Featured Artists

I was first attracted to Alejandra Laviada’s work becuase of the colours, then because of the unusual objects that were the colours and then … well I was hooked.

Look at all these great photographs:

This is my favourite photograph (below):

She “explores the shifting relationship between photography and sculpture, whereby ordinary objects are stripped of their traditional function and perceived differently. Each body of work is an attempt to record pieces of history that are simultaneously being erased and created, and reflect a city struggling to reconcile past and future histories”.

I could not resist these chairs. The chair on the left-hand-side (below) is almost cute.

I love the way Alejandra has made interesting and beautiful the things we would ordinarily have either thrown away or washed.

I adore my sheepskin slippers made by my boyfriend Jeremy and his mom Frith. Jeremy cuts and punches the slippers and Frith, who has been making them for 15 years, stitches and glues the soles onto them. They are a great team.

The slippers are made from genuine Sheepskin’s that have been dyed offering a gorgeous array of colours to choose from: purple, pink, lime, blue, charcoal, cream, orange, turquoise, plum…. you name it. (Note: colours are subject to availability).

For years Frith and Jeremy have sold to Cape Town and they have just opened an etsy shop (www.sheepskinslippers.etsy.com) selling to everyone. They usually only make to order but becuase of the nature of etsy, they have made a few for the shop as stock. If your size and preferred colour is not there, then simply send them a convo and they will make it up for you in no time at all.

Click here to visit their shop.

I wish I had a pair of Mohop shoes. They are so simple, classic and lovely. For just one pair of wooden soles the design options are nearly infinite as the ribbon(s) can be looped in various styles.

Mohop shoes are also environmentally friendly with sourced wood and recycled rubber. They are also individually hand made by Annie Mohaypt and Joanna Fleming in Chicago making them even more special.

Remembering that the project (below) is about taking a ‘known’ object, unlearning what it has been learnt to be and creating a new purpose. Here are some more brilliant ‘paradigm shift’ products:

Above: Lize-Marie created this absolutely amazing lamp using a colinder and a shower head (and shower cable). I think this is absolutely fabulous. It is so stylish and simple!

Above: A broken mirror turned into a mug hanger/holder by Natasha Wisterman.

Above: Tarryn Prins made a plant hanger using a broken lamp shade.

Above: This ‘Whisk light’ is made by Amy Burton. She took a traditional kitchen whisk, bend the prongs out and using think wire hang tea lights from it making a minature chandeliar.

Above: Juanne Groenewald ingeniously turned an unwanted telephone into a watering can for in the home. She removed the inside of the telephone, sealed the box and all other joints and added water to the main unit. All you have to do is hold the telephone higher than the reciever and water flows through the pin-prick holes of the reciever.

Above: Megan Aitken took a toilet seat and turned it into a mirror and table. It is meant to be mounted onto the wall, closed with a strong magnet and when opened you have a mini dressing table. Perfect for small bathrooms.

The 1st year Surface Design Students at CPUT did a project called the “Paradigm Shift Project”. The aim of the project was to challenge the way of seeing and knowing objects as. They had to take a ‘known’ object and unlearn what it has been learnt to be and recreate its purpose. They had to find one household object to work with, were allowed a maximum of 4 extra objects (including glue etc) to make this ‘new’ object of use and were encouraged to spend very little (if possible, nothing) on their objects.

I was so excited by the results of this project we organized a professional photo session for their products (and them) to be shot. Here they are:

Above: This bottle-top opener and cork-skrew all in one device is made by Micka Chisholm. It was originally a thick metaled fork.

Above: Amanda Wababa made a filing system out of South African cereal boxes. I think I need to make one of these for all my posting envelopes.

Above: Isabelle Manyuchi cut and stuck scoring blocks together to make a seat cushion. She called it “score a seat”. It is colourful, comfortable and an extremely affordable cushion. Love it!

Above: These are placemats made from old diary covers. Lara Stanford took used diaries, removed all the pages and then stuck chopsticks onto them as heat insulators. They are also reversable.

Above: Monique Arnold took her broken bar bridge and turned it into a herb garden for her flat. She fitted it with a full watering and lighting system.

Above: This jewelry organiser is made by Anri Vercuiel by turning a coat hanger upside down, adding an extra metal foot for stability and nails to help organise the jewelry.

I think these objects are brilliant, clever and fun. I wil post the rest of the class tomorrow….

The 2nd Year Surface Design Students of CPUT designed 100% eco-products and have been kind enough to allow me to show you some of what they have done.

Gabi Adams and her light shade (The Suited Lamp) made out of old playing cards.

Erna Lourens created eco-friendly blinds. The actual blinds are made using recycled paper. In between the layers of paper are a selection of herb seeds so that when the blind does become old (as they do), you can ‘plant’ the blind in your garden and have a herb garden. She used jute as the pulling string and eco-friendly printing paste for the design that is printed onto the blinds.

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Melanie Pietersen (Left) and Tessa Van Blerck (below) both upholstered a found chair. Melanie used old ties and Tessa used fabric scraps in a carefully placed composition. Tessa also striped the chair and recoated the wood using beeswax.

