Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 18 i House and Leisure

We inherit more than objectsWe inherit ways of laughing,recipes without measurements,and the way the light slantsacross the kitchen floor. The language of the hearth,stories told by firelight,and the shapes of lives sharedweave patterns passed downeven when we’ve wandered far. Because home is not only walls,and belonging is not a place,but the homes that built usare carried through generationslike torches in our hands. House and Leisure x V&A Watershed Proud supporters of the local creative community Featuring handmade leather flowers by Project Dyad waterfront.co.za @vandawatershed…

Squint as you look through the mists of time, and you may be able to see her. The matriarch trundling along a dirt road in her Mercedes, immaculately dressed in a matching set. Maybe she’ll say it, or maybe she’ll let her coif do the talking, but you’ll hear it as the car comes to a halt, her life philosophy: ‘Your hair is your crowning glory’. Anne Nash steps from the car, sets foot on the dust-laced Noorsveld earth, her pink shoes spotless. She is the mayor of Jansenville, a pillar of the community, a formidable farmer … and this is her home. It’s a heyday house, a mid-century mansion, with floor-to-ceiling windows that let in plenty of light, revealing twin banana palms in built-in indoor planters in the entrance…

We swipe past moments, replace watches instead of winding them, and even store our memories in the cloud. So what earns the right to stay? To be kept, repaired, and passed on? For centuries, heirlooms were objects of permanence: a grandfather clock that ticked through generations, a set of fine china that only left the cupboard for Christmas, or a mysterious oil painting that everyone morbidly hoped they’d inherit. They endured because they were made to, and because permanence itself was the measure of value. But also because we treated them that way: too precious to touch, protected more than enjoyed. But today, permanence feels more fragile than ever, eroded by climate collapse, political instability and the churn of a culture built to refresh. Is ‘forever’ still the goal, or…

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I wore the feather dress before the chair ever did. It moved with me, spoke to me – like something alive. There was a kind of quiet magic in how it swayed with my steps, how it whispered in the air around me. I’ve never forgotten that moment. So when I saw that same dress, or rather that same spirit, reimagined on a piece of furniture, I felt something I wasn’t expecting: recognition. When I spoke with Luke Radloff of UNI FORM, something he said stayed with me: ‘When you move through the world in an authentic way, you attract the right people into your orbit.’ That’s what this project felt like. A meeting of frequencies. An alignment that required no explanation. Just a shared belief in intuition over form.…

‘Our failed attempt at minimalism’ is how Malcolm Klûk and Christiaan Gabriël du Toit describe the style of their Fresnaye penthouse. The attempt is noted though. The duo’s trademark eclectic abundance has evolved into a honed, disciplined collection with every object that remains a reflection of their personal evolution. For the fashion designers are no longer just that. For two decades they were known as the designers of KlûK CGDT couture and ready-to-wear. In 2014 they decided to develop a block on Bree Street, which would include their eponymous three-storey store ‘inspired by Valentino’s atelier’. This marked a turning point. They stopped marching to the drum of a fourseasons-a-year fashion business, added a masterly curation of art and interiors and reconsidered what it meant to be ‘designers’. At this point…

If it’s true that the topography of a place can shape its character, then the town of Tulbagh in the Western Cape was destined for greatness. Encircled by not one but three awe-inspiring mountain ranges – the Obiqua, the Groot Winterhoek and the Witzenberg mountains, Tulbagh is a place of wide-open spaces and dramatic beauty. This may go some way to explaining the town’s resilience in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in 1969 that measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. Like a phoenix arising from the ashes, Tulbagh built itself anew with the help of the late, great architect Gawie Fagan, whose vision sought to preserve the town’s architectural heritage. Almost 60 years later, it’s best described as a living museum, home as it is to a staggering 32…

From the street, the Camps Bay home sits modestly, its white stucco walls and clean lines hinting at the mid-century modernist bones beneath. But step inside and it becomes clear – this is no ordinary renovation. This is a house that remembers. It remembers laissez-faire summers by the pool, ice clinking in glasses and watermelon juice tracing slow rivulets down suntanned wrists. It remembers terrazzo under bare feet, the hum of Abdullah Ibrahim and Cat Stevens on the turntable, the Sunday braai smells wafting through the salty sea air. And now, through a careful and personal restoration, it remembers all of that with a fresh, contemporary ease. Now known as The Liminal, a name chosen to signify its status as a threshold space: it is poised geographically between mountain and…

