Elle Decoration South Africa » Art and artists

Skermunkil

heather moore — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:06:49 +0000

Cape Town jeweller Marietjie Beeselaar has opened an online shop for her Skermunkil line, where she is selling these exquisite vintage silver spoons. Each one is hand cut, and is quite unique. They’re intended as pendants, but I could also imagine one hanging as a window decoration. Just beautiful.

However you choose to use your spoon, be sure to keep an eye on what Skermunkil will be bringing to us by visiting the Skermunkil shop, and by following Marietjie at her Eendag op ‘n Reendag blog.

Design Showcase: Karen Suskin

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:08:00 +0000

The Design Showcase feature in each issue of ELLE Decoration looks at home grown artists, designers, architects and innovators. You’ll find more of these under the Profiles pulldown menu at the top of the page, and right here, we’re featuring textile artist Karen Suskin in an interview by deputy editor, Kelly Berman.

Karen Suskin is a multimedia artist, interdisciplinary designer and design lecturer. She’s been a proponent of all things sustainable before it became a buzz word, and built her own straw-bale house 12 years ago with her husband, Anthony, her family and a small local workforce.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

‘In everything I do – be it designing a garment, creating an art installation, working with a community, collaborating on a piece of furniture, or mentoring a student – I’m aware of the context and of the need to find environmentally sensitive and ethical ways of working. I frequently walk on the beach or in the mountains close to my home; I observe and collect things that inspire me and return to the studio with new treasures and deeper insight into nature’s fascinating processes.’

CROSS POLLINATION
‘I work predominantly in felt, sometimes using it on existing pieces such as these stools. I also dabble in other artistic mediums, often incorporating natural materials.’

‘The design on this felt dress came from a line drawing I did while working out an idea. The chalk doodle she’s drawing continues down into her dress as a physical embodiment of the idea itself.’

Interview: Kelly Berman.
Production: Laureen Rossouw and Karen Suskin.
Photographs: Justin Patrick.
Model: Thola van Speyk

Issue 71: Wonder Full

heather moore — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:00:40 +0000

Artist Louise Hennigs’ Green Point home is filled with relics, collections and artworks, all testifying to her travels, her roots in both Africa and Europe, as well as to her lifelong commitment to art and beauty.

Production: Laureen Rossouw

Photographs: Mark Williams

Setting the PACE

heather moore — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:00:29 +0000

Curators Adam Levin and Andile Magengelele have spent the last few years tracking down “Wow!” pieces of handmade design from all over Africa, and the fruits of their labours are now on show at the Pan African Craft Exhibition – or PACE2010 – now on at the CDC-G Gallery at Nelson Mandela Square.

In putting together PACE2010, Levin and Magengele were were looking to curate a show that might become a beacon for a new direction in African handmade Design, and it seems to have worked. In fact, Levin says of the designers and craftspeople they have met across the continent: [they] have come to represent a new wave of Afrofuturism for me – one that might truly find its own in the global design market. They are our tomorrow”.

Banana Rockers by Cheik Diallo (Mali)

Designers represented include Malian chair designer Cheik Diallo, Ghanaian furniture designers Kweku and Josephine Forson of Tekura Design, Nigerian ceramicist, Lawson Oyekan, as well as local talents like Marisa Fick-Jordaan and her lacy wirework platters, and the felt work of Ronel Jordaan.

Passage with Palm Print, Lawson Oyekan (Nigeria)

Open Bust by House on Fire (Swaziland)

Aloe Light by Magic And Moonlight (SA)

Keep up with PACE2010 at the Facebook page, and read Adam Levin’s fascinating article about the curating process for the Mail & Guardian right here.

Interview: Kehinde Wiley

heather moore — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:04:10 +0000

Today’s all about celebs. We have a celebrity blogger today, in the shape of Vicki Sleet of the fabulous I Want That blog, and she’s nabbed us a bona fide celebrity interview. Take it away, Vicki:

With just a few more games until the big showdown, World Cup fever is in full force all over South Africa. In Cape Town, sports brand Puma has come to the party in a big way by showing their prowess both on and off the field – functions, exhibitions and even a pop up store in the CBD are just some of the things happening on their programme of events.

The Kehinde Wiley Legends of Unity Exhibition, featuring portraits of three of Africa’s greatest footballers is a definite must-see. This LA-born artist has been compared to some of the greatest portrait painters of our time and his colourful realist creations are truly mesmerising.