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This guitar, cables, peddles and amp case is made by Alett Strydom. The body of the case is made using Hyacinth pulp.

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Megan Amon made a teddy bear that grows with the child. As a baby the child can sleep in the teddy. It is made of organic felt which is very soft and a great insulator. As the child grows up the teddy can become a rucksack/bag. The benefit of this is that the child grows away from the teddy bear slowly.

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I have admired Nicole Licht’s Woodland Creatures, Bunnies and Dolls for a long time now. She makes these gorgeous cuddly soft toys and sells them on etsy.

“All of my creatures bodies are machine stitched and then altered, uh tailored by hand. I’m never satisfied with a machine stitched form. I never make patterns for the details like ears and faces. All of the faces, ears and details are cut freehand and for the most, hand stitched. On the woodlanders, I embroider hairs with silk threads pulled from the material I use to sew their cloaks and capes. Other things I make are designed completely as I go, patternless. I’m largely inefficient but I rather enjoy the process.”

I love the way that Nicole names her friends. The ones below are from left to right: Rolf, Boris and Dottie.

There is an exception though: she does not name the Woodland Creatures. “… because I don’t think they speak the same language as me! Ha! Even I’m not sure exactly what they are.” To Nicole, they have a melancholy, playful and even magical quality and pushed to make a decision, she choose the Woodland Creatures as her favourite to make.

Nicole is a single mom who teaches (not for profit but to under arts exposed and under performing inner city schools). She lives in a one-bedroom apartment in New York which doubles up as her “studio”.

“My “studio” consists of a hollow door desk in my bedroom. But most often I gravitate to stitching sitting on my bed. I’m not sure why. It’s become a bit of a running joke to those who know me, my ‘work bed’. Right before craft fairs it gets pretty ridiculous… and treacherous, pins and needles and all.”

She started Astulebee in September 2007. (The name comes from the latin word Astula meaning, roughly, atelier, an arist’s workshop). What got her started was a book: “Therese Laskey’s Softies” and “found it super fun and inspiring” but without the patience to follow others’ patterns. From here she began experimenting with her own patterns and Plush/Astulabee was born. Inspiration also comes from seeing other artists work. Artists such as Caroline Gaedenchens, Allyson Mellberg and Heather Goodchild who tie art and craft together are her favorites.

Go and check Nicole’s blog out, her flickr gallery and her etsy shop.

Designboom has a fantastic interviews section. Instead of a sum-up on each interview they have asked the designers what the best moment of the day is for them and used this as the blurb. I love it!

Here are my favourite answers:

What is the best moment of the day?
After my first cup of coffee, which I have when I arrive to work, I spend a few minutes whilst the caffeine kicks in just thinking about possibilities.

Chuck Hoberman

What is the best moment of the day?
Just some pause. It’s got to be one of those transitional moments when you’ve stopped doing one thing and before you’ve started doing something else.

Bruce Sterling

What is the best moment of the day?
When I go to bed with a feeling of some accomplishment …

Massimo Vignelli



If you had to ask me I would be probably say that waking up in the morning and discovering that I have made a sale in the night is the best moment of my day.

What is YOUR best moment of the day?

My favourite artist is Ian Van Zyl. He is local (from Umhlanga Rocks) and gets his inspiration from traveling for long periods of time in the country I spent most of my childhood years: Botswana. But, that is hardly the reason I have aspired for years to own one of his artworks. He depicts wildlife in such a true and clear way. All I have to do is look at his art and my heart aches for the wide open spaces and serenity of the ‘bush’. This is what I love.

Not only is the mood of his paintings captivating for me but he paints my favourite wildlife animal: the Zebra, with emphasis on what I love most about it: the full round bum, the strong contrast of the asymmetrical stripes, the soft rounded head and the gentle eyes. I think they are the epiphany of Africa.

Even more, I adore colour and he embraces it making it a feature in his art. He does not shy away from strong colour’s as most wildlife artists do.

His works are mostly in oils and I one day want to own an original. However, I will have to do a lot of saving for that. This is why I am so excited: as a belated birthday present from my Aunt and Uncle I received a signed A3 print of one of his Zebra paintings. This is such a special present as now I own a part of an Ian Van Zyl painting.

One of the installations at the exhibition titled ‘flexibility - design in a fast-changing society’ is renewable clothing by Fernando Brizio via designboom.  The idea behind the show is this: since it is predicted that 90% of the worlds population will be living in cities by the year 2050, the already complex life of cities will rise to an even more complex state, and we will need designs to meet our increasingly complex needs.

What he does is quite simple but highly effective: he places coloured felt-tip pens (or as they known in South Africa: kooki’s) into the pockets of plain white dresses and over a period of time (up to one and a half hours) the ink bleeds into the fabric changing the appearance of the dress and creates once off designs.

How clever!

The dress has caused a bit of contraversy as it is not exactly a ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly’ dress. However, I think it achieves it’s purpose posing a way to use everyday objects differently. It gets people thinking and that I feel is half the battle.