The souffle On Wednesday night, DECO stylist Hendrik and I joined 15 of our readers at a Lindt chocolate workshop held at the Lindt headquarters in the Cape Quarter, Cape Town. Chocolate, its provenance and all things cacao related, was the main event...

We’ve just received this photograph (above) of the beautiful collaborative wallpaper design at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Manenberg. The centre, a refuge for women and children who have experienced domestic or sexual violence,...

The Cape Town City hall is abuzz with last-minute touches and preparations for this weekend's Toffie Pop Culture Festival. For an entire weekend, the City Hall will be transformed into an avant-garde playground for design lovers and enthusiasts...

“Do Happy Meals make Americans happy? Do the British find comfort in cake? Are citizens of wealthy countries enjoying food more than those from poorer nations? Does national history manifest itself in present-day food consumption?...

Last week we celebrated the launch of Poltrona Frau's flagship store in Cape Town. And we had reason to celebrate. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of this iconic luxury brand. Coming from solid Italian origins with an...

Save the date for our Design Banquet at Toffie Pop Culture Festival on Saturday 31 March. Amsterdam-based designer Hannes Bernard and his team from the Sandberg Instituut (Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam) will be curating and hosting a...

We ventured into our neighbouring Company Gardens for a delightful and unusual expedition with two deliciously green chairs from Raw Studios. Here are some of our encounters in the leafy green garden... Din+ is the latest addition to the RAW product range and was developed as a cost effective extension to their office systems. Solid, sturdy and beautiful in its simplicity, these chairs are a playful fit for any interior, or exterior. Eight apple green Din+ chairs were exclusively produced for our Design Indaba Expo stand, made to compliment our tangerine tango typographic installation. WIN two of these chairs by commenting below or tweeting about this post. The six other Elle Decoration /Raw Studio chairs can be purchased from The Object House in Woodstock at a reduced price of R999 each. Contact Andre James at object@1hoh.co.za or on +27 21 447 6670, or visit www.rawstudios.co.za ------------------------------------------- *Photographs: Charl Edwards

You've just entered South Africa's coolest, craziest and mad office. It's the new headquarters for Missing Link, a Joburg-based presentation strategy company. Missing Link describes its office as a riot of colour and carefully orchestrated chaos...

Ever window-shopped from a car? That's exactly what we did on our way to Sabi Sands for a safari shoot and travel feature. With only a few hours to spend on our impromptu stop-over in Joburg, we produced two shoots and squeezed...

Get ready for another Cape Town City Hall invasion with the third Toffie Pop Culture Festival and Conference taking place from Friday 30 March to Sunday 1 April. Toffie Pop is a three-day creative mash-up of contemporary popular culture,...

This weekend we're exploring our local hoods in Durban, Joburg and Cape Town. First up is DECO's Marketing Assistant Kyllie Hogg, our Durban girl, who's spending her weekend in Cape Town, but wishing she was in fact in her home town...

Durban's own I Heart Market is celebrating its 3rd birthday tomorrow night with its I Heart Cake party and the launch of a poster exhibition – a display of all the market posters designed by Dominic Strauss. This exhibition will...

Five strangers, six days, and a very tiny space. That's the starting point for IKEA's unique activation in the Paris Metro. IKEA recently installed a pop-up apartment in the underground Paris Metro, giving passersby the voyeuristic...

Two years, 500 portraits and 6000 kilometers later, and the Bicycle Portraits Project has finally reached its completion. Photographers Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler have published their two-year journey in a three-part book – officially...

Feast on this! We've taken two ice cream inspired accessories for a stroll on the promenade – with some hilarious results! We also list our flavour of the day – by the coolest new ice creamery in town. PURE INDULGENCE...

Take a look at our current Summer Issue of Elle Decoration, and you'll notice it's filled with homes in beautiful and unusual settings – great escapes, and outdoor living at its best! It's an obvious giveaway of our...

Tatler Magazine has just named Babylonstoren as one of their top hotels for 2012, calling it 'the most delicious new opening of the year'. 'Nowhere else in the Cape Winelands do the worlds of contemporary and historical...

Make sure you pop in at Mr & Mrs the next time you head up Kloof Street in Cape Town (look out for the signature blue and gold facade). Tucked away on the corner of Kloof and De Lorentz Streets, this tiny MUST-visit boutique...

