In our Secret Cities feature this issue, we’re celebrating South Africa’s vibrant and multi-layered cities and we have two fab giveaways for you! We asked Neville Trickett (renowned trend forecaster and one-time blog contributor) to head onto the streets of Durban and show us what his eye for detail picked up in that multihued, overheated, subtropical city of ours.
We really loved Neville’s montage of the bizarre and the beautiful that Durban has to offer (more info on each pic on page 124 of Issue 68), and we thought you would too, so that’s why you can download it as a printable greetings card. Just click the icon in the sidebar, download it to your desktop, and print. *
See more of Neville Trickett’s montages and photos at his Saint Verde Digest, and also at his treasure trove of a Flickr site.
* Terms and conditions apply
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.
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.
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!
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
