world design capital

"The World Design Capital award is bi-annual and recognizes cities that use design for social, economic, and cultural transformation. Cape Town’s bid explores ways in which design has been used to heal the negative legacies of the city’s divided past and reconnect its people and its spaces. Cape Town’s bid also outlines a vision to create an inclusive city for all by embedding design thinking in its urban development plans.

The title-holder will run a year-long program of design-focused events that will see creative communities from across the globe visiting and networking with Cape Town, for social, economic, and cultural solutions.

Cape Town will be showcased, along with finalists, Dublin and Bilbao and 2012 World Design Capital, Helsinki, at the upcoming global IDA congress in Taipei. The congress promotes interdisciplinary thinking to “inspire creativity, create business opportunities, advance culture, and meet the needs of the future.”

The Cape Town Partnership (CTP) has been responsible for managing the World Design Capital Bid on behalf of the city of Cape Town with the theme, “Live Design. Transform Life.”

Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, Managing Director of the Cape Town Partnership, explained: “The process of bidding for World Design Capital has already resulted in new partnerships: between the public and private sectors and academia, between key departments in the City and Province, between Cape Town and Stellenbosch, all sharing a vision of the transformative power of design in the context of the many social and economic challenges we face. These partnerships will be a lasting legacy of the bid process, towards and beyond 2014.”

Extracts from the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 Bid Book are available at

www.capetown2014.co.za .

great artistry and a great cause

Maid in Africa - a heartwarming story coupled with eye catching textile design.  This unique hand painted textile range is available by the metre and also as ready made home furnishing accessories. 

The Maid in Africa story, as written by the founders and designers:

"Maid in Africa was started in 2006 out of a need to find extra work for a young mother and domestic worker, Priscilla. We sort of adopted Priscilla from some good friends who had immigrated to Canada. She had contracted aids from the father of her daughter and as she became weaker she felt the need to be productive. With my knowledge in silk-screening and my partners ability to sew we started producing hand painted fabrics. Priscilla died in 2007, and with her passing she gave us the will to continue. Maid in Africa still employs out of work domestic workers and students looking to further their studies. In her we found the motivation and faith to do what we had always wished to do. Our true Madonna."

flower fields

Flower Fields is a great new range by Skinny laMinx!  Available in upholstery lengths, as well as ready made cushions, in all three colourways - Goldenrod, Penny Black and Rosy:

The inspiration for Flower Fields came from a vintage fabric cushion owned by Skinny laMinx designer, Heather Moore. The design started out as a paper cutout of the same kind of flower shape (see below), which Heather made a while back just for fun. Earlier this year, she turned it into a repeat, but never got around to putting it on fabric because she simply couldn’t decide which colours it should be printed in. It was only when she decided to use two colours (moving away from her single colour printing style) that suddenly everything fell into place.

doodles of the day!

Victoria Verbaan's incredible artwork - and she calls these her "daily doodles" 

... imagine how brilliantly the serious work turns out!

 

 'Miss 30'

'Miss Magic'

'Miss Henryis-Star' 

 'Miss Magic'

abracadabra!

More amazing work by felt artist Ronel Jordaan. What will she think of next?!

cowboys and indians

emily ziz style studio is pleased to release a new collection from designer Tessa Sonik - "Cowboys and Indians"

The starting point for this collection was the large amount of ikat that has recently been shown worldwide.

Ikat is most likely the oldest form of textile decoration. It is common to many world cultures. Because of the time and skill involved in weaving ikat, some cultures believe the cloth is imbued with magical powers. Tessa followed its chain of influence from Argentina all the way up the spine of South and Central America - Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and finally to Mexico. From there her design team jumped the border and studied the ikat tradition of Native America.

At that point the designers were drawn to the handcrafted, the natural and the considered. They also realised that where there were Indians, there were Cowboys, and they were intrigued by the juxtaposition of these two cultures.

The collection is split down the middle. Just under half of the 35 SKU’s are Indians, and half Cowboys.

The Indians are predominantly natural yarns, including cottons, lines & viscose. The Cowboys include beautiful leathers and an embossed PVC that mimics a beautiful shimmering pony skin. The Indian palette is soft and mystical, led by pale aquas and soft greens.  The Cowboy palette is comprised of strong reds and blues reminiscent of the American Mid-West.  Eee hah!

emily ziz at decoration and design

Our stand and work is featured on the new Decoration and Design promotional video.  Look out for us at the Sydney show, February 2012.

house and garden australia november 2011

House and Garden Australia November 2011:
Featuring Indigi Designs fabric and furniture, as well as the Evolution Fabric collection.

a collage of memories

"Weskus". A beautiful nostalgic story from Heart Designs on a gorgeous selection of base cloths with an interesting palette....colour, texture and good old fashioned imagery.

flowers, birdies and animal fun

Have some fun with your textiles and bring the outdoors in! Skinny laMinx upholstery fabrics on beautiful cotton linen basecloths with a diverse colour palette available. Sevilla Rock, Gardening and Birdies collections area available by the metre and as ready made cushion covers. Take a look through the image gallery for more inspiration.