Innholdsfortegnelse for Escape i House and Leisure

I couldn’t be happier, or more proud, to be back. (Pops champagne.) This is the relaunch issue of House and Leisure – brand new, and proudly published by LOOKBOOK. It’s been one interesting year. Because we believe in print, and the tangible experience of holding a magazine in your hands, we’ve been hard at work bringing this beloved title back to life. As you’ll see, we’ve made some changes to the design and mood, while maintaining House and Leisure’s essence. We spent months studying and paging through past magazines while working on the new direction, inspired by trends in niche publishing and book design. We remain true to what we stand for as a brand, but also firmly believe that it’s important to keep evolving. (If there’s something I’ve learnt…

For centuries, clay has been experienced as a cultural craft. Ceramic pots and vessels found throughout the ages have existed as archaeological informants of distinct moments in time, indicating man’s development, social evolution and creative capacity. These objects have captured thoughts, norms, skill sets and advancements, explaining history through their shapes, decorations, colours and uses. The current pull towards ceramics seems to indicate our need to hold onto a story. With forms and sculptural shapes often defying any practical utility beyond decoration, we have become increasingly drawn to the narrative with which these objects are ingrained. Form has begun to supersede function. Whether coiled by hand, finger-pinched or thrown on a wheel, there is a transmutation of energy that occurs in the making of such pieces; a dynamism that draws…

Award-winning furniture and product design studio TheUrbanative, headed up by the charismatic Mpho Vackier, has launched the Homecoming range. Conceived during lockdown, the collection reflects on what ‘home’ means to different people across the continent. It also explores the concept that home is not only a physical place but a sanctuary where we feel a sense of comfort and belonging. Mpho, who believes strongly in telling African stories through design, has worked with six local designers and makers on some of the pieces, including furniture, ceramics, candles and lighting: The Herd, Okra Candle, Neimil, The Mill Fabrics, Wolkberg Casting Studios and Jan Ernst. Together, these creatives have developed pieces inspired by the shapes, textures and colours of vernacular African architecture. They’re named for the words associated with home in languages…

1 / Modern Nature (Penguin Random House) In writing about his garden on the barren coast of Dungerness, filmmaker Derek Jarman also writes about himself. Modern Nature is an honest meditation on his experiences of queerness, HIV, sex and death, entangled with the cultivation of all manner of plants in a landscape of possibility and solace. 2 / Great Escapes Africa (Taschen) In a dream world, we should be so lucky to cross paths with any of the magnificent environments that are paired with luxurious architectural features in Great Escapes Africa. Touted as a hotel book, it is an exceptional guide to temporary getaways – from Egypt to Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa – and offers a glimpse into the thrilling far reaches of our continent. 3 / Hideouts –…

‘Would you come with me?’ asks Jan. He begins to walk away and turns back to us with a glint in his eye. ‘Bring your drinks.’ We’ve been sipping on Kalahari Klassiek – an awarded Methode Cap Classique produced by Die Mas located near Upington – and enjoying canapés on the stoep of Boscia House. The unassuming 100-year-old property is the site of Klein JAN, Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s long-awaited landmark South African restaurant on the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape. This original tin-roofed frontier house has been restored and charmingly appointed with furniture and decor that takes you back in time. Intrigued, we follow Jan inside, passing through the delicious-smelling kitchen, the cosy domestic scene belying the sophisticated culinary setup cleverly concealed behind vintage kitchen doors.…

Far from the Amathole mountain range, on my apartment balcony in Johannesburg, a bigleaf hydrangea is slowly starting to sprout its generous bright green leaves – a cutting taken from Malibongwe Tyilo and Athi-Patra Ruga’s garden in Hogsback, Eastern Cape. Their gardener, Bhutana Mjikelo, had selected it mentioning, as he potted it in its makeshift container, that it’s important to take with it the soil of its origin to help with the transition to a new space. Bhutana, who has worked on the property for more than 35 years, established the garden. He knows the land, how to nurture it, when and what to plant, and is helping Athi shape the garden into a dreamscape that highlights the native flora, carefully combining alien plants with new indigenous finds. Meandering along…