I caught up with Kehinde for a quick chat last week and this is what he had to say about football, his life, Africa and what makes him tick…

Q Tell us a bit about yourself and your connection with Africa?
I didn’t grow up with my father and came to Nigeria when I was 20 looking for him so much of my work is about this yearning to connect with Africa. I had a desire to connect, not just on an idealistic way. I have been back many times since but this is my first time to South Africa.

Q When did the art thing happen for you?
I grew up in LA in the 1980’s when it was rife with gang violence, my mother decided ‘we’re going to pull you out of the streets on the weekends to create a different path for yourself” and that was art school where she sent me and my twin brother. For some reason it stuck with me – I remember going into museums in Los Angeles and seeing the great portraits and wondering what the hell was going on. It was at once alienating because we were very poor but at the same time, with the grandiose powder puff wigs of society portraits, it was beguiling.

Q What art do you have your eye on now?
My next American show is going to be all about women from under-served communities within New York. All of the paintings will be based on the great society portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Q Do you see yourself as a social commentator?
At its best my work has a direct relationship to the truth of what’s going on on the streets. I think feel social art for ‘good’ is boring – the best art comes from a place where curiosity rules rather than politics – and I’m curious about people, there’s some crazy, fun people out there and you never know what you’re going to find – we wanna know people’s stories.

Q Describe your process?
My work is about more than paintings on a wall. These are stories. A hundred years from now how will people look at this images – will they know about the fact that this exhibition was related to the first time that Africa was seen in a context outside of war, disease and famine?

Q Was this project an eye opener for you?
Absolutely! I had no idea of how people live for soccer. I was jumped into this world where there are people who are obsessive about their teams…it amazed me that there are people who can’t leave their countries because they are such fanatics!

Q Where’s next on your agenda?
I’m doing a project where I am following the path of the Ethiopian Jews in a painting exhibition based on their experiences. I’ve been working all over the world for the last ten years and every year it’s a different nation (14 nation in four months)

Thanks for your time Kehinde!

The Puma X Kehinde Wiley Legends of Unity Exhibition runs until 3 July at Studio One, 186 Bree Street, Cape Town
For more on the Puma Unity project, click here.

Paint chip delight

heather moore — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:09:29 +0000

I’ve posted before about the amazing paper sculpture of Real Simple’s Matthew Sporzynski , so was thrilled to see (courtesy of How About Orange) these amazing new paper confections he’s made for paint company Sherwin-Williams.

See more of the print and TV campaign by clicking here, and more of Matthew Sporzynski’s work for Real Simple here. And remember, folks, those paint chips aren’t for playing with, they’re for making decisions.

Textel ottoman

heather moore — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:02:22 +0000

First shown at the Pioneers of Change festival, designer Christien Meindertsma used huge ropes of wool to make these marvellously kooky Textel Ottomans (Ottomen?).

Take a look at the Christien Meindertsma website to see more of this young designer’s surprising projects.

Two Decades of scuplture

heather moore — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:27:24 +0000

Currently on at the beautiful Nirox Sculpture Park in Gauteng is Twenty: South African Sculpture of the Last Two Decades – an exhibition of some of the top local sculptural works of the past 20 years.

The intention behind the show, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, is to exhibit a sculptural reflection of the shifts, challenges, changes and achievements South Africa has experienced. Work by 40 artists is shown and includes names like William Kentridge, Jane Alexander, Willem Boshoff and Dylan Lewis.

Twenty will be on show until 15 August. Visit the Nirox Foundation website to find out more.

Backyard Bill

heather moore — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:00:43 +0000

Backyard Bill finds and photographs stylish people wearing their own clothes, and then posts the pics along with a little interview. Hope you enjoy this dose of gorgeously stylish eye candy, and are inspired in your dressing style all weekend long.

I discovered the Backyard Bill site thanks to the lovely blog of Task - a shop stocking all things exquisitely made in Brooklyn.

Out and about: Pamela Sunday

heather moore — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:00:11 +0000

A long, long time ago, when our brand new Deputy Editor Kelly Berman was our regular guest blogger from New York City, she wrote a story about the lustrous sculptural forms of ceramicist Pamela Sunday. Now that I’m in NYC, I thought it’d be nice to follow up with a studio visit.

Pamela’s studio in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, is quite an enviable space. It’s a large studio shared by 8 ceramicists with an impressive firing room and beautiful natural light. Pamela cycles to the studio daily to work on her sculptures, which are inspired by microscopic forms like plankton and algae.

If you’d like to find out more, read Kelly Berman’s story and interview here, and check out Pamela Sunday’s website for more information and images.