Much-loved pet accessory brand Chommies has teamed up with Wiid Design to create a stunning range of plateware sets for your favourite four-legged friends.

This collaboration combines Chommies’ passion for life’s simple pleasures and Wiid Design‘s innovative approach to design, resulting in a collection that makes every mealtime an occasion to remember.

Chommies’ new ceramic plateware, known as the Boujee Dog Bowls, is handcrafted and skillfully glazed by local artisans, ensuring each piece is both durable and beautifully designed to seamlessly blend into your home decor. The bowls are available in six mouth-watering, food-themed colourways: Blue Cheese, Tangerine, Osso-buco, Babaganush, Edamame, and Crème Brûlée.

Enhance your pet’s dining experience by pairing the Boujee Food and Water Bowl set with one of the new cork placemats. Wiid Design, the award-winning design studio founded by Laurie Wiid van Heerden, is known for its innovative use of sustainable cork. 

Available in 3 sizes, the bowls can be used for food and/or water, and are both dishwasher and microwave safe. | chommies.com

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Discover a hidden world of wine.

Recently shortlisted for the 2024 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, the Secret Cellar at La Colombe, designed by MR. Design Studio is a true subterranean wonder. As you descend the stairs into this hidden, magical realm of wine your world grows silent and your senses are honed. It’s so secret that those who enter are required to leave their phones in a secure box at their table.

With walls clad in tactile recycled virgin cork, the sound is muted to absorb all distractions. Tree roots pierce the surface to create a dimly lit mood and bronze mycelium lines the walls creating surfaces where food is served and wine is poured.

Wiid Design, the award-winning design studio founded by Laurie Wiid van Heerden, was called in to create the unique texture of the walls. Each board was hand-chopped and carved to obtain a soil-like texture. “Our team was on-site for days to ensure a perfect seamless result, chopping by hand and working off the cork using techniques we have developed over a period of 10 years. The result is truly magnificent,” says Laurie.

To create the sculptural bronze mushrooms lining the walls, Bronze Age Studio foraged mushrooms from the slopes of Table Mountain and used a 3D scanner to sculpt and manipulate them before casting them in bronze. “The concept was to populate a recently refurbished, underground wine cellar, with a mixture of mushrooms and roots, growing out of the walls and ceiling. Once ready, the pieces were 3D printed, moulded, and cast, and the final result looks incredible,” explains the studio.

The winners of the 2024 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards will be announced on 31 October. | bymr.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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We caught up with the creative force behind innovative furniture brand Wiid Design to find out more about his approach to design, and his studio space.

Walking into Laurie Wiid van Heerden’s Cape Town showroom, with its views of Table Mountain, is like stepping into a cabinet of curiosities, where the temptation to touch and feel is as critical as sight. As a self-taught furniture and product designer, Laurie has been reimagining wood, clay, glass, steel, terrazzo and, of course, cork for more than a decade under the auspices of Wiid Design.

How he learned his craft

Before Laurie started Wiid Design, he was an apprentice to various artists and craftsman, learning skills from cutting and kiln drying the timber to manufacture furniture pieces. Assisting artist Wim Botha, he also worked on large scale projects that entailed steel, fine carpentry, joinery and prepping various materials for carving.

“As a designer, you have to understand materials and various software prior to designing a product. I had to experiment with cork for over 10 years in order to fully understand the various properties. When I initially opened Wiid Design, it was only myself and Sam (my first employee) who physically manufactured everything for more than 5 years in a small workshop in Woodstock.

“Having the knowledge to communicate to engineers, carpenters and suppliers in the correct way is one of the most important factors of being a designer and running a design business. It involves lots of research and trial and error, and it takes experience. It also allows you to push boundaries and perhaps adapt and modify designs in ways you might not consider if you were only outsourcing or if you do not have the correct amount of experience.”

His approach to design

His sensorial touch is evident in an impressive collection of bespoke products and designs that explore the tension between the natural and man-made and put him at the intersection between art and interior design.

“The essence of what we do at Wiid centres around a passion for materials and the tradition of craft, a curiosity for experimentation and revealing the artisanal soul and intimacy of the handmade. For me, the power of the collective means fewer boundaries, more opportunity and learnings and the excitement of building momentum together as a creative community.”

“Design to me is not just about function; it’s about how it makes you feel. So, instead of a piece of cork, a lump of terrazzo, or a dollop of clay, I try to use these materials to convey a feeling in all who come across them. That feeling, for me, is a successful design.”

