The first Design Showcase features one-time ad man, now turned designer/lateral thinker/inventor, Porky Hefer.

Porky (he’s the thin one in this pic) says [...]]]> Issue 68 sees the start of an exciting new feature, known as Design Showcase. In this feature, a South African designer has the spotlight put on his or her work over three whole pages!

The first Design Showcase features one-time ad man, now turned designer/lateral thinker/inventor, Porky Hefer.

Porky (he’s the thin one in this pic) says about local design: “Often a local solution turns out to be a global one because it’s so simple an honest. A perfect, pure design idea should be followed by a chorus of ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’” You’ll see lots to illustrate this way of thinking in the Design Showcase in Issue 68, and here are two examples:

We posted about Porky Hefers’ Lites last year some time, and since then, he’s released a version in pure white too. Lites are turned wooden ‘light bulbs’ made from indigenous African hardwoods.

Another recent notion of Porky’s is his Phe-Phela seat, where he explores the possibility of turning a chair into something more productive when it’s not being sat upon. The Phe-Phela is inspired by ventilator outlets, and it spins in the slightest breeze when not in use.

Find out more about Porky Hefer’s work and also about creative consultancy Animal Farm at the website.

Production: Laureen Rossouw

Photos: Jac de Villiers

Art director Jelena Jovanovic and film maker Terence Neale have renovated their Killarney apartment and furnished it with the fruits of their vintage finds. Their place was so filled with [...]]]> In the Style Steal feature in Issue 68, we take a close look at a home occupied by two seriously stylish retro treasure hunters.

Art director Jelena Jovanovic and film maker Terence Neale have renovated their Killarney apartment and furnished it with the fruits of their vintage finds. Their place was so filled with lovely things, we have almost as many pics in our outtakes folder as we do in our Style Steal story on pages 45-49 of Issue 68. (Oh, and I couldn’t help but play “spot the Skinny laMinx” stuff!)

Production: Tiaan Nagel

Photos: Elsa Young

Chilean architect Antonio Zaninovic worked with the owners, using the footprint of their small home to make [...]]]> The new issue’s cover image is from the story on pages 60 – 69, entitled “Natural Selection”, and I do dearly wish I’d been the one picked to live in this beautiful home on the slopes of Table Mountain.

Chilean architect Antonio Zaninovic worked with the owners, using the footprint of their small home to make one much larger. Re-purposed ceiling rafters, stone excavated on-site, and using the “bones” of the existing house mean that this home is not only beautiful to look at, it also meshes with the principles of sustainability that the owners hold dear.

Visit Antonio Zaninovic’s website to see many more images of the beautiful Liss Springthorpe family home.

Production: Laureen rossouw

Photographs: Mark Williams

If you’d also like to be ahead of the curve each month, get your own subscription to [...]]]> It’s that time again! Lucky subscribers will already have their copies of the Kitchens issue, but the rest of you should keep your eyes peeled for the new issue of ELLE Decoration SA, arriving on shelves any day now.

If you’d also like to be ahead of the curve each month, get your own subscription to ELLE Decoration SA for only R195.00. It’s a snip! In Rands and Cents, it means that each issue will cost you a mere R24.37, and it’s delivered to your door!

What are you waiting for? Email Reshal Kara right now to subscribe.

Graphic designer Michael Bierut of Pentagram opened the Design Indaba and MC’ed the conference this year with wonderful grace and humour. He also offered some valuable lessons he’d learned from a project that turned out well, but didn’t really go according to plan. [...]]]> More from Kelly today about what she saw at the Design Indaba conference:

Graphic designer Michael Bierut of Pentagram opened the Design Indaba and MC’ed the conference this year with wonderful grace and humour. He also offered some valuable lessons he’d learned from a project that turned out well, but didn’t really go according to plan. He was coming from a graphic design angle but I think his insights are relevant to anyone making things for an audience. Here’s what he said:

1.  Don’t be so darned clever
2.  You get power by giving away power.
3.  The real opportunity may not be part of your scope of work.
4.  Consistency does not equal sameness.
5.  The audience is more wonderful than you think.

