VISI has been involved in the last three seasons of Win a Home, and this time the publication’s role was to be the imaginary client of one of the design duos, Team R&K, who were the overall winners of Season 5.   

Over the 12 weeks, the three teams were challenged with designing three brand-new apartments at Balwin Properties’ Paardevlei Lifestyle Estate in Somerset West. Rekopile Belebesi and Koketso Marole of Team R&K had early success as joint winners of the first task, the guest bedroom and spare room, and went on to win the kitchen challenge, where they got inventive commissioning Nikki Schomer, owner and designer of Gold Bottom Pots, to create pendant lights out of her signature gold-bottom plant pots, as well as the final task, the living area and balcony challenge.

Team R&K’s glamorous and sophisticated aesthetic proved to be a hit with the season’s judges, too: Bryan Courtney of Private Property, Slade Brookes of Balwin Properties and Buhle Mathole of Kabu Design Architects chose them for the Judges Choice prize of R100 000.

We caught up with Rekopile and Koketso to find out what’s in store for them in 2019…

What does good design mean to you and how did you apply this philosophy to your apartment?

Rekopile: For us great design is about striking a balance between being aesthetically appealing and practical. Our design styles are technically different: Kokesto is more industrial and down-to-earth, while my approach is more high-end and elegant. Merging these styles really helped embody that design philosophy.

Koketso: The industrial side of our choices practically ensured that there was solid design thinking behind our layout. And then the high-end eye enhanced the furniture choices, bespoke pieces, finishes and textures.

What were some of the highlights?

Koketso: Our highlights were winning the kitchen challenge. Neither of us had ever designed a kitchen before and having the judges celebrate our choices really gave us confidence.

Rekopile: And then there was winning the final lounge and balcony task, and ultimately the whole competition. We are still recovering from that! We’re so happy and grateful.

What did you learn along the way?

Rekopile: We learnt a lot about the importance of being consistent and having a visual language when designing an entire house – you can’t have disconnected ideas and choices in every room. A house has to have a design narrative and there has to be a flow.

Koketso: We also learnt to trust in God more, in ourselves and in the creativity we possess.

What does the win mean to you?

Rekopile: I think it shows there’s space in the South African design landscape for an innovative approach. I mean we converted pot plants into pendants! That was a big deal! It also shows that there’s room for women and precisely women of colour in the industry. It’s a great time to be alive!

What’s in store for Team R&K in 2019?

Koketso: We are going into business together. Win a Home helped us realise that individually we’re awesome, but together we’re powerful, and we gravitate towards the latter!

Rekopile: We want to continue to design spaces both in South Africa and the continent, facilitate conversations around making design more inclusive in SA, and sharing/creating opportunities for young people in the industry.

Stay up to date with Rekopile (@rekopile_recko_belebesi_) and Koketso (@koketso_marole) and watch the final when team R&K were crowned the winners here.

The post Win a Home 2018: Meet The Winners appeared first on Visi.

Season Five of Win a Home sees three competing pairs of designers face off over 13 weeks as they transform three white-box penthouse apartments in Balwin’s Paardevlei Lifestyle Estate in Somerset West, Cape Town, into dream homes.

Rather than being the mentors, this time around three editors, including VISI’s Editor-in-Chief Sumien Brink, are the fictional clients. (You can check out the recap here of the VISI team’s home in Season 4.)

Sumien is the “client” who will be working with Team R&K (aka “The Dynamic Duo”): Rekopile Belebesi, founder of furniture design company Belebesi Décor, and Koketso Marole, part-time model and full-time interior designer, met at the Design Joburg Expo in 2018 only three months prior to being selected as a Design Duo. Their urban approach to design combines sophistication and minimalism.

Team Contrast Control met at design college: Kehumile Mate, previously an interior designer at dhk, and Nicholas Smit, finance-turned-design student who worked at ARRCC Interior Design Firm, will be working with SA Home Owner’s Editor Kelebogile Nondzaba.

Melissa Oosthuizen and Sinead Turner make up the third and final pair, Team Perma Peeps, whose client is Debbie Loots, Editor of REAL|life magazine. Sinead, who met Melissa seven years ago at design college, comes from a background in corporate design, and Melissa is the owner and designer at her own company, East Haus Interior Design and Custom Furniture.

Team Contrast Control Nicholas Smit and Kehumile Mate; Team Perma Peeps Sinead Turner and Melissa Oosthuizen; and Team R&K Rekopile Belebesi and Koketso Marole.

Once again, the Design Duos will have world-class products available to them as they design their apartments. This year’s products include cutting-edge appliances from Samsung, furniture and homeware from Weylandts, paint from Duram, original Oggie Hardwood Flooring, and signature quartz surfaces from Caesarstone.

Teams will battle it out for two prizes: the Judges Choice of R100 000 and the Viewer’s Choice of R20 000. By voting weekly for their favourite Design Duo, viewers stand a chance to win amazing weekly prizes live on air, such as smartphones and appliances, local getaways and shopping sprees. And by entering the weekly giveaway, viewers automatically stand a chance to win the Grand Prize: a brand-new three-bedroom designer penthouse at Balwin’s Paardevlei Lifestyle Estate in Somerset West, Cape Town, worth over R3 million.

Meet the Design Duos and their magazine editor “clients” in the introductory episode and tune in to SABC 3 on Thursdays at 7:30pm.

The post WATCH: Win a Home is back for 2018 appeared first on Visi.