Inspired by Table Mountain's recent naming as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, and Cape Town being named World Design Capital 2014, we set out exploring Table Mountain to look for inspiration in the form of colour. And what...

ELLE Decoration attended the launch of The Tasting Room and The Kitchen on Maison Estate, the Franschhoek family vineyard of designer furniture retailer Chris Weylandt. What caught our eye, and still has the DECO office talking, is...

Tokara Wine Estate in Stellenbosch invited us to celebrate the first birthday of their 'new' restaurant and taste Executive Chef Richard Carstens' fine four course cuisine, matched with Tokara's award-wining wines...

Remember Joburg artist Kudzanai Chiurai from our 2011 Urban Issue? ELLE's Cheska Liackman popped over to his Jeppestown loft apartment to chat to him about his work, life and his State of the Nation solo exhibition opening tomorrow...

This year's pile of invitations to scope out the "Salone Internazionale del Mobile" was a show in its own right. Our editor Laureen Rossouw got bagsful of beautifully designed 'Come See's' for The Milan Furniture Fair 2012...

We just love this vertical garden idea – a refreshing take on the traditional stag head display. These plants mimic the shapes of animal trophy heads in comical fashion. Here are some more contemporary animal trophy head ideas...

We're smitten with these porcelain plate cut-outs we recently produced for a fairytale-inspired shoot in our latest Ideas Issue (page 65). Lucky for you, were giving two away to a DECO reader... WIN A miniature porcelain stag head (above)...

We take the 'hunter gatherer' look to the extreme in our latest Ideas Issue. It's jam-packed with trophy heads, stuffed animals and nature-inspired curiosities, ranging from the more traditional to the more eclectic....

It's Easter weekend, so we went looking in our vast library of past issues for a little treat, and discovered this shoot by DECO contributor Maranda Engelbrecht in our 2011 Revamp Issue. It's a lavish tongue-in-cheek take/twist...

On page 94 of our latest Ideas Issue we’ve created a CIY typographic wallpaper (below) using whiteboard paint, primer and coloured pens. It’s inspired by this image (above) of a bedroom in the beautiful Danish family homestead on...

In anticipation for our upcoming Afro-inspired Ideas and Pattern Issue, we've gathered some more bright finds from the Design Indaba Expo: Dizzying patterns, afro-cool colour, beautiful pattern combos, and colour blocking with wood and steel...

Here's a fun idea: Grab all the plastic you can lay your hands on – garden chairs, tupperware, and plastic tablecloths – and head to the beach for an adventurous and waterproof outdoor dining experience. This is exactly what...

Cooking made easy! Hendrik Coetzee, DECO's talented new stylist and food lover, prepared heart-shaped beetroot for us to enjoy for Valentine's – each one carved by hand. Eat your heart out! Dress with balsamic vinegar,...

Today we visit the beautiful home of the happy-picture-making couple Maike and Travis, the creative duo responsible for the hugely successful wedding photography company welovepictures. We've been following their work for quite some...

DECO's Charl Edwards and housemate Katrin Coetzer have created a little garden on wheels in their Cape Town apartment. Sourced from a second-hand furniture store in Wynberg, this trolley has become the perfect indoor mobile garden,...

We're still smiling at this photograph we just received from DECO reader Magdalena Barnard – and what a great idea! The photograph came with this small note: 'When my fridge broke down, I decided to feed them books and magazines...

We're happily obsessed with gold (Frauke Stegmann's golden ceramics are to blame!), which is why we're sharing this fantastic idea with you – the perfect Christmas decoration. In our latest Summer Issue of ELLE DECORATION...

Running late on your Christmas decorations? Then copy this quick and easy idea – an instant forest of Christmas trees, made from coloured duct tape. It's a fun and quick solution for anyone running out of time, and the perfect...

We've just discovered a fun Christmas gift idea at Melissa's The Food Shop. NICE, famous for their delicious and much-loved ice cream, has just launched a new dark and white chocolate range, wrapped in a beautiful and collectable...

If you're looking for a simpler and uncomplicated version of a Christmas tree, we've got just the idea. We've come up with this new Christmas decoration (and Christmas tree replacement), perfect for those of us with...

