Condé Nast House & Garden – November 2021
English | 110 pages | pdf | 101.19 MB
Lately, I have been thinking about design a lot, even more so than usual which, for the editor-in-chief of a decor magazine, is saying something.
Truth be told, I will be moving house soon and I currently find myself in the blissful – or perhaps, fanciful – headspace
I call ‘imaginary decorating land’. It is a wonderful place where budgets do not exist, my floor plan (and wall space) is seemingly endless and my partner agrees with all my choices. The potential for domestic-design magic feels endless – it is marvellous! ‘ Imaginary decorating land’ is also where I have fallen in love with local design, all over again – a ridiculously well timed enamourment, given the theme of this month’s issue (it is emblazed loud and proud across the cover, ICYMI).
The thing, though, about bringing local design into your home (or, I recommend, filling it), more than the quality of craftsmanship, the ingenious creativity or the deft use of materials (all of which are absolutely present and accounted for) – it is the unique narrative each piece tells. It is not just a story, it is our story.
Take the ceramics by the impossibly talented artisan Jan Ernst, whose work has, seemingly overnight, become the must-have in any home (I already have a spot reserved for the ‘Five Arms Four Legs’ candelabra). They draw inspiration from a nature that is indisputably South African; the near-alien landscape of the Cederberg. Or look at the spaces created by designers Stephen Falcke, Yvonne O’Brien and Dylan Thomaz – they speak a language we all understand, of a climate, a way of living familiar to us all.
Even in Lagos, architecture firm SAOTA has created a home for luxury concept store Alára founder Reni Folawiyo that echoes African character. Although each moment is unique, and each designer or maker is different, the vocabulary is the same: it is the language of Africa. And it is a language I, for one, will be writing the story of my new home in, and there is nothing imaginary about that.
Welcome to the new Magazine issue.
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