How was Reframd born? Out of personal frustration! Whenever I tried on glasses, I felt uneasy about how they looked on me. For a long time, I was convinced my face just wasn’t meant for glasses. At some point, I realised the problem wasn’t with me, or my face, but with the frames that were on offer. It became clear that glasses were not made for people like me, and I decided to do something about it.  What is your design philosophy? We believe that design has the power to shape whether societies are inclusive or not. A real eye-opener has been the number of people who have told us they feel acknowledged because products are being developed especially for them. Design affects so many aspects of our daily lives, from…

Now that you’ve seen the stories, you’re no doubt inspired to reimagine your space. That’s where this dedicated shopping guide comes in. In each issue of House and Leisure, you’ll find a LOOKBOOK that’s been curated by our editors and showcases the season’s decor trends and products to help you get the look. Ready, set, shop!…

1 / Zanele Kumalo contributing art editor Zanele has exercised her admirable eye for fashion, beauty and art across publications as varied as ELLE, Grazia, Marie Claire and House and Leisure. She loves nothing more than a good hunt for new experiences on home turf or further afield, and her new content studio called whatzandidnext allows her occasion to explore these ideas. Zanele looks at the growing support of textile artists on p52. 2 / Seth Shezi contributing travel editor Seth brings undeniable flair to his varied roles as brand strategist, content creator, writer and illustrator. Specialising in fashion, food and travel, his distinct social media profile has seen him successfully bridge the gap between brand and consumer. He has collaborated with clients as diverse as Jo Malone, Mercedes Benz,…

Gender politics in the art world have created a narrow viewpoint and limited acceptance when considering embroidery, needlework and weaving as fine art. The eye of the needle becomes the perfect metaphor for the miniscule lens that informs dismissive attitudes towards craft and textile. But a few artists have and continue to challenge this perspective on the legitimacy of certain practices and materials. Earlier in his career, the multidisciplinary artist Athi-Patra Ruga, would take to the streets of Braamfontein in drag and set to work on rich tapestries, now world-renown. ‘I would go to historical and topical spaces. It was a two-pronged meditation: in the re-enactment, I was preserving the spirit of storytelling through craft circles as well as embodying the women I had observed as I was growing up.…

1 / Elandsberg Rest Camp, Tankwa Karoo National Park The occasional plume of dust swirls up in the wind but there’s little else that punctuates the peace of this enormous expanse of desolate desert landscape. The accommodation may be humble, but the setting is unarguably rich. Here, untainted by city lights, the night sky sparkles alluringly overhead while desert-adapted creatures scuttle off to rest. Tucked up in your bed, you’ll barely need to lift your head to watch the spectacular sunrise over the rim of your moerkoffie cup. sanparks.org/parks/tankwa 2 / Fazenda, Swellendam Resting at the foot of the Langeberg mountains, this private forest estate offers fans of hiking, biking and foraging a European-style setting with a credible Alpine air. End the day with a plunge in your private pool…

What are the ingredients that make for a great escape? It must involve a journey. A change of pace, if not an abrupt shift from the quotidian and mundane to a new kind of rhythm that ideally, in my opinion, follows the beat of the sun. A brush with the unfamiliar. A sense of discovery that stimulates parts of the brain decommissioned in the daily commute. I favour nature. Somewhere remote. A place that takes a little effort to get to, but that makes you breathe deeper and think less. A setting that encourages you to reconnect with yourself. The drive south from East London to Sandcastle Villa takes only an hour, meandering along the coast and then inland through valleys and rural villages, yet it has the splendid road-trip…

Between Johannesburg’s skyscrapers and historic mine dumps, out into the highveld’s grasslands and meadows, flows an intricate network of waterways. They formed the source of inspiration for legendary landscape architect Patrick Watson when designing the gardens and architecture of Reflection, a private estate located just 30 minutes from the city centre in the Cradle of Humankind. Reflection is first experienced in what must be one of the country’s most spectacular driveway sequences: the property’s metal gate slowly opens revealing wonderfully complex botanical waterscapes on either side of the path that create moving – in both senses of the word – reflections. Lakes, streams, waterfalls, springs, pools and water staircases finally culminate in a high-tech shed-inspired home that Patrick and the property’s owners have been gradually completing over the last decade.…

