Jacki Curates

Cape Town is positively bursting with creativity and it is so inspiring to see the furniture designers and manufacturing industries booming. The art and gallery scene is incredible and I saw such strong exhibitions - by any international standards. (Unfortunately I couldn’t photograph them, but I will find a way to feature them at a later stage). This is by no means an all-inclusive, unabridged account of what is out there, but here are just a few snippets of design that stood out and caught my eye on the streets around town when I visited in January 2011. 

First stop: fashion designer David West’s recently-opened concept store on Long Street, where Johannesburg-based furniture and interiors design team, Dokter & Missus have set up camp. I have loved these clean-lined, utilitarian pieces since I first saw them, and their interesting mix of materials.

Next, it’s all in the joinery and design details, at designer, Liam Mooney’s new shop in Salt River, Dry Goods:

Then it was over to the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock. I went mid-week when the famously busy food market is closed and managed a good, quiet look at what else is on offer. There is so much that is so good.

A delicious new coffee spot lured me in, Espresso Lab. I love the concept and branding and the staff were fantastic:

nice bench outside:

I also saw these brilliant cabinets, inspired by those old steel filing cabinets but made (beautifully so) with Norwegian birch ply, by designer Peet Van Straaten. I have since looked him up and really really like his work.

And then I couldn’t resist these cool kids growth charts from Quirky Me:

Then I popped over to one of my favourite concept spaces, Haas, in the Bo-Kaap to see what he had in store and finally got my hands on one of the gold-faced bunnies by ceramicist, Sootcookie, that I have been coveting for months! The store has such a fabulously curated display, with a coffee shop coming soon…

That’s all for now, but this is just the start of my South African design inspiration, so keep coming back….