We go behind the scenes on DECO's 'Fold Play' shoot, featured in the latest Summer Issue. Think folded paper, honeycomb shapes, spider-web laces, timber structures and local seasonal produce: Easy decorations with everyday...

We've come up with another cheap and easy advent calendar idea for you to try out this Christmas. This time we've made use of recyclable cardboard packaging to create our advent calendar display unit, a quirky cluster of cardboard boxes...

It's the 1st day of December, which means it's time for advent, with 24 days left until Christmas. So we've come up with this fun and cheap advent calendar, made from paper sleeves and duct tape found in DECO's office...

We've just spotted another wonderful interpretation of our Spring Issue cover and lab-look idea story. Durban-based blogger Denise Kiggan created a bonsai display (above) using black and white illustrations of bonsai trees: 'I...

Inspired by our Japan-filled Spring Issue and always on the look-out for easy CIY ideas, we've used patterned paper prints to create a Japan-inspired wall set-up. Sent to us from Japan by DECO reader Ingrid Lezar, these prints...

We've just spotted this new environmentally friendly wall-hanging planter available from the Big Heart Company. Head over to the Neighbourgoods Market in Joburg, where you'll see a striking wall installation of these planters...

Paola Navone designed these massive colourful nests, woven with 11,000 hazelnut branches from springtime prunings. 'The Secret Garden' project was part of an installation presented by Barovier & Toso and Citco in the...

This year's pile of invitations to scope out the "Salone Internazionale del Mobile" was a show in its own right. Our editor Laureen Rossouw got bagsful of beautifully designed 'Come See's' for The Milan Furniture Fair 2012...

As the relevance of design is becoming hotly debated, young designers are approaching their work with a sense of mischief. We couldn't help noticing a playful approach to products coming through at this year's Milan Design Fair...

We know about 3D printing and we’ve heard a lot of talk about the fact that in the future everyone will design their own furniture with 3D printers at home. Before 3D printing came into our lives, industrial laser-cutting also started...

Scandinavian furniture house IKEA launched their PS 2012 Collection in a big innovated warehouse at Ventura Lambrate at the Milan Design Fair this year. For the IKEA PS 2012 collection, IKEA gave 19 designers the task of reviving...

We're smitten with these porcelain plate cut-outs we recently produced for a fairytale-inspired shoot in our latest Ideas Issue (page 65). Lucky for you, were giving two away to a DECO reader... WIN A miniature porcelain stag head (above)...

We take the 'hunter gatherer' look to the extreme in our latest Ideas Issue. It's jam-packed with trophy heads, stuffed animals and nature-inspired curiosities, ranging from the more traditional to the more eclectic....

Released to commemorate the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this limited-edition stamp set (created in collaboration with the Isle of Man Post Office) is Paul Smith at his most graphic, colourful and optimistic best...

We’ve just received this photograph (above) of the beautiful collaborative wallpaper design at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Manenberg. The centre, a refuge for women and children who have experienced domestic or sexual violence,...

This past weekend the Cape Town City Hall was transformed into a creative playground – Toffie Pop Culture Festival's annual mash-up of design, installation, art, food and music. Armed with our camera, here's what we found...

The Cape Town City hall is abuzz with last-minute touches and preparations for this weekend's Toffie Pop Culture Festival. For an entire weekend, the City Hall will be transformed into an avant-garde playground for design lovers and enthusiasts...

“Do Happy Meals make Americans happy? Do the British find comfort in cake? Are citizens of wealthy countries enjoying food more than those from poorer nations? Does national history manifest itself in present-day food consumption?...

Last week we celebrated the launch of Poltrona Frau's flagship store in Cape Town. And we had reason to celebrate. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of this iconic luxury brand. Coming from solid Italian origins with an...

In our latest Ideas Issue, our radar has honed in on Christopher Jenner (page 31). While he might look like the lovechild of Don Draper and Tom Ford, jet around the globe the same way the rest of us go to the supermarket, have bucket...

Save the date for our Design Banquet at Toffie Pop Culture Festival on Saturday 31 March. Amsterdam-based designer Hannes Bernard and his team from the Sandberg Instituut (Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam) will be curating and hosting a...