The space, why he choose it, and how it’d evolved

His studio, workshop and factory in Cape Town’s Woodstock is a place where Laurie’s ideas take form; from giant cork pendants that draw the eye upward to hand-blown amber glass tumblers designed to cradle perfectly in the palm of one’s hand or the raw glamour of handmade ceramic tabletops glazed to perfection in an ombré of autumnal shades. It’s a space resplendent in Laurie’s love of art, colour and collectables.

“We bought the building in 2014. I loved the 90’s double-volume structure with its simplistic grey face brick facade. It is an industrial building with massive volumes, parking and most importantly it was not a heritage building, which meant I could  make changes to suit our needs without going through drama regarding certain regulations.

“We had to do quite a lot of renovations  make it work for my business. We gutted all the offices to make it more open-plan, installed a new roof, an oak floor, two skylines in the showroom, cast all the floors in a gloss grey epoxy resin, and painted the facade black. We painted the interior walls in a crisp white to create a clean canvas, and then also included grey and black detailing all over to create a uniformed clean/ contemporary look.

“The natural light in the showroom allows for a calm green space with oversized plants in an almost tropical conservatory setting, where I can showcase not only the work we do, but also the things I collect.

A typical working day

It’s a full working day for Laurie and his team – he gets the factory every day at around 8.30am and leaves around 6:30 / 7:00pm. First up is to do the rounds downstairs in the factory side, greet the staff and double check what’s on the production schedule, what needs to go out and what needs to be ordered.  

“Monday’s and Friday’s are more intense due to the week’s planning and general collections and deliveries. I’ll head up then to my office to have a coffee or two, scan through emails, and go through my to do lists. I am very hands-on, particularly with managing projects and our production. I therefore constantly move between my office and the factory overseeing progress, quality and timelines with the team. Or I could be out doing an installation (which is often the case).

“It’s my job as the owner and creative director to keep track of all the various stages of product development and manufacturing from start to scratch. This includes design work, presentations, quotations, invoicing, product development, production schedules, timelines, packaging layouts, exports and delivery schedules.”

He still make time for design

As the business has developed, much of his day is now absorbed in the studio/factory management and admin, but Laurie still makes sure he’s in touch with his roots, where designing new collections and experimenting is what makes him happy.

“I have a very capable team whom I personally trained over the years. It is however important for me to be hands-on when it relates to new products we are prototyping, especially with regards to the ceramics. Though we have various collections that we constantly manufacture on a daily basis, it’s the new products and the mix of incorporating new materials with the old that excites me. When we do a new product, I am always involved in development and, once the new product or collection has been trialled and tested, I will hand it over to our team for production. I’m constantly trying to find more time to do design new work … I love making new stuff and getting involved in the process.”

The art hanging on the studio wall and the stories behind them

Laurie has loads of art and collectibles – it’s been a passion of his to collect and trade from a young age. The professional trading spark happened when he worked under Otto du Plessis from Bronze Age, as he was the first person to teach Laurie the value of trading. 

“Currently I have pieces by William Kentridge, Wim Botha, Conrad Botes, Jillian Lochner, Frank van Reenen, Lionel Smit, Otto du Plessis, Ceramic Matters, Nicolaas Maritz, Lakin Ogunbanwo and Barry Salzman to name a few. I also have a passion for collecting plants such as cacti and various rare specimens, natural history, furniture, walking sticks and antique plant stands.“

Laurie’s favourite and most treasured art pieces include:

• Vases sculpted by the late Anthony Harris from Ceramic Matters – “He was like a father figure to me and my best friend, we often traded and the various vases I have collected from him over the years  are priceless to me.“
• Charcoal and ink sketches by Wim Botha – “When I apprenticed Wim at his studio in Kommetjie he was well aware of my passion for collecting art and gifted me these artworks to say thank you after we completed exhibitions.“
• Small Ink drawing by William Kentridge – “William was staying in the old slave cottage in Simon’s Town (back then part of Bronze Age) I walked to him and provided a small leather bound book with handmade paper including a quill pen – I then ask if I can have his autograph, he smiled and said, ‘what a beautiful book and pen‘ he drew me a small bird and provided his signature underneath.“
• Oil Painting by Lionel Smit “untitled” – “I have known Lionel for more than 12 years and we have collaborated on numerous hand painted benches, I have traded with him many times but this special painting is something I treasure“

New products/ranges in the pipeline

Currently almost 60% of Laurie’s business relates to custom products designed and developed for lodges, boutique hotels and private homes locally and abroad.