Check out Bierut’s DesignObserver blog, and read more about his L!brary Initiative for public schools in America.

The ELLE Deco team sat rapt with attention when Dutch designer Tord Boontje spoke about his work at the Design Indaba conference. Afterwards, we were lucky enough to [...]]]> Some of the DECO team got to visit the Design Indaba conference last week, and today our deputy editor (and one-time NYC correspondent) Kelly Berman filed this report:

The ELLE Deco team sat rapt with attention when Dutch designer Tord Boontje spoke about his work at the Design Indaba conference. Afterwards, we were lucky enough to sit down to eat with him and Brazilian designer Marcelo Rosenbaum (our editor, Laureen Rossouw, hosted them for dinner), and we found Boontje to be as charming and sweet as his endearing designs.

Showing a design for his Little Field of Flowers rug he designed for Nanimarquina, Boontje told the audience at the Design Indaba that the floor was his favourite piece of furniture in the house. “I thought it would be nice to lie in a field of flowers,” he said about the magnificent, multi-coloured rug incorporating felt flowers that was woven in India. He used the technology of die-cutting combined with the tradition of Indian weaving to surprising results. (Read more about the manufacture of this in an article at Dwell.com)

Next he showed his range of outdoor furniture for Moroso, where he collaborated with Senegalese craftsmen to create a collection of extravagantly shaped pieces. His Sunny lounger and Shadowy chair include a skin of polyethylene yarn (used for fishing nets) woven over a curved frame of steel. They look resplendently reptilian!

Boontje’s piece de resistance though was his Fig leaf Wardrobe for Meta – a highly intricate, almost Rococo piece combining tradition and fantasy (two things he spoke about a lot). He went into great detail to explain the complex design. The doors were made of hundreds of fig leaves cast in bronze, painted in enamel and positioned very precisely. Inside, the doors were covered in tracery and a wooden trunk grounded the wardrobe at its center.

The audience broke out in wild applause – and Boontje, who is known for his humility, acknowledged their enthusiasm in his unassuming way. Proof that being nice is always in style!

This property rates as one of the most imaginative and audacious pieces of design I’ve seen to date. It’s the brainchild of Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes who describes the Ivy as “his pad in the middle of the city”. 

Housed [...]]]> Our Sydney correspondent, Elana Castle, has found quite an amazing Sydney development to share with us today:

This property rates as one of the most imaginative and audacious pieces of design I’ve seen to date. It’s the brainchild of Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes who describes the Ivy as “his pad in the middle of the city”. 

Housed in a completely overhauled multi level city building, the lifestyle venue is kitted out with a constellation of individually and uniquely designed restaurants, indoor and outdoor bars, bistros and lounges, including the New York style Mad Cow bistro, with its great mix of Miami-style yellows and leafy foliage (see below).

Other bars and hangouts include the Ash St Cellar, which is an intimate wine bar and cellar, the Suzie Choo sushi bar, and Teppanyaki – the edgy Japanese-style restaurant (all below):

They’ve also managed to fit in two super-glam penthouse suites, a grand ballroom and an outdoor cinema . The crowning achievement is the members-only area – a rooftop swimming pool and deck area, complete with loungers and beach style cabanas, with the Ucello restaurant overlooking the pool.

Ivy’s interiors are bold, fresh and often surprising. It’s also unashamedly escapist – when you’re in the thick of the party it’s hard to believe that you are right in the heart of the city.

Photographs:  Murray Fredericks

Haldane says that his ergonomically shaped lounger is inspired by smooth water-worn pebbles . The lightweight structure is made from 80% recycled stainless [...]]]> At the Design Indaba Expo, which opens to the public on Friday, Cape Town furniture designer Haldane Martin will be introducing his brand new Baba Papa lounger.

Haldane says that his ergonomically shaped lounger is inspired by smooth water-worn pebbles . The lightweight structure is made from 80% recycled stainless steel wire loops welded together to create an organically contoured diamond meshed surface. I’m looking forward to seeing it right up close at the Expo.