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Visi
EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Steve Smith Editor-at-Large Annemarie Meintjes Contributing Editor Jo Buitendach Creative Director Mark Serra Managing Editor Samantha Charles Digital Editor Gina Dionisio Contributors Ania Rokita Taylor, Annette Klinger, Ch
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5 Flavour Flav
Launched in 2015, the award-winning Cape Town Gin & Spirits Company distils and bottles locally. Its Rooibos Red gin, infused with hand-picked organic rooibos, is vibrantly red in colour, and has the distinctive taste of rooibos, as well as a rich, e
Visi3 min readArchitecture
9 twice As Nice
IN LATE 2019, ARCHITECT NADINE ENGELBRECHT was approached by the owner of a low-rise apartment complex in the popular Pretoria suburb of Lynnwood with an interesting brief: to both renovate the existing flats and considerably add to the number of res
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7 Building An Icon
✖ THE BASICS Over the 20 or so years that the visionary 20th century artistic icon Alexis Preller lived at Dombeya, his smallholding near Brits, he almost always had a new building project on the go. From the mid-1950s onwards, Preller constructed a
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12 knock On Wood
ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN ZAMBIA recently unearthed the remains of a wooden structure that dates back 476 000 years. It proves that humans have been fashioning this marvellous material for yonks – unsurprising, considering its strength and availability. Wood
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Visi.co.za
Receive a curated selection of local architecture, design, decor and art news in your inbox every Monday. Visit visi.co.za WE ASKED YOU ONLINE: WHERE DO YOU MOST ENJOY SPENDING TIME OUTDOORS? 564 of you took our poll to let us know. Here are the resu
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6 Even More Welcome
IT’S BASICALLY A SOUTH AFRICAN INTERIOR DESIGN MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. Take a brand like Always Welcome, whose collective approach showcases SA’s independent designers though their stores in Joburg and Cape Town; add that to interior design experts And
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Vision
Inspired by the art of Argentine-Italian painter and sculptor Lucio Fontana, Davide Groppi’s Infi nito light has been designed as an ultra-thin strip of stainless steel that can be stretched from wall to wall or fl oor to ceiling, indirectly lighting
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Broke - With Very Expensive Taste
FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, I’m a modest guy. I don’t care much for designer clothing or luxury brands. But as I began furnishing my new apartment, I made a discovery about myself. When it comes to furniture, I am a graduate of the Kimora: Life in
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Small Living, Big Thinking
✖ REVEAL AND CONCEAL Arclinea’s concept of a kitchen “hidden” behind a wall of wood panelling (above) allows it to serve the function of both main player and backdrop within a space. The kitchen is revealed on demand, demonstrating that the area is n
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The Art Of Simplicity
× LINE ART It takes skill and experience to make something simple. From 1945 to 1946, Pablo Picasso produced 11 lithographs titled Le Taureau (The Bull). Starting with a realistic rendering of a bull and ending with just a handful of lines, he reduce
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There Really Is No Excuse For Bad Design.
For one thing, good design doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be expensive; it just means whoever created the poor piece has been lazy and applied very little thought to its form and function. Even worse, if they have thought about it and it’s still
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Contributors
I always wanted the Foscarini Twiggy floor lamp, and recently we decided to get one for our home/studio in the Langhe area, south of Milan. It’s a simple, beautiful piece of design that gives offsmooth and brilliant light. I grew up surrounded by Dan
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Home Made
FOR YEARS, I LIVED MY LIFE at an unrelenting pace, never quite sitting still. Then the pandemic hit. Navigating countless emergency meetings and Zoom notifications, I had to reimagine my concept of home – and question, deeply, the life I wanted for m
Visi2 min readArchitecture
02 theatre
It’s an apartment of strong ideas – and one totally appropriate to its sought-after location: Paris’s 10th arrondissement has long had strong links with the performing arts in a tradition that dates back to the 18th century. With this in mind, archit
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01 whimsy
A “MEANDER THROUGH THE TREETOPS” is how architect David Talbot of Platform describes the idea behind the beautiful wavy edge of Kloof House in Betty’s Bay. Right from the start, the owners wanted a treehouse on the site they’d found backing up onto t
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10 Simple Small-space Tips
"OUR LIVING SPACES are not just a collection of square metres,” says Blok CEO Jacques van Embden. “They’re a feeling; an expression of identity, from a person’s quirks and culture to their signature style. And there’s nothing small about the choices
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03 maximise
NVERMARK IS THE TYPE OF RESIDENCE THAT MAKES ITS PRESENCE KNOWN to passers-by. Situated in the Cape Town suburb of Higgovale, its facade is distinguished by a pair of parallel cantilevered concrete planes jutting out authoritatively from the undulati
Visi3 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
10 designed By AI And A Human Called Thato
THE BRIEF WAS A SIMPLE ONE: “Use your creativity and the power of AI to design the hottest sneakers you can imagine, then create a brand and showcase it in an advert.” VISI partnered with “creative AiGency” MonkeyDonkey to run the competition across
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1 making The Circle Bigger
WE’RE KILLING OUR PLANET and, therefore, ourselves… We know this, right? Our consumerism-driven modern society has reached that tipping point where we not only have to make a change, but we have to do it now. Central to this change is upending our tr
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A Strong Connection
WITH A PORTFOLIO THAT INCLUDES QUOIN ROCK, Gåte, Qsushi and Qbar, architect Yuliya Gaiduk’s style is one that blends modernity with meaningful symbolism. Her designs look beyond structural form to include narratives that respect and echo the essence
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05 typology
COURTYARD HOUSES ARE ONE OF THOSE “TYPOLOGIES”, as architects call them, that have popped up at various places around the world over thousands of years, finding a multitude of uses and solving countless problems. From the atriums of ancient Rome to I
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3 Export Quality
OF THE MANY RECENT JOBURG-TO-CAPE TOWN semigrants, there is one that will especially thrill any former City of Gold dweller who has transplanted their life to the land of promenade walks and mountain marvelling. Behind the Victorian broekie lace vera
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Macro Appeal
✖ CASA EN TRES RÍOS This small home in Culiacán on Mexico’s Pacific coast is, as its creators put it, “willing to be the simplest household in the neighbourhood”. Designed by architects César Béjar Studio, the narrow building is squeezed between two
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4 Flaming Hot
WE’VE BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO NANDO’S restaurants displaying contemporary South African design (and art). In just over a decade, this homegrown chicken brand has become synonymous with promoting local designers, and is proof that big business can – and
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Waltz Me To The End Of The Room
GamFratesi studio was founded in 2006 by Danish architect Stine Gam and Italian architect Enrico Fratesi. Their designs reflect tradition, and are embedded with unique stories, symbols and associations, always expressed in a minimalist way. gamfrates
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Cutting A Fine Cloth
'AND THIS POCKET is for the FL,” Angelo helpfully pointed out as he uncovered the small inner compartment set discreetly above the main pocket on my blazer. He had already guided me through the foldaway cuffs, the silk inner lining and the carnation
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Keep It Compact
PHOTOS ANDREW MORGAN (CARA SAVEN), SUPPLIED ■
Visi3 min readArchitecture
Room Service
✖ THE BEDROOM “Scale and proportion are important considerations, especially in the bedroom,” says Anlo Neethling, interior designer and founder of One Design & Development. “Choose furniture that is appropriately scaled for the size of the room, and
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