“We are therefore constantly developing new pieces, but with tight deadlines it is often very difficult to professionally document these pieces and place them on our website or market places. We are however focusing on launching new ceramic tables, ceramic vessels including tableware, glassware and fun sculptural structures similar to our birdhouses.“

We are also in the process of developing new lights and furniture pieces from moulded cork and not machined and hand-finished cork. All our cork is already recycled cork, but the moulded element will add just another sustainability factor to our production process whereby we will not only reduce costs but also be able to produce products quicker from locally sourced recycled wine corks and offcuts from our standard production process. 

“Lots to keep me busy… but unfortunately the realistic thing all relates to time and our limited hours a day. I love what I do but it’s difficult to make time for the new and fun projects if one is constantly running a business with a busy production schedule.“

wiiddesign.co.za

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The Africa Centre in London has reopened at last. In its new location, this iconic meeting place for diasporans is a wonderful showcase of some of the finest creativity our continent and country have to offer.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously described the Africa Centre, in its original location in Covent Garden, as a hub for “all who are Africans, and all those who have a care for the interests of the continent and its people.” It was opened by Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, in 1964, and for decades was an important place to meet, party and talk politics for people a long way from their homes dotted across our vast continent. Many South Africans in exile, including former president Thabo Mbeki, were among them.

So you can imagine the dismay when it closed its doors in 2013. But, almost 10 years later and at a new address – a revamped office block across the Thames, in Southwark – the cultural centre has opened its doors again. This new iteration is the design brainchild of London’s Freehaus architects and interior designer Tola Ojuolape. The welcoming spaces they’ve fashioned include the Malangatana Lounge, named for the acclaimed Mozambican artist and a mural of his that was removed off the stairwell wall in the old centre, and now has pride of place here. The Mandela exhibition space and Tatale – a pan-African restaurant – are also part of the first phase of the centre’s development.

When VISI chatted to Tola Ojuolape, who was born in Nigeria and grew up in Ireland, she put particular emphasis on how intentional she was in making sure the space represented a variety of African aesthetics and designers, but in a contemporary way. “I really struggle with the term ‘African design’,” she explains. “It’s difficult to say such a thing exists because, essentially, you’re trying to marinate 55 or so countries and create this aesthetic.” So for the Africa Centre, she concentrated on African design unifiers such as texture, colour, and creating by hand and the sensibilities that come with it. She wanted to celebrate African craftsmanship across the continent.

Tola, who has a background in food and beverage services design, has travelled across Africa, and finds it amazing how “collecting these trips as part of my own memories” has dovetailed so well with her career. For the centre, she worked to represent countries that are hugely disparate geographically and culturally, and teamed up with Tapiwa Matsinde of Atelier 55 to handle the complex logistics of importing items from far and wide.

Their dedication has paid off – and these interiors will immediately feel familiar to fans of local design. Mash.T Design Studio pendants hang above barstools by Dokter and Misses and stools from Phases Africa. There are pieces by Vogel and David Krynauw, Wiid Design and Modern Gesture. But these are deftly mixed with design from Senegal, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, and even from well-known international brands like Moroso (specifically from its M’afrique collection) and Ghanian-British starchitect David Adjaye’s Djenne collection of fabrics for Knoll. “We wanted it to feel familiar, irrespective of where people are from,” says Tola.

The layered use of wood, pattern, beadwork, textured plaster, and even instantly relatable materials like breeze block does the job in that respect. Add in a sophisticated but prominent colour palette, and you have a memorable space that is at once modern and an homage to the centre’s roots.

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Wiid Design has been working wonders with cork since 2010, and recently added brilliant colour to this unique material in its completely covetable Spektrum Collection.

It took a lot of time and experimenting to understand how cork really works,” says Laurie Wiid van Heerden, explaining his journey towards creating the wide range of unique contemporary cork products that his studio has designed to date. “To fully understand this unique material, I travelled to Portugal often, visiting cork factories and the beautiful cork forests. I quickly became aware of its wonderful properties and manufacturing capabilities, and realised I wanted to place my focus on cork and make it one of our core materials.”

When Laurie describes cork as “unique”, he’s not exaggerating: as he points out, this remarkable material is biodegradable, renewable, recyclable, reusable, lightweight, waterproof, elastic, compressible and resistant to wear and tear. It’s also immensely versatile. When using the material as a designer, however, he says it was vital to “push the limits and add value to it. We had to create awareness and push the boundaries to achieve a number of world ‘firsts’ – including the world’s largest cork pendant light and cork cabinet.”

The latest updates to Laurie’s portfolio include pieces such as stools and lampshades in super-bright colours. He explains that one of the key reasons for adding colour was to emphasise the unique texture of cork. The Spektrum Collection, first launched in 2018, includes the results of Wiid Studio’s experiments “with various paint techniques and pigments”, says Laurie.