What influences your design process? My work is very much influenced by our current predicament. Materials are in short supply, and I have become increasingly interested in trying to source local, use less, and attempt to valorise waste. I work across various categories, from lighting to footwear. I also devote an important amount of time to the development of material, which allows for speculation, experimentation and conceptualisation. I am curious about how to best make objects in a way that reflect Johannesburg. I believe that many of the answers to the world’s questions around sustainability can be found in the processes of making, repairing and reusing. I enjoy exploring these processes and tinkering with them. How does your place of work affect your design? I had been sharing my parents’ home…

It was amongst a congregation of stools, chairs and benches that I experienced the most vulnerable moment I can attribute to design. I was seated on a collectible work of art by ceramicist Andile Dyalvane. Other guests to Southern Guild Gallery that morning were settled on similar sculptural seats, gathered in a ceremonial circle. Assembled around a hearth of burning sage, we listened to Andile recount what had driven him to create iThongo (meaning ‘ancestral dreamscape’ in isiXhosa), this evocative exhibition of 18 seats, first revealed last year in the rural village of Ngobozana in the Eastern Cape, where he was born. The series represents messages that come to the artist from his ancestors: ideas, words and activities that are slowly being forgotten as modern ways replace traditional Xhosa practices.…

Before sunrise, you might well find artist Parusha Naidoo amidst a splash of mermaids in the icy waters of Cape Town’s southern peninsula. Restrictions enforced under the global pandemic prompted Parusha to embrace the early hours. ‘I started watching the sunrise during lockdown and it became a morning routine for my mental health,’ she explains. Parusha’s friend, Roushanna Gray, an indigenous food expert who runs wild food foraging company Veld & Sea, introduced her to environmentalist Aaniyah Omardien, founder of The Beach Co-Op, and freediving instructor Zandile Ndhlovu, the intrepid ‘black mermaid’ behind Freediving ZA. ‘Through these incredible humans, I have met a bevy of passionate, ocean-loving women,’ says Parusha. Parusha refers to sunrise as ‘the golden hour’, and while she uses the time to meditate, she has also found…

‘This magazine is a vote of faith in South Africa’s future. It is based on the assumption that a great many people here are interested in a new way of looking at living.’– Jane Raphaely, from her publisher’s note in the 1993 launch issue of House and Leisure Sumien Brink Editor (1993-1999) ‘Jane Raphaely and Volker Kühnel made a brave move when they launched House and Leisure in 1993, just six months before our country’s first democratic election. It could have gone either way. But they had faith that there were enough South Africans who would support the new venture. Now, nearly 30 years later, I am right behind Charl Edwards and his team, and support their commitment to creating a new-look House and Leisure that relates to the way…

When the initial frustration of being closely confined during lockdown gave way to a sense of acceptance, many of us began enjoying nesting, cultivating rituals, resurrecting lapsed hobbies, or exploring latent passions. For some local creatives the time afforded a chance to go back to basics. One age-old art form that’s had a popular resurgence is candlestick making. Forget boring white pillars and heady scents, this new league is breaking the mould with quirky colours, imaginative styles and shapes that are both playful and sculptural. You won’t need a special occasion (or power outage) to light the waxy works of art from these five brands, although you may find you’re reluctant to use them at all. The Lumes Behind the Lens We tasked the 2020 ‘Lumes’ – graduates of Lampost…

The Dining Room ‘I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.’ – The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) The Sitting Room ‘I have lived long enough to know what I like. What I dislike, I cannot abide.’ – Murder on the Orient Express (1974) The Conservatory ‘I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.’ – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) The Parlour ‘I heard a story once – as a matter of fact, I’ve heard a lot of stories in my time. They began with the sound of a tinny piano playing in a parlour downstairs...’ – Casablanca (1942) The Boudoir ‘I am willing to bet you ten thousand francs, that the phantom is in Cortina at…

