I recently spotted these lovely, fresh geometric bowls on the House and Leisure site. They’re by Carla da Cruz a ceramic artist based in Durban, South Africa. Along with making ceramic artworks, she also makes Token, a range of ceramic jewellery, accessories and decor items.
e-mail: tokenceramics@gmail.com
http://tokenceramics.blogspot.com/
You can also follow her on Pinterest.
Partners Norman Meyer and Abrie von Wielligh have nearly 30 years of combined furniture industry skills and international qualifications in joinery, cabinet making and carpentry.
As passionate nature lovers who find inspiration in natural surroundings, the Meyer von Wielligh approach to furniture design favours the gentle lines and intricate textures of nature.
“Nature provides an array of colours, textures and materials that enhance creative design possibilities. We enjoy a design challenge, especially if we can play around with beautiful woods and interesting finishing,” says Abrie. “We believe that integrity and quality are paramount to our business approach, from design and manufacture to delivery and after-sales service.”
Make sure to catch them at the Design Indaba Expo 1 – 3 March.
http://www.meyervonwielligh.co.za/
via Visi
Safia Stodel the talented lady behind Ilundi Designs tells us a bit more about her simple and beautiful range of leather goods.
How did you get started?
I was studying fine art and needed a bag for all my books and supplies. I couldn’t find any decently priced simple leather bags, so I tried to make my own. I didn’t have a sewing machine though, so after a lot of research I created a folding technique which I used to make the bag with. No sewing required! This is how my signature sling bag came into being. Afterwards friends and family commissioned me to make them bags too – and it grew from there.
Your favourite things:
- First parts of making a new product: dreaming, researching and sketching
- Grilled marinated artichokes and vanilla pod milkshakes
- Cats
- The way my daughter wakes us up in the morning with kisses. She’s 16 months old :)
- The earthy smell of new rolls of leather in my studio
Where can we buy your bags?
Ilundi bags and belts can be bought from Nap, Purr, Afraid of Mice, Mememe, Margot Molyneux’s clothing stall at the Biscuit Mill and very soon an exclusive range can be bought online from Presents in the Post (presentsinthepost.com). I also sell through my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Ilundidesigns.
Thanks Safia!
It’s almost Valentine’s day so here are some dapper, locally made accessories and attire for the handsome man in the boot of your car.
Bow Peep bow ties – from City Mob
Nic Socks (locally made from 100% bamboo) from Citymob
Chapel Navy blue & brown Wildebeest Work Carrier
Hand-painted bike by Studio Muti
Locally made David Red classic veldskoen R750 by Ninion.co.za
Matblac ipad sleeve R520
Gráinne McHugh is a Cape Town based artist who mainly works with clay. “She creates ambiguous figures: beautiful, cute, fun, but also discomposed, ironic and muted. A range of every-woman doll heads has been her chief preoccupation.
Nomadic and self-taught she works like a magpie – finding the textures of an odd button, a soiled doily and throwaway scrap inspirational.”
“My work is really a series of mistakes, riffs and quirks.”
See more of her beautiful work here: http://www.grainnemchugh.com/
Follow her on Twitter: @GrainneMcHugh
So it’s Christmas time and the lovely Presents in the Post team is giving away a lovely present (which will, of course, come in the post), but in order to win this present you’ll have to write a few lines of your own story that explains how the present gets from the designer to postboxes around the country. Easy kapeasy.
But you’ll have to be quick because sign-up for Christmas presents on their site ends on Wednesday.
The person who wins can have their choice of either the little girl present, the boy present, or the grown up girl present.
Listen to Raj’s Story for some inspiration and have look around their site. You can post your little story in the comments box below.
Bon Journal Notebook by Essie Letterpress R199 buy it HERE
Wolf & Maiden wallet R350 from Africandy
Owls R180 for the pair from Nice Find
Skermunkil Design Studio ceramics R200 each @ Kalkbay Co-op (from next weekend)
Dor&Kie Imbuia faset ring R180 from Hello Pretty
Diana Ferreira Vase R308 from Africandy
Paper Jet Fridge Magnet set R159 from Citymob (5 days left)
Sessi Bee Fox and Polar bear bowls R325 each. Available from Vamp.
12 South African Craft Beers R340 from The League of Beers
Remember to buy from local suppliers this Christmas!
I’ve featured the talented Elise Wessels here before, but since she has a brand new website up and she’s currently having an exhibition at Wolves I thought I’d show some of her fantastic ceramics.
Check out her website http://blackfan.co.za/
Greg Darrol
Jordan Metcalf
Adam Hill
Simon Berndt
Clement de Bruin
Johnny Kotze
Essie Letterpress has launched a beautiful new letterpress Artists Almanac (A calendar for 2013) which has been designed by 12 up-and-coming South African Illustrators.
“Twelve different artists designed and illustrated their interpretation of their respective months, resulting in an exciting journey through the year with an eclectic blend of styles and subjects.” - Ben Grib
They printed a limited Edition of 50 calendars and a limited edition of 50 artworks of each month which will be sold separately.
They have been featured on a Citymob weeklong sale, which started yesterday and will be available from their online shop thereafter.