“Cork is transformed by a coat of paint, keeping its unique texture and sustainable properties, but gaining an added element of durability and luxury,” he says. The colourful pieces are warm and bold, adding instant visual interest to a range of settings, including domestic spaces. And they can be customised in almost any colour.

Recent installations by Wiid Studio include a set of custom-designed cork and stone tables at La Petite Colombe restaurant in Franschhoek, and an installation of 22 cork pendants in a private home in Durban. “It’s always been an objective of mine to install large sculptural pieces in public spaces all around the world,” says Laurie. “A product such as our outdoor cork birdhouse is a good example of a piece that can be used in museums and parks.”

Looking for more on local design? Take a look at MurrMurr’s new Flourish range.

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Bonolo Chepape of Lulasclan, Laurie Wiid Van Heerden of Wiid Design, Bonga Jwambi and Marie Aoun of Saint D’Ici have each designed and created pieces that speak to the heart of their craft while taking inspiration from and elevating the qualities and characteristics that set BULLDOG apart as a refined and modern gin.

The collaboration is part of BULLDOG’s efforts to support and celebrate local design, as the brand resonates with the independence of those who seek to carve out their own paths, write their own story and pioneer the unconventional. A total of 12 items have been created from the collaboration’s efforts, with furniture by Bonga Jwambi, woven artwork by Bonolo Chepape, a gin-inspired botanical scent by Marie Aoun and a glassware set by Laurie Wiid van Heerden.

Bonolo Chepape, founder of textile studio Lulasclan created three one-of-a-kind woven artworks that subtly represent the boldness of BULLDOG as a brand. From the “B” in the brand’s logo to the shape of the bottle and the brand’s signature black colourway, various brand traits were considered in Bonolo’s designs to produce the fluid yet geometric shapes in the final artworks. “I see myself as a woven person – there’s different parts that come together to form my identity. And that’s what I wanted to explore in terms of the brand and depict in the three pieces I’ve created.”

Laurie Wiid van Heerden worked with Ngwenya Glass to create a gin glassware set made from recycled BULLDOG Gin bottles. “We came up with the concept of a short gin glass with a unique twist – where we could incorporate recycled glass with cork,” says Laurie. Each glass in the set has been designed to meet and intersect with a cork base to form one unit. The glassware set comes complete with a cork tray featuring a dark porcelain inlay.

Furniture designer Bonga Jwambi’s goal for his collaborative designs with BULLDOG Gin was to create furniture pieces that celebrated the social side of gin-drinking – items that would encourage intimate moments of interaction and sharing. The final custom designs include a bar stool, bench and low resting chair. “I used a natural wood called Kiaat because of the dimension of colour,” says Bonga. “In one piece of wood you can get about five shades of colour. I wanted to create items that anyone would like; that anyone would love to have in their space.”

Marie Aoun, founder of Johannesburg-based botanical parfumerie Saint D’Ici, created a collaborative BULLDOG scent, where she worked towards replicating the smell of the gin with the complexity that stems from some of the gin’s natural botanicals. With ingredients such as coriander, bergamot, cinnamon, vanilla and vetiver, amongst others, Marie’s creation with BULLDOG is a unisex scent that is expansive, dry and full of interest and depth.

BULLDOG Gin drinkers stand a chance to win one of the 12 exclusive collaborative pieces when purchasing a limited-edition BULLDOG Gin pack, available in store until the end of December 2020. Not for sale to persons under the age of 18.

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Up-and-coming designer Khosi Leteba is behind the design of the Bodulo Bench, created in collaboration with Wiid Design and Nando’s Clout.

The bench is a striking interpretation of Basotho culture, with the influence evident in the patterned illustrations and curvature of the design. When conceptualising the bench, Khosi drew on his heritage and ancestry, keeping culture, architecture and agricultural practices top of mind.

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Initially part of a trio, the bench forms part of the larger Bodula collection, which Khosi pitched at the inaugural Clout Industry Days Fired Up by Nando’s at 100% Design South Africa 2019. His work caught the attention of the judges, including Tracy Lynch of Nando’s Clout and Studio Lee Lynch, and prototyping for the Bodulo bench began.

Tracy thought that designer Laurie Wiid van Heerden of Wiid Design would be the ideal collaborator for the project, where he brought in his distinctive cork furniture style to complement Khosi’s design.

The final piece is a fusion between tradition and contemporary design and will be available globally through the Nando’s Portal To Africa.

For more information, visit clout-sadesign.co.za.

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