About me

‘The WREN design‘ was started by myself, Wendren Setzer, in 2008 after I quit my job as a textile designer in the fashion industry. Always up for a challenge, something the job did not allow, I decided to give entrepreneurship a go. It also just so happened that I had spent the last 6 months looking for a bag that was special, practical and simple. I did not find this bag so I decided to make it. ‘The WREN design’ was a natural progression from that.

I grew up in Botswana and have spent the last 15 years in Cape Town, South Africa where I studied and got a distinction in Textile Design.

South Africa is a great place to be a designer because there are so many possibilities and so much inspiration. Nature is important to me and I spend a lot of my free time enjoying it.

Finding new materials, with natural origin, both obviously beautiful and not, and then finding ways to challenge the perceptions held by people about the boundaries of these materials is what drives me. My favourite thing about WREN is finding a new material, discovering what product it wants to be and then ‘creating’ it. It is not an easy process and certainly not as quick as one might think but it is a wonderful experience when the end product works out and it can be enjoyed by another.

When I am not running around for WREN I lecture at the Design Foundation Course at CPUT. I enjoy this because it allows ‘time-out’ whilst still being involved in the design thinking process.

I blog regularly about inspirations and things that are happening with WREN. If you would like to ask me anything please send me an email – I love hearing from you. Alternatively you can subscribe (enter your email into the box on the top right hand side of this page) to ‘the WREN design’ newsletter which is sent out when a new product is launched or a big change is happening.