‘I have an obsession with lucky finds, and this house is almost like a treasure hunt; a tiny jewel box filled with the spoils of treasure hunts,’ says Tracy Lynch, describing her family’s holiday cottage in idyllic Hamburg, a seaside village on a strip known as the Sunshine Coast, about halfway between Port Alfred and East London, and a 45-minute drive from the nearest petrol station. ‘There’s something about the Eastern Cape … something that people who grew up here can never can get out of their system, I think it’s the light and the warmth of the ocean, the long beaches; when the green landscape meets the ocean, there’s just something extraordinary,’ adds the Gqeberha-raised interior designer and creative director, who has called Cape Town home for the past…

House and Leisure: How do your roles as mother and daughter evolve in the kitchen? Maluti Mngadi: In the kitchen, my mom Thuladu Mngadi is the heart – she’s the chef and creative force. I handle operations, making sure everything runs smoothly front-of-house. Cooking isn’t really my thing, but I love tasting the food and managing the business. I’m finishing my hospitality operations degree this year and learning so much. HL: What dish best represents your bond? MM: Mom’s garlic-and-rosemary chicken truly represents our bond and memories. She taught me how to make it when she was pregnant with my brother and couldn’t stand for long in the kitchen. We laughed, bonded, and created a tradition. It’s still the one dish I love to cook – simple, warm, and a…

House and Leisure: What’s one moment in your creative process that always reminds you you’re sisters? Rucita Vassen: Our creative process always begins independently, each of us exploring ideas in our own way. But inevitably, there’s a moment when we organically merge – the sketch pad passes back and forth between us, ideas overlap and boundaries disappear. It becomes instinctive, fluid and an entirely collaborative, layered approach to design. It never feels like work, it just feels like us – completely in sync, as only sisters can be. HL: What made you start a business together? Both: Growing up in the close-knit Indian community of Rylands in Athlone, Cape Town, we were surrounded by a culture of family-run businesses. With our parents working side by side in their own business…

Ukuhamba kukubona. To go is to see! This exclamation would spring out of my mother’s mouth whenever I’d return home from whatever adventure – big or small – with a delicious tidbit around something I had learned. Given that I’m writing this on a cold, wintry morning, I am also reminded of how I still refuse to cut up my own oranges because during the long winter months, my mother would always keep a pocket of oranges in the kitchen and at some point during the day she would cut up an orange and I would be allowed to have a piece or two. In the last year I have been on a search for Home. Searching for Home both in meaning and location. For all my life I have…

Perhaps the most magical part of this edition is the emergence of an accidental golden thread that wasn’t forced during our creative process, but rather came about organically as the stories took shape: The features within this Embrace edition all started speaking to the concept of home, belonging and homecoming. This is uncovered via a multitude of voices in the following pages of our MOOD chapter (see our cover story on p34 for a longing love letter to nostalgia). We explore this further in LOOK, a “woven” (or rather printed) tapestry of themes such as collaboration, friendship, family and motherhood, while our LIVE chapter is an eclectic mix of homes created by people who have a very clear understanding of who they are in terms of style and identity (some…

Robyn Collyer: Let’s start at the beginning. What was your very first memory of a horse, and where did this passion start? Gabrielle Kannemeyer: I must have been about three years old when my father took me along to a job site where there were horses. I stuck my hand into one of their mouths, and it picked me up by the arm, dangling me around. That was it, it was love at first bite. My father would take me to friends who owned horses or lived around them, from the Overberg to Cape Town. We would also spend many afternoons at Kenilworth Racecourse watching horses, sometimes sneaking into the trainer’s lounge because our surname is shared by a famous trainer. Some of my happiest memories are of the times…

Cape Town Market in Epping (Featuring The German Store) Adderley Street Flower Market (Featuring Gairos Flowers & Decor) Milnerton Flea Market (Featuring Willy’s Outreach Books, Mike’s Bric-a-Brac, Big B food stand and other vendors) Kalk Bay Fish Market (Featuring Ferial Davids’s stand) Green Market Square (Featuring Michael Mwangi & Abdullah Allie’s stalls)…

