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Renzo's
VISION
OTHER THAN FAMILY, RENZO SCRIBANTE HAS THREE PASSIONS – PROPERTY, HOSPITALITY AND BRANDING – AND HAS PERFECTED THE ART OF CREATING MEMORABLE SPACES THAT LEAVE A LEGACY, WRITES GREG ARDÉ
I
n another life Renzo Scribante could have been an advertising executive or an architect for the rich and famous. The 41-year-old husband and father of three is suave and debonair. He looks as slick as Don Draper from the Emmy Award winning television series and speaks about buildings with similar conviction to Danish designer Bjarke Ingels. Renzo is neither ad-man nor architect. He’s a blend of both: a man with uncanny attention to detail and the keenest interest in how people interact with the spaces they are drawn to. In South Africa the name Scribante is synonymous with big mining and construction businesses, but Renzo – the youngest son in the
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ABOVE: Renzo with wife Emma.
third generation – opted for a career in brand building. Or rather, it found him when he returned to South Africa after a five-year stint in London working in finance. He was helping his eldest brother Franco sell mining equipment when their father built Flanders Mall in Mount Edgecombe. The family wanted to honour their middle brother Remo who had died in a motorbike accident in 1999 – and so the eponymous restaurant was born. It was a labour of love and Renzo was deeply invested, creating an inviting, hospitable space that honoured his brother and the Scribante legacy. The walls are adorned with family memorabilia. It is a testament to pukka Italian heritage:
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