Big Appetite in the Big Apple

I’m Kelly Berman, a South African writer and editor living in Brooklyn, NYC, and I’ll be guest blogging with reports about the design and décor world fresh from the Big Apple. What could be more fun?

Talk about sensory overload. There was so much beautiful stuff to see in New York City over the past two weeks. Last weekend, my home borough hosted Brooklyn Designs, which featured things designed or made in Brooklyn. Although its four locations were quite intimate in scale, it gave me a lot to chew on.

So, a few tidbits from that. Studio1Thousand, a lighting studio specializing in LEDs, showed the Constellation chandelier by Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn, an industrial design student at Pratt Institute. It reminds me of a broom made out of pine needles.

Takeshi Miyakawa’s ingenious plywood designs make the most out of each piece’s volume. His Fractal 23 chest of drawers is a 28-inch cube with drawers on all four sides.

For a peek of the live action at Brooklyn Designs, check out this video on Miyakawa’s Website.

Brave Space Design uses a lot of bamboo in its eco-friendly furniture. The bamboo is farmed and rapidly renewable. It is bound together using emissions-free adhesives into a plywood that is very durable.

The hollow dining range has pockets of space built into the underside of the surface, providing extra support.
The Planar storage range uses push-touch hardware so that handles don’t interrupt the seamless surface.
Ok, the next few things that I saw at the BD+ Design Accessories Market have nothing to do with interiors, but I was so taken with them. Sea creature-inspired jewellery in organic shapes from Emily Amey.


And graphic prints from the inimitable Lotta Jansdotter.

Next up: the big mama of design expos, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

Issue 55 - Modesty Blaze

Just last week, Michael Stevenson Contemporary opened the doors to its brand new premises in Woodstock, Cape Town. So this peek into the simple beachside home of Michael Stevenson is a well-timed counterpoint to the high-powered art space in which this intensely private gallerist spends most of his days.

Photographs by Mark Williams.

Issue 55 - Magnetic South

The theme of Issue 55 of Elle Deco SA is Magnetic South, celebrating all things South African - and there's lots to celebrate!

Our team has put together a hotlist of things we LOVE about South Africa. Here are just a few things that we came up with:

Ceramics by Ruan Hoffman

Fashion by Amanda Laird Cherry

Jewellery by Philippa Green

Exquisite lamps from Willowlamp.

Want to add to our hotlist? Leave a comment here - we'd love to know what you love best about this place.

Issue 55 - Sunnyside up

The gorgeous home on the cover of Issue 55 is in Sunnyside, Tshwane, and belongs to Lientjie Wessels and Robert Denton, just two blocks away from their fabulous cafe, Li-Bel. Stylist-turned-chef Lientjie is also the creator of the celebrated Twig range, available at Conran.

We took more pics of this couple's eclectic style than we could use in the mag, so here they are for your enjoyment!


Photographs by Nadette Clare-Talbot.

New Issue

Monday 19 May sees the new issue of Elle Decoration SA hitting the shelves. Go get your copy, then come read more about it right here!

Interview - Margaret Woermann

Heartworks is a beautifully curated store selling very special handmade things from all over South Africa.

In many ways, Heartworks has pioneered South African crafts, really putting them on the map, and so I'm thrilled to be able to post this interview with Margaret Woermann, the visionary behind the three Heartworks stores in Cape Town.

What is Heartworks all about?
In one of my previous lives, I worked for an art dealer. It was all so serious and mysterious: this ARTWORK, what constitutes fame, who determines success etc. I was young and innocent, and I carried this innocence over into my first own endeavour, and called the business "Heartworks".
Here, my intent was that artworks would be made with the "heart", but with the ultimate objective of feeding the belly. Over the years, I have taken this more to heart, and use my shops to give enthusiastic and dedicated, but marginalised people an opportunity to earn a living.

How did Heartworks start out?
Exactly eight years ago, I very innocently opened the door my first shop at 98 Kloof Street, in Gardens, Cape Town. When I think back, I am surprised that I had such courage!

I was adventurous then, travelling all over the country - stopping at roadsides, asking directions, looking for crafters for my shop. At the time,a lot of craft was produced in areas like KwaZulu Natal, Venda and the Eastern Cape, but was not being seen in Cape Town shops yet.

How has your business changed since you started?
In the last 8 years there has been a remarkable and welcome change in the local craft business.

On one of my scramble-around country trips, I remember visiting SARCDA - the big local gift fair - at the old show grounds near Soweto. I visited the “Made in South Africa” section at the end of a very cavernous hall, finding a pitiful array of tables with some unsuitable goodies. Although I am all for blurring the boundaries of the definition of "South African craft", I’m not sure that baking a cake should fall into that category!

More recently this has changed, and funding has enabled remote and obscure crafters to show their work both locally and internationally, with opportunities ranging from the Design Indaba, to our First Lady, Mrs Mbeki, hosting crafters at her home. This has resulted in a whole host of shops stocking similar items, and there are less secrets.