‘Textiles are intertwined into every part of our lives, adorning our bodies and draping our homes. They’re deeply personal, binding us to our past and to the hands that create them,’ says Jackie May, editor and founder of Twyg, and Contributing Greening and Sustainability Editor for House and Leisure. Twyg recently hosted its annual Textile Talks in Cape Town, bringing together artisans, designers and activists to speak to the cultural legacy of textiles and the social and environmental responsibility that rests in the present. Recognising this dual purpose, we’ve gathered a selection of artists, designers and makers working with textiles to construct new narratives in which memory, tradition and history are celebrated. The Mill ‘My mom always said to work with the natural resources around you,’ says Michelle Driessen, co-founder…

The journey of this thread has many beginnings. It starts with curtains, a passion for cloth and a lineage defined by a powerful punk spirit. At first, the beginning of the story seems clear: photographer Inge Prins is gifted golden silk curtains by her rebellious aunt, Carla Wasserthal, a professor and lover of textiles. The curtains hang in her home for over a decade before she decides to pass them on to David Bellamy, a multidisciplinary creative innovator, wondering what story he could tell with these history-laden strands. Eventually, they make their way to creative practitioner and philosopher Lesiba Mabitsela. A new trade route is formed. But the thought that remains with everyone involved in this project materialises as a lingering question. Where does a thread start or end? Where…

In her new cookbook ‘Upwards’, Karen offers more than recipes. She shares a kind of homecoming, to simple joys, to nourishment that grounds us, and to the deep, resonant pull of heritage. Food, in Karen’s world, is the thread that binds: to our families, our cultures, and the selves we sometimes lose in the rush of modern life. She recalls her mother’s gentle guidance before her first solo travels: ‘When you get lost, there’s a tendency to panic and look down. Look upwards. That’s where the signs are. They’ll tell you the way.’ It is that spirit, of orientation through faith, flavour, and familial wisdom, that fills the pages of Upwards. This is food that comforts and connects, that calls us back to the table, back to each other. A…

Aspasia Karras – editor, writer, publisher, media bigwig and style icon – calls an apartment at Killarney’s iconic Whitehall Court home. It was built in 1923, when Joburg was polishing its Art Nouveau brass, casting off its mining town genesis and growing into a gleaming, golden city. It was designed by architect John Abraham Moffat for IW Schlesinger – a movie mogul with a Gatsby complex and an eye for both talent and tilework. It was to be the epicentre of his dream to create Hollywood on the Highveld. Schlesinger lived on the second floor, and his stars lived upstairs. And downstairs, who knows? Perhaps silver screen magic was made? The building still has that soft-focus glamour. ‘It’s got a Chateau Marmont feeling,’ says Aspasia. She’s known for throwing decadent…

‘There’s a saying that when you reach 50 years of age, you revert to type,’ says interior designer Hubert Zandberg. ‘I wasn’t quite there when I bought this cottage ten years ago but, the sentiment felt spot on.’ For someone born and bred in the Karoo, who has lived in Europe for three decades with homes in London, Paris and Berlin, the concept of coming home to Cape Town must have been an interesting process. ‘When I first moved overseas, I felt burdened by my heritage and culture,’ recalls Hubert. ‘That’s no longer the case, now my aesthetic is strong – some might say heavy – cultural statement.’ Which is why the home that Hubert has created all these years later in South Africa is the story of his becoming.…

Tucked away in the leafy suburb of Atholl in Johannesburg, this newly built home places family firmly at the centre of its design – three generations, each with distinct needs and unique lifestyles, thoughtfully considered and seamlessly integrated to create a functional yet elegantly beautiful, retreat-style sanctuary. It was the dream of homeowners Andrew Berry and Ying-Poi De Lacy-Berry to build not just a house for their daughter Frankie to grow into, but a home that would also warmly embrace Ying-Poi’s dad, Graham, allowing their lives to intertwine meaningfully under one roof. And so, the ‘Two Sides House’ was born – a cleverly conceived response by architects Leonard Miller and Catherine Moronell of MiMo, who brought this vision of multigenerational living to life. The choice to entrust MiMo, founded in…

House and Leisure: What was driving you when you started Ardmore in 1985? Fée Halsted: To be honest, it was necessity. I had just completed my Fine Arts degree and had been lecturing when I was retrenched. I moved to Ardmore Farm in the Champagne Valley of KwaZulu-Natal and thought, ‘What can I do from my studio that will sell and provide me with an income?’ Bonnie Ntshalintshali and I started making ceramic ducks. Our vision was simple: to make art we could sell. But very quickly, it became about more than money. It became about working together, telling stories and creating something that mattered. In 1990, Bonnie and I won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, and that recognition opened doors and set our path. HL: Your early collaboration…