Cats by Gillian Greer
I just love all these beautiful handmade tiles by Southern Art Ceramics. Gerrit Oosthuizen heads up the company situated in Hermanus and they’re known for designing and producing beautiful, customizable handmade tiles. I can spend the whole day trawling through their lovely tiles.
Some of the artists they work with include Gillian Greer, Sim Cqushuza, Gerrit Oosthuizen and Hele Oosthuizen.
http://www.handmadetiles.co.za/
Or join their Facebook Page.
Next time you’re in Woodstock check out Wolf & Maiden at the Woodstock Exchange 66 Albert Road.
“We’re an all-encompassing creative studio that designs and manufactures beautiful handmade products, from honest organic materials, that are built to last.
We are on a mission to improve the things and spaces you use every day. We design and manufacture furniture, lighting, home wares, hand-illustrated fabric, clothing, accessories, jewellery and stationery, as well as empower up-and-coming craftspeople, designers and artists. We also do bespoke pieces, interior design and decor and installations.
Our vision is to challenge the ordinary; to enhance and beautify; to reconsider the things we already know and utilize in our daily lives; to invite the ‘extra’ordinary into our environments.”
All images via: http://www.wolfandmaiden.com/Join their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/WolfandMaiden
This is just flippen awesome. Dave de Witt is a Durbanite who repurposes old “thrashed” skate decks and turns them into sunglasses. By hand. In Pinetown. What a talented guy. He chatted to Handsome Things about the many careers that led him to this and exactly how it’s done.
What is your background and how did this idea come about?
I am a qualified Weaving Mechanician on an Airjet Loom – that means when I was an apprentice at Frame Textile Corporation in the weaving dept. from age 19 to 23 where I learned to take things apart, fix them, and put them back together. I left there along time ago and have been on a journey from flowrider instructor, skatepark manager, rock wall attendant, cruise ship employee to self employed skatepark builder, cabinetmaker, custom furniture designer and now sunglass maker.
Sk8shades was born through necessity, my sunglasses broke, I wasn’t amped to buy new shades, but I had tools, Google, an old skateboard and some scratched lenses from my old Aviators. I made a pair of shades, posted them to Facebook, and a few months later, here I am making sunglasses, and have just ordered 120 pairs of lenses and am about to order the same amount of hinges.
Tell us a bit about the process involved in making the glasses?
The process starts with old boards being sliced up, planed, laminated, cut into veneers and then laminated into the final shape with a cross laminated core for strength. The temples are re-sawed noses and tails of skateboards taking advantage of the ready-made curves, or they can be made to match the layered frame. I have made custom templates and molds to shape the lens apertures and frame as accurately as possible.
To mount the lenses securely I custom made my own router bit from an old bit. Lenses will be polarized lenses, which pass European Class 1 and Australian sunglasses standards, the highest standards currently set. South Africa has no set standards, but I want to produce the finest quality product. Hinges are currently being imported from China, solid nickel, high quality. Spring hinges will be available shortly. Currently I am working by myself, but am looking into getting some employees to up production time.
At the moment I am selling at the I Heart Market in Durban and through my Etsy store for international orders.
Katherine Jollye is an architect who’s always busy making new things. I’ve featured her lovely Christmas cards here before and this time I chatted to her about her cool new range of ceramics.
When did you start venturing into ceramics?
Ceramics is a new endeavour for me, and so far I’m loving every moment of making them. An architect by trade, these are a way for me to express my creativity and focus on some of the details that fill the spaces I create. These are the first in the range, with a few more design that will be ready to go in a few weeks. New pieces will be added regularly, and I’m already planning to extend the range to include other items of tableware.
Where did you get the inspiration for this range?
I have always loved ceramics, especially old dinner services and tea sets. This love comes from my mum and grandmother who passed on the habit of turning things over to see what make they are. It was inevitable that at some stage I would want to make my own. The faceted cups are a current day take on nostalgic shapes that we all grew up with. The textures are influenced by daily objects that I come across. Their familiarity is what endears them to me.
Where can we buy it?
The range is so new that I have not finalised stockists yet. However they are available from me directly, and I can ship to anywhere. Email kate@ka-ad.com to order.
I just love the story of the Conterio family who in 2006 decided to pack it all in and move to a small farm in the Kouga Mountains with their daughters, 6 horses, 3 dogs and 10 cats. And so the small family soap business was started. Their passion has been to make totally natural soap, which contains no artificial fragrances, preservatives, stabilizers or colourants.
“We are ex-Capetonians who are now living a very different lifestyle in the mountains of the Eastern Cape on our small farm and we are so grateful that our small soap business allows us to do this. Our soap is posted to customers all over South Africa and we’re hugely proud of it!”
Each bar of African Bliss soap is made by hand, right down to the cutting and wrapping and therefore each bar is totally unique.
“Our packaging was designed by another ex-Capetonian, Caitlin Truman-Baker, who is now based in Plettenberg Bay, where she runs her own design company.”
They sourced ingredients from all over South Africa, trying to find exactly the right blend to make this a totally natural
and environmentally friendly product. All of the soaps are coloured using only plants, herbs and spices. The beeswax & honey is harvested directly from the hives, it is not bleached and remains in its natural form.
Go read more about this family’s idyllic farm life on their blog http://www.africanbliss.blogspot.com/ and order some soap!