We ventured into our neighbouring Company Gardens for a delightful and unusual expedition with two deliciously green chairs from Raw Studios. Here are some of our encounters in the leafy green garden... Din+ is the latest addition to the RAW product range and was developed as a cost effective extension to their office systems. Solid, sturdy and beautiful in its simplicity, these chairs are a playful fit for any interior, or exterior. Eight apple green Din+ chairs were exclusively produced for our Design Indaba Expo stand, made to compliment our tangerine tango typographic installation. WIN two of these chairs by commenting below or tweeting about this post. The six other Elle Decoration /Raw Studio chairs can be purchased from The Object House in Woodstock at a reduced price of R999 each. Contact Andre James at object@1hoh.co.za or on +27 21 447 6670, or visit www.rawstudios.co.za ------------------------------------------- *Photographs: Charl Edwards

You've just entered South Africa's coolest, craziest and mad office. It's the new headquarters for Missing Link, a Joburg-based presentation strategy company. Missing Link describes its office as a riot of colour and carefully orchestrated chaos...

'The city is a living body that is born, develops and differentiates its buildings and functions: from the very first nucleus (an isolated church among the trees in the countryside) to the huge metropolis crowded with streets,...

In anticipation for our upcoming Afro-inspired Ideas and Pattern Issue, we've gathered some more bright finds from the Design Indaba Expo: Dizzying patterns, afro-cool colour, beautiful pattern combos, and colour blocking with wood and steel...

This past weekend Max Mogale paid us a visit at our Design Indaba Expo stand for a quick blogging spree. We gave him a camera, 10 minutes, and a simple one-word brief: colour. Here's his interpretation... and raw colour palette...

We asked Renee Rossouw, speaker at this year's Design Indaba Conference and pattern-obsessed designer and architect, to explore the Design Indaba Expo in search of handmade knitted and woven goods. Here's what she encountered...

Yesterday we had an impromptu visit at our Design Indaba Expo stand from Aaron Kohn, contributor to Coolhunting.com and OkayAfrica.com. We asked him his thoughts on this year's talented bunch of Emerging Creatives. Here's what he had to say...

The souffle On Wednesday night, DECO stylist Hendrik and I joined 15 of our readers at a Lindt chocolate workshop held at the Lindt headquarters in the Cape Quarter, Cape Town. Chocolate, its provenance and all things cacao related, was the main event...

It's Easter weekend, so we went looking in our vast library of past issues for a little treat, and discovered this shoot by DECO contributor Maranda Engelbrecht in our 2011 Revamp Issue. It's a lavish tongue-in-cheek take/twist...

Save the date for our Design Banquet at Toffie Pop Culture Festival on Saturday 31 March. Amsterdam-based designer Hannes Bernard and his team from the Sandberg Instituut (Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam) will be curating and hosting a...

On our first encounter to this street-side burger joint we walked in and asked for a business card. The response: "We prefer word-of-mouth." That was late last year and it hasn't taken long for the word to spread. This...

If you've picked up a copy of our latest Colour Issue, you would've noticed a second person on our Editor's page picture (below), alongside Editor Laureen Rossouw. While shooting this photograph, Ezzy, a drummer at the...

Here's a fun idea: Grab all the plastic you can lay your hands on – garden chairs, tupperware, and plastic tablecloths – and head to the beach for an adventurous and waterproof outdoor dining experience. This is exactly what...

Cooking made easy! Hendrik Coetzee, DECO's talented new stylist and food lover, prepared heart-shaped beetroot for us to enjoy for Valentine's – each one carved by hand. Eat your heart out! Dress with balsamic vinegar,...

For our latest Summer Issue we traveled to the little fishing town of Arniston to photograph a beautiful fishermen's cottage. We knew of course a visit to this town wouldn't be complete without a scroll through the laid-back...

Feast on this! We've taken two ice cream inspired accessories for a stroll on the promenade – with some hilarious results! We also list our flavour of the day – by the coolest new ice creamery in town. PURE INDULGENCE...

We've just discovered a fun Christmas gift idea at Melissa's The Food Shop. NICE, famous for their delicious and much-loved ice cream, has just launched a new dark and white chocolate range, wrapped in a beautiful and collectable...

Tatler Magazine has just named Babylonstoren as one of their top hotels for 2012, calling it 'the most delicious new opening of the year'. 'Nowhere else in the Cape Winelands do the worlds of contemporary and historical...

Summer holidays and good weather call for carefree outdoor eating with friends. And super easy recipes of course. That's why we're featuring the perfect 'anytime sandwich' recipe by Evan Faull from Knead Bakery,...