House and Leisure: Congratulations on your Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award! What does recognition like this mean to you? Retang Phaahla: This award is a celebration of every rural woman who has sown her seeds into me. Like my mother, who first introduced me to the plants and traditions that shape our teas. It affirms that African indigenous knowledge, when rooted in purpose and courage, belongs on global stages. It motivates me to keep opening new doors for young women to thrive through heritage and entrepreneurship. HL: What family memory returns when you make tea? RP: I remember making my mom a cup of tea the moment she walked through the door, or whenever guests arrived. It was our unspoken tradition of welcome and care. Tea was more than refreshment;…

I settle quietly into the stillness of the village of Moletjie. It’s just me and my spiritual counterparts, my ancestors. Together, we conjure the energy to reach into the deep well of my heart and bring forth the truth that drives my passionate pursuit of homecoming. Why does homecoming matter so much to me?Why do I keep returning to it again and again,In the work I create,The words I write,The questions I ask,The stories I tell,The spaces I build,The truths I share online? I sit, supported by a humble white plastic chair, laptop on my lap. The fire burns nearby. Water is boiling for supper. A kettle hums. My cats lie beside me. Outside, chickens pass back and forth, as if offering silent support. The fire area – mokhukhu as…

Reflecting on his decades-long exploration of the human condition in South African cities, the late artist and critic David Koloane once observed that ‘the human figure has become the icon of creative expression’. He was talking about his art and how it reflects the sociopolitical landscape of South Africa, both past and present. The sentiment also holds true for the way people show up on the streets of our country. We clothe ourselves with often unconscious intent; our layers become a signal for how we want to be perceived by others and by ourselves, and for how we move through the world. Street style is where design inspiration often begins. It’s the moment you catch an exaggerated silhouette at a popular neighbourhood bar; a previously discarded high-street garment, upcycled and…

House and Leisure’s colour curation for spring: Shop paint! Scan the QR code above to shop our curation of colour. Research has shown that colour affects mood, motivation and productivity. Using it effectively can uplift or calm, excite or ground, which is all the more reason to get it right. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next paint makeover and want something out of the ordinary, Olympic Paints can help. They have over 40 years in the industry and their approach goes above and beyond the usual paint selection process with the Olympic Paints 360 offering, which includes mood-based colour selection using VibrAInt, an AI-driven tool that helps you to narrow down your colour palette according to the space, its size, and the mood you want to create. Simply…

Steven Whiteman: What is the African Imaginary and how did it come about? Georgia Black: The African Imaginary refers to a body of cultural work that could only ever have been created by someone of this continent. The library has been in operation for three years, but it used to be called the Littlegig Library. I started building it ‘in public’ because I realised that as much as I loved most of the books, I didn’t know much about African literature. There are gaps in the archives, a dearth of local publishing houses, and African coffee table books are not frequently published. I decided to start a collection and in so doing help others to build a collection of African literary works. We are now at around 300 books. SW:…

The Boland air is crisp, our eyes puffy, and our voices soft as we head out to the Karoo Winter Wool Festival. Checklist: wallet, phone, my 35mm Olympus Infinity, black-and-white film, vellies, journal, cash (for the tollgate and pancakes!), ultra-hydrating moisturiser, socks, jackets, jerseys (plus an extra one – just in case). Okay, let’s go! My mom and I have a long drive ahead of us. With each passing hour, our voices soften, humming to songs by Koos Kombuis and admiring the changing landscape – mountains morph into rounded koppies, horizons stretch further, grasses wave in the wind, showing off shades of soft greys and purples, and the Karoo heavens open. As we reach the last hour of our journey, we decide to squeeze in a quick detour to Nieu-Bethesda…

At Constitution Hill, Food I Love You is more than a restaurant. It’s Mpho’s love letter to heritage and homecoming. From memories of her grandparents’ weekend gatherings to her mother’s spiced rice with lentils, Mpho’s cooking is steeped in memory and care. In the former prison kitchen, she creates meals with intention, honouring both the history of the space and the people she serves. Every plate is an act of remembering – and of reimagining – carrying the quiet message that we are worthy, our stories matter, and that beauty can be found in the most ordinary moments. The air at Constitution Hill carries a quiet weight, the kind that asks you to slow down. In its former prison kitchen, light spills gently across the room, softening its edges and…

