.za.

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Bruno Basso and Christopher Brooke, the design duo behind lifestyle brand Jupiter 10, have added 30 new designs to their trendy Modernist Wallcovering Collection.

After initially releasing an award-winning catwalk collection that was entirely digitally printed, Bruno and Christopher went on to showcase their collections across the globe. In 2017, they started Jupiter 10, with a focus on creating patterns and prints for interiors.

Jupiter 10’s Modernist Wallcovering Collection, now with an additional 30 designs, make use of graphics, geometric shapes and bold colours, described by Jupiter 10 as “a reimagining of Mid-century Modern design, mixing the strength of tradition with technological innovation”.

For more information, visit jupiter10.com.

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UK-based illustrator and pattern designer Abigail Borg has launched a striking new wallpaper and fabric collection named Feverfew.

Abigail Borg is known for her nature-inspired wallpaper and fabric designs. Her nostalgic new range, reminiscent of vintage floral design, features a delicate hand-drawn arrangement of blossoming feverfew, wildflowers and trailing foliage.

The design is printed on wallpaper and a cotton/linen blend. It also features on a range of lampshades made in collaboration with UK-based lighting and interiors brand Love Frankie.

“Feverfew is a light, elegant design that will bring the English countryside into your home,” says Sally Ives, owner of The Silk and Cotton Co, which stocks the collection in South Africa. “It’s perfect for summer decorating.”

For more information, visit abigailborg.com.

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