We're giving away two beautiful Coastal Blue Le Creuset pots, as featured in our 'Perfectly Pastel' shoot in our latest Summer Issue (above). Inspired by the hues of the coast, with its soft, graded pastel colour, they...

We've just sourced these wonderful Millet Stalk Food Covers at Melissa's The Food Shop. Perfect for summer dining, outdoor lunches and picnics, they also make for quick-easy hanging decorations (See our DECO IDEA below). We're...

ELLE Decoration attended the launch of The Tasting Room and The Kitchen on Maison Estate, the Franschhoek family vineyard of designer furniture retailer Chris Weylandt. What caught our eye, and still has the DECO office talking, is...

Don't miss out on Freeworld Design Centre's new exhibit Design For Food, a collection of designer food installations by Tina Bester, Maranda Engelbrecht, Gerda Genis, Jacques Erasmus, Casamento and Luke Dale Roberts. Freeworld's...

Tokara Wine Estate in Stellenbosch invited us to celebrate the first birthday of their 'new' restaurant and taste Executive Chef Richard Carstens' fine four course cuisine, matched with Tokara's award-wining wines...

We love local. And what could be more local than fresh Waterblommetjies? So feast your mouths on this unique Cape delicacy, featured in Francois Ferreira's new book Occasions. Featuring meals for special occasions, this cookbook...

Today we share a quick and easy recipe for you to try out this weekend. And all you need are fresh strawberries. The recipe is featured in Relish, a new book by DECO favourite and food star Sonia Cabano. Containing over 280 recipes...

DECO's new favourite spot in town is former art gallery turned luxury café Skinny Legs and All. And it's the definition of cool: The name, its laid-back street cafe vibe, the ensemble of art, the unpretentious food, and the...

The DECO team headed up the West Coast to the tiny seaside town of Paternoster for a spring shoot (and careful bundu-bashing between the fynbos!). We made sure we were done in time for a veldkos lunch at Kobus Van der Merwe's eatery...

We've prepared a fresh food feast for DECO's new Spring issue. Maranda Engelbrecht, contributing DECO food stylist, whips together 4 meals so fresh and green (below), you'd be forgiven if you thought the greens were still attached to the soil...

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)...

Regular readers of this blog may be wondering what happened to Neville Trickett's wonderful Saint Verde's-eye View posts every Tuesday. Well, he's been a busy guy. Not only has Saint Verde reopened on weekends, but he's...

Our regular guest, Neville Trickett has been somewhat scarce lately, as he's been mad busy with the relaunch of Saint Verde on his farm, as well as working on a brand new blogging concept (read all about that here). It's great...

A familiar sight to all of us with a keen eye for detail are the many South African objects made from wire. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the raw materials are inexpensive, and easily available, but I'm not forgetting the skill of the makers...

Spring's a time for renewal, and so the timing for the re-opening of Saint Verde this month couldn't be more perfect (see News on page 26 of Issue 64). We asked Neville and Sharon Trickett to tell us more about their plans in...

Props to Neville Trickett for coming through with his guest post today, after having (ouch!) fatally dropped his laptop just before the weekend. Great recovery, Neville! I have been taking photos of all the Hindu temples in and around...

For this week's Saint Verde's-eye View post, I thought we should we should go back to the roots of our Saint Verde stores. You know what they say: "never forget who brung ya". When Sharon and I started out, our concept...

In last week's post I showed you around what I believe to be the finest decor shop in Durban. Now I'd like you to meet the house behind Cecile and Boyd's talented partner, Johnny Rowe. Johnny is a man I know very well, having...

Back in the late '80s I remember my visit to Boyd Ferguson's first shop, a tiny little hole in the wall called Cecile & Boyd's on Durban's Argyle Road. At the time they were making lamps cast in plaster, hand-finished...

Delighted to present our second "Saint Verde's-eye view" post from Neville Trickett, featuring interiors he's visited. Keep visiting, 'cos he's becoming a fixture around here... Hayley and Andrew Roberts'...

Psst! Exciting news for our blog: From tomorrow, we'll be having a weekly post on all things interior, from the singular viewpoint of SA style and trends guru, Neville Trickett, who also keeps the always wonderful Saint Verde Digest...