My shop has changed quite a bit over time - and actually, there are now three shops! Heartworks tends to reflect a bit where I am in my own life, and right now I’m on a quest to find new purpose for items that are dear to me. I’m finding ways of lowering the input costs, while still creating a Wow! object. Fortunately for my business, the trend of the handmade is keeping many people busy, and my shop full.

What does a typical day for you look like?
A typical day - what’s that? The big advantage of doing my own thing is that no day is the same. I have an idea what I need to accomplish for the week, and then I zigzag between all these to-do's in my own time, punctuated by appointments that need to be kept.

So I meet with crafters who want to sell their work, visit the ladies doing embroidery in my Biscuit Mill store, suggesting a small change here or there, and I also find the time to walk my dogs, to pinch a little vessel from porcelain, and to look at the plants in my garden growing slowly.

What have been the highlights of being the owner of Heartworks?
Certainly, it’s made me discover that I am creative as well. I once had this illusion that I can’t do much and am not talented enough, but that bubble has long been burst. And even if I do not yet have the time to paint big pictures or make crazy sculptures, I always (within reason) have time to sit with someone, and help them discover something new about their skills.

And what are the tough bits?
Having to say "no". That’s not easy. Also, the very cyclical part of the business. Every year I learn again that winter is winter, but there will again be a summer, when paying the rent will be that much easier.

Do you have any dreams for Heartworks that you’d like to share with us?
Of course we all have dreams, otherwise I would not still be doing it. So maybe the plastic pig will fly, the beaded lizard whisper into my ear sweet nothings… I breathe out patiently words of encouragement, and into my lap falls some money that can take care of all the embroidery magic that rushes through my mind.

At the moment I have all kinds of ideas for the embroidery project, but textiles are all so new for me. It’s a big learning curve, and I almost wish it was the only project I had to attend to, as I know it has so much potential and scope...

Anything else you’d like to add?
I am entirely indebted to the patient women and men (like Abigail pictured below) that I work with, whom I’m sure I often perplex with my spur-of-the-moment ideas and humour (and often the lack of it). Also, many thanks to wonderful customers who buy goodies despite the absence of swingtags and labels.

Heartworks is a slow and long adventure for me. Every now and again it’s interrupted by the yearning to only do ceramics, or paint or just to sit and think, but still the journey continues.

Thanks so much, Margaret! Read more about Heartworks over at Bloesem today!

Belinda Ormond

Cape Town ceramist, Belinda Ormond, has been doing something interesting with throwaway objects like plastic milk cartons. These look familiar, don't they? But pick them up, and you'll see they're made of clay, not plastic.

She's also made a great series from PET coke bottles.

This collection, when gathered together, reads "A house without love is not a home"

Belinda doesn't have any work on the web, but she can be contacted through Ceramics Southern Africa.

V & A Prints

The Victoria and Albert Museum has most amazing resource for finding unusual and varied prints, which you can view and order online, at V&A Prints.



There are a LOT of prints - something to suit every taste. I've chosen a coupld of favourites here, but there's heaps more, under categories like Chinese Art, Flora and Fauna, Ikats, Landscapes.... And there's even a clever categorising function that allows you to browse by colour. Definitely worth a look.

Japanese collection at MoMa

Thanks to Design*Sponge, I discovered the MoMA Store and their brand new store collection of Japanese design, and I've put some favourites on my wishlist:


This flexible and expandable PVC Slit Bag is the brainchild of designer Tokujin Yoshioka is perfect for shopping for vegetables to grate on this ceramic grater that never needs sharpening.

And next on my wishlist...

... these porcelain "Splash" dipping bowls. Aren't they too sweet?

Still, top of my list has to be this ingenious Folding Bread Board , capable of folding to different sizes to suit a little foccacia roll, a robust health loaf or even an elegant baguette. Brilliant.

Tiles for the bold

I've only renovated once, and apart from the headaches we got from lunatic neighbours, I reckon the worst part was shopping for tiles. Weekends spent dejectedly wandering the beige- and stone-hued aisles of tile shops was enough to put me off renovating ever again.

But if we'd lived anywhere near Sausalito, California, our dilemma would have been quite different. The incredible handmade tiles at Heath Ceramics would probably still see us wandering in a daze, unable to choose from all the fabulousness.




These are from Heath's Dimensional Collection, all of which date back to the 1950s and 60s, and which are now in constant production.

And for renovators with less of a penchant for retro, but who fancy the idea of lying in the bath and playing Tetris, these fun Shipping Container tiles by Jason Miller are for you.

Inspired by the piles of shipping containers, Miller's multicoloured tiles give a stylish twist to the way we see the dockside wasteland.
C'mon tile shops. No more excuses for aisles of beige tiles any more, right?