I HEART VISI...

I have been eagerly awaiting the VISI Magazine's DIY deluxe collectors edition for months now and I finally got a glimpse at the fantastic content the edition has to offer. Im also equally excited at the fact that I am featured in the magazine. I kid you not, its there in black and white, well and colour...on pg 166. Watch this space for the featured page!

 

Keep it sweet and simple...

 

+27...the Cafe, not SA's dialing code

 

+27 Cafe is a mere 5 minutes away from my Pretoria home, yet in all the time I have lived there, I kept telling myself I’d pop in. I never did. Until today! I could kick myself for not getting my butt over there sooner for a cup of coffee even if it was only every once in a while!

 

The front of the cafe suggests a small, regular coffee shop, but as soon as you walk in, the trendy waiters whisk you to the courtyard where there’s an abundance of benches, shade and an all round awesome atmosphere (not to mention the free wifi).

 

I was tempted at the thought of having a coffee which is supposedly fantastic, to opting for a cooler beverage due to the sweltering heat. A pink grapefruit soda from their newly branded Soda bar managed to cool me off.

 

I vow I WLL go back for their coffee! Not only because the barista suggested it, but also because they were featured in The Coffee Mag (click me!) as a top 6 café to visit.

+27 café definitely make the cut on my top 6 places to have coffee

 

 

 

 

Rocking Cape Town: Day 7...

Hoorah! I finally managed to channel my inner " IT" geek and figure out why my blog hasn't been allowing me to upload certain images. With that said, I can now finish the  Rocking Cape Town 2012  series that I started .

 

I last left off at day 6 of my adventure in the mother city. So its only inevitable that I proceed with day 7 is it not...

 



A pretty uneventful morning of walking through Company Gardens and Green Market Square. Your typical African souvenir stores ripping tourists off and convincing them to buy a bongo drum and beadwork. Its rather entertaining actualy stocking up on all of it. Amongst the bustle of the square, theres this guy who sits on the corner of a building and pays the guitar. There's a catch though, he doesn't play the guitar like  a regular musician. He sort of props it up to his face and strums away. Regardless of this, it's actually really really good, and pleasant to listen to....more so than half the music pop stars are putting out there.

 

 

I then proceeded to convince my family that we HAVE to go to Truth Coffee (click me!) in Buitenkant Street. Mainly to see the finished interiors that Haldane (click me!) and Maroaan had been working on so timelessly throughout my internship. I must say, they really hit the nail on the head with the steampunk interior and attention to detail. The service and general running of the restaurant however is not something I am going to rave about. Its kind of "all over the place" and they don't even have menu's. NowIi know what coffee I usually want, but alteast give me something else to look at too. Even if you have to write it on the floor. Truth really does have such great potential but theres just something lacking.

 

On a last note... they do roast coffee, and they do it properly too.

 

Go big or go home..

 http://www.jamieoliver.com/thebigchairproject/img/background-chair-2.jpg

 

Jamie Oliver's Big Chair Project is truly inspiring!It’s a great way to get artists, designers, illustrators and decorators to collaborate both creatively and towards a good cause. The idea behind the Big Chair Project is to raise funds for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen apprentice programme. The initiative, which trains young disenfranchised people to become chefs, celebrates its tenth year in the running.
 

With all eyes on Cape Town, and the rest of South Africa, holding the title of 2014 World Design Capital, a collaborative project just like this would really showcase our design talent. Possibly using a traditional African item of furniture or craft? I really think we could come up with some super creative ideas that could bring the design industry together as well as contribute to a good cause for charity.
 

Getting back to The Big Chair Project, Fritz Hansen's Ant Chair provides the blank canvas for each designer to customise with their own personal style and medium. The outcome from the participants ranged from quirky and fun to crazy and outrageous. One entry even exhibited the entire surface of the chair being covered in coloured plastic forks. Good luck trying to sit on that.

 

 

http://blog.darlingsofchelsea.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/bigchairproject.jpg

 

 http://www.sensibledevelopment.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-Big-Chair-Project-105152-e1345631292318-560x469.png

 http://www.jamieoliver.com/thebigchairproject/img/lightbox/tissier-3.jpg

 

 

 http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/319418_349649278452896_1313751613_n.jpg

So, 2013 is the year of... Envy?

http://www.pantone.com/images/pages/21055/11262012_cotyslideshow_01.jpg

So, the first association to the colour green, for myself, is pretty much envy. Sure there’s a lot more that goes along with that... nature, an emerald stone of course, and...er more envy. I’m not precisely sure why we have to have a colour to go along with the year, but there it is. I know I sound pretty sceptical, but I think it’s pretty cool. Emerald is understated and sophisticated. I’d love to see what designers come up with this colour palette at hand.