Hotelier Liz Biden introduced supercharged glamour to safari when she opened the family’s first lodge in Thornybush, a private game reserve on the edge of the Kruger National Park. Twenty-five years on, the latest addition to the Royal Malewane collection is tented – and iconic from the get-go – thanks to its pink canvas. Named in honour of the late Wilson Masiya, a master tracker who left a remarkable guiding legacy, the new camp does not blend quietly into the bush like the leopards famously found here. Arriving in late June, I was unprepared for the delight I felt in spying the six unapologetically pink tents rising audaciously from the lush landscape, still green from late-summer rains. This brazen departure from safari convention didn’t happen by accident. The signature shade…

When Nilfah Adams says that her first moments inside her penthouse apartment in Cape Town’s CBD took her breath away, she’s not being schmaltzy. The full-width, doublevolume window mesmerises from the moment you walk in, capturing the city within an elegant, curved frame. The sweeping arch that affords this elevated vantage point has earned the building star status among inner-city loft lovers. The Studios, with one foot on hasty Buitengracht Street and the other on Bo-Kaap’s quaint Rose Street, dips a toe into two divergent worlds. Decades on, it has become part of the city’s architectural identity, its sequence of white barrelvaulted roofs refusing to be part of a Tetris-like skyline, these glazed arcs ringing out with a big, round ‘no’. But back to breathtaking. Inside, striking views are snatched…

Tucked away in a coastal nature reserve at the end of a single winding road, alongside a lagoon and fronted by a pristine beach, it remains one of the Garden Route’s best-kept secrets. Holidaymakers fortunate enough to own property in this tiny enclave of resolutely unpretentious dwellings come back year after year, building family memories of long summer days that start with hikes and bird-watching in the beautiful Tsitsikamma Mountains, or a spot of kayaking on the Groot River lagoon, then proceed to beach swims and late-afternoon braais back home. Iconic South African fashion designer, Marianne Fassler, and husband Charles, have been enjoying holidays here for almost 30 years. For most of that time, their visits were centred on the cabin built by her parents: ‘A beautiful wooden house designed…

After waking and before the day lengthens, Caitlin Warther moves through her Tamboerskloof townhouse with quiet intent. The space, equal parts memory box, resting place and sanctuary, does not demand attention. Rather, it invites it. Having spent over a decade abroad, most recently in New York, Caitlin returned to Cape Town with a clear sense of what she was looking for. ‘I wanted a home that had the intimacy of a New York apartment,’ she reflects. ‘I wanted something private, something that could contain my inwardness.’ Rather than ascending, as you might expect of a home perched on the slopes of Tamboerskloof, a long, winding, stone staircase leads you down three flights to a serene, marble-tiled foyer. From here, the space generously unfolds: a tiered mezzanine living area with soaring…

House and Leisure: What’s the earliest memory you have of your family in the workshop? Justine Schäfer: I remember being at the atelier while my father was working; I recall picking up leather offcuts off the floor and trying to make things with all the pieces. It always felt like we were finding hidden treasures. HL: How does the first bag your grandfather, Lothar, made for your grandmother continue to inspire what you create today? JS: The craftmanship, the precision and the attention to detail in this bag really inspire me – I’m always amazed by the pure perfection of this piece. It creates a feeling of nostalgia for slower times when we were less rushed and able to appreciate workmanship and SLOW fashion. When was the last time you…

House and Leisure: How has jewellery helped you stay connected across generations? Christopher Greig: A young couple will often come in for engagement rings and proudly say, ‘My great-grandmother got her ring from Charles Greig, then my grandmother, my parents, and now us.’ It’s wonderful to see that continuity. It’s quite interesting that we, as three brothers, all chose to come into the business – that in itself is most unusual. It says something for the fact that we were born into it and loved going into my father’s shop – it was like a treasure chest, and at the age of eight or nine, I was already getting involved. It was a natural progression that I went into the business, and my two younger brothers followed. Our father was…

House and Leisure: What does walking among the flowers your grandfather once tended feel like? Malcolm Jaftha: It brings back memories of my childhood and of what my grandfather grew. We can’t find some of those flowers anymore because they disappeared with the forced removals. For example, specific chrysanthemums and carnations, and a certain type of orange dahlia. You can’t get any of those seeds anymore. HL: How does working on this land feel, and how does it help reclaim your family’s sense of belonging? Charles Jaftha: It takes you back to that time. Working the land again is a great privilege because we loved working in the fields as children. And we try to do it in more or less the same way our grandfather and father did it.…