After the shared experience of a year in a pandemic, how many ways have we all been affected? Do you yearn for physical touch? Or miss your loved ones across the globe? How about a semblance of normalcy and control? As we’ve survived the unpredictable nature of Covid-19 and the impact it’s had on our lives, isolation is likely the one thing we’ve all felt at one point over the past 12 months. Forced to stay apart, at home and away from others, one could argue that collaboration, and the need to reconnect, has never been more pertinent. In the case of La Petite Colombe in Franschhoek, a move to a new home on the Leeu Estate meant undergoing rebirth. Finding one’s identity in a new space is never easy,…

For Sarah Birkett and Adam Humphreys, the connection to the unspoilt piece of land that would eventually be home to Sussurro, a boutique hotel on the edge of Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago, was instant. ‘We arrived in the dark. Without light pollution, the stars were absolutely amazing,’ recalls Sarah. ‘We made our way down to the ocean by feel and when we stepped into the warm water, phosphorescence danced around our bodies. The next morning was so beautiful and calm. We felt immediately rooted, and knew we were here to stay.’ At the time, the only building on the property was a small reed hut. Without so much as a toilet, the simple structure was far from luxurious, but the location’s turquoise lagoon, sheltered by a tangle of mangroves, was reason…

‘We live suspended in mid-air,’ smiles Francois Riley, describing his extraordinary home, which hovers over the forest floor in a verdant hollow below Cape Town’s Lion’s Head. The site is unquestionably unique. Hugging a green belt, a river runs through it – quite literally – and graphic boulders tower above. It was this singular setting that inspired award-winning architect Sonja Spammer to build the original home in 2005. The existing property had been designed as a summer retreat: two separate pods connected by an open bridge, blending into the surrounding tree canopy with ease. ‘The house had an undeniable bond with the landscape, and although we were keen to adapt the space to our needs, we wanted to do it in such a way that it would be impossible to…

Graham Paarman, son of local culinary doyenne Ina Paarman (and her business partner in Ina Paarman’s Kitchen), admits he’s somewhat averse to the usual gym experience. Converting him was the challenge he put to Jan-Heyn Vorster and Pieter Malan of Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design when he commissioned them to design a personal gym on his family’s estate in Constantia, Cape Town. ‘My brief to Jan-Heyn and Pieter may have seemed simple, but it was also a tall order,’ laughs Graham. ‘Make exercise a pleasurable experience.’ The estate’s beautiful, landscaped gardens have views over vineyards towards the distant mountains, which provided a spectacular setting for the planned gym pavilion, so the architects figured that immersing the workout experience in the sylvan scenery might do the trick. The only question was…

Silk tapestry artist Billie Zangewa shares in an interview with Phaidon – as a featured artist in their publication Vitamin T: Threads and Textiles in Contemporary Art – that as a child, she remembers observing her mother and the women who were part of her sewing group. ‘It was not just about making pretty things for their homes,’ comments Billie. ‘These women supported each other emotionally and, coupled with the soothing repetitive nature of stitching, it was like group therapy.’ That is the history of ukuthunga (to sew). Women have been gaining financial independence through projects like Tunga Studio (which opened in 2003 and is now permanently closed) and Isipethu Embroidery Group in KwaZulu-Natal, the Keiskamma Art Project in the Eastern Cape and the Mapula Embroidery Trust in Tshwane. Past…

It takes a bold breed of winemaker to abandon the tamed terrain of Stellenbosch and its surrounds, opting instead to explore hostile ground – earth not necessarily considered well-suited to growing grapes. Through sheer determination, these outliers have managed to coax startlingly unique wines out of extreme growing conditions at the limits of viticultural possibility. Cape Town-based wine seller PUBLIK, gathers and delivers the fascinating wines that have ensued, door-to-door around the country. 1 / Patatsblanc (Montagu, Western Cape) In a sleepy Karoo town best known for its orchards and hot springs, wine wunderkind Reenen Borman is onto something. Sourcing Chenin Blanc and Colombard, two varieties originally planted in Montagu’s slate soils for large-scale brandy production, Reenen has crafted a lively, refreshing blend that echoes the minerality of the region’s…

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