 

Needless to say, I did find myself strangely drawn to tangerine coloured shirts and pants throughout 2012. So I suppose Pantone did get something right.

 

 

 http://www.itswhatiminto.com/beta/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/emerald.002.jpg

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4Gis56DrYZg2_7pDp9CgN7ypjml7HV1MKkWUrLN31XDTR1GGNkwokUka9pbOHlySB6I-MQbrbRI9hOQ9cK8MfjT7LusvEL80u0-rFy89dfhLztpmXDElbMKUTCvr3jQOPz-L6Poy8UMy/s1600/DecoratingTips16_HG_26apr12_ANTHROPOLOGIE_bt.jpg

http://cdn2.kimkcdn.celebuzz.com/files/2012/10/Kim-Kardashian-Fashion-Friday-Emerald-Green-007-492x327.jpg

http://cdn2.kimkcdn.celebuzz.com/files/2012/10/Kim-Kardashian-Fashion-Friday-Emerald-Green-008-492x341.jpg

Freeworld Design Centre...the blog..

I have found the ultimate blog! well.... maybe not ultimate with a capital U, but its pretty darn impressive. It being a Saturday, and a wet and rainy one, i naturally lay in bed for most of the day looking up cool things on the net. And we all know what a black hole it can be. But some good definitely came from the whole experience. The Freeworld Design Centre's blog  (also apparently called the Plascon Design Centre) ( click me! ) led me to some really cool sites about art, design weeks, trends, cool people and cool places.

Id attach some of the awesome photos that came along with the blog, but i am still facing technical issues with my blog...ah shoot me!

http://nookdigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/freeworld1.png

The Truth about steampunk...

So I haven't been able to do any further posts on the Cape Town trip (or anything else for that matter) due to my account not allowing me to upload pictures. I'm not exactly sure what’s going on, but I'm on it!

In the mean time, I found a short video about the steam punk era that was shot at Truth Coffee headquarters. Brilliant clip, I just somehow wish the service and pretty much everything about Truth (except their coffee of course) reflected that. Yes, as you can tell, I’ve had several not so pleasant experiences there.

Music notes fluttering...

I've had some of Ben Howards music stashed away in my playlist for quite some time now but came across one of his songs "The Fear" and am relishing in it's beauty! Its been on repeat for days now...i just cant seem to get enough of it! Its such a feel good song that kept me running an extra 5 K's this morning for my daily run!

The skinny on Skinny La Minx...

I stumbled across this little video on Visi's website and though it was the cutest thing ever. I'm really keen on doing a stop motion film like this one. I'm told you need a bucket load of patience but I'm all in, who's with me :)

Rocking Cape Town: Day six...

As a normal day in Cape Town starts, it was already 11 AM. We decided to take a walk through Woodstock and go check out a few of the places that were still open. I popped into Woodstock Vintage only because i love a second hand bargain. I found a small leather camera satchel that was in pristine condish! i HAD to have it. Amongst the bags, suitcases and satchels, i found an identical snake skin bag that my mother had given to me! Mind you, mine was in far better condition.

The morning was followed by taking a quick squiz into William Kentridges new exhibition  "No, it is" at the Goodman Gallery on the 3rd floor of the Fairweather House in Sir Lowry Road. His contraptions are simply incredible, one even played a full musical piece on drums entirely reliant on springs and motors! He really is an incredible artist, I just must look out for more of his stuff!

We then met up with Haldane and Alison at The Deli  for a quick bite. Mind you, we stayed for over an hour catching up and listening to all of my dads stories abut diving. Plus the Deli's sandwich went down pretty well. Its strange to have sat down for a proper meal there when just 6 months ago i would run in, grab a coffee and run out again to finish all the interney stuff i was set out to do. How times have changed!

Of course my sweet tooth got the better of me and off it was to none other than Charly's Bakery. The bakery is absolutely overwhelming with swarms of tourists wanting to have a glimpse of the ever so famous bakery. I managed to squeeze myself in the line for one one their wicked chocolate cake cupcakes. Its was delicious...and a good way to end of the the day too...

Rocking Cape Town: Day five..