Ahead of the Curve

Ahead o f the curve

FOR THEIR NEW HOME IN CAPE TOWN, DESIGN DUO MALCOLM KLUK AND CHRISTIAAN GABRIËL DU TOIT HAVE CREATED A SEDUCTIVE OASIS OF INSPIRED GLOBAL INFLUENCES THAT EXPANDS ON THEIR PERSONAL VISION OF MODERN LIVING.

'We like our homes to be layered and multi-dimensional. Inside talks to outside. Curvy talks to geometric. Drama talks to charm. It’s almost like painting, there is balance and chaos working together.' Designers Malcolm Kluk and Christiaan Gabriël du Toit are showing us around their new double-volume apartment in Clarens, an architectural head-turner of a development of nine condo-style units in Sea Point, Cape Town. Clarens combines a modernist breeze-bricked façade with Guggenheim-esque curves, and is the vivacious new star in the constellation of the duo's KLûK CGDT property portfolio, an organic extension of their fashion design business of the same name.

'It all started when we redid the design studio in downtown Cape Town’s Bree Street,' explains Malcolm, 'to create a retail boutique on the ground level, atelier on the second and a loft above that. We got so into it, because as with fashion, we liked tailoring the space, providing a visual direction, solving the practical problems and producing something that was unmistakably our aesthetic language and really feel-good to live in.'

Backtrack a couple of years prior to their move to the Bree Street loft, and the plot circles back to when they were living in the exact same spot in Clarens Road, but in a more boho, Miss Havisham-style space. 'The original house here was huge, ramshackle and eclectic in a huge, ramshackle and eclectic garden. Have you seen [the documentary film] Grey Gardens? I remember the estate agent being completely lost for words – and not in a good way – when we decided to put it on the market and move into town,' Malcolm recalls.

In the end, they didn’t sell, moved downtown anyway, and with Hours Clear Architects, redeveloped the Clarens site. The process has taken it from a madcap and magpie way of living to what we see now, which is all about plush carpet-clad lifts, self-filtering raised swimming pools, bespoke brickwork and crazy paving. It’s been a lengthy journey, to say the least, from the original house – but what has remained constant is a focus on eclectic collecting and customising, which in turn has evolved into a unique style perhaps best described as paredback exoticism.

'The one thing I didn’t want was a building that looked like just another apartment block, with balconies facing onto the street and washing being dried on the backs of plastic chairs,' says Christiaan. 'The point was to create an intriguing building that referenced the style, atmosphere and aesthetic we admired, and were inspired by on our travels. PROJECT INFO:

TEXT

Liz Morris

PRODUCTION Sven Alberding

PHOTOGRAPHS

Greg Cox

LEFT: In the master bedroom, which overlooks the garden, the linen-upholstered bed and standing lamp are from Weylandts (weylandts. co.za), the leopard-print stool is from Wunders (wunders.co.za), and the indigo blue artwork above a vintage side table is by Krisjan Rossouw (krisjanrossouw.com). The blue resin sculpture is an unsigned vintage piece.

TOP RIGHT: In the kitchen, the patterned stone finishes of the slate floor, granite countertops and marble-topped table create a tonal textural dialogue. The high-backed chair was bought on Facebook Marketplace, resprayed and upholstered, and the tubular table base is by Philippe Starck – originally in chrome, it has now been resprayed to match the chair and topped with a Maron Emprador marble top from Continua (continua.co.za). The tall storage cupboards conceal all the necessary kitchen paraphernalia, and the narrow window is placed so that the exterior planting will grow at eye level and bring yet more greenery into the scheme.

BOTTOM LEFT: Co-developer and homeowner Christiaan Gabriël du Toit in the Clarens entrance lobby. The floor is crazy paving slate and granite, with occasional marble insets, which creates a glamorous pattern juxtaposition with the graphic brickwork.

BOTTOM RIGHT: The entranceway, street façade and roof garden of the Clarens development, which was designed by Hours Clear Architects (hoursclear.com) over four floors and includes nine apartments. The arresting design features breezeblock bricked elements and plenty of curves, all in KLûK CGDT's signature pink. The frangipani tree on the roof was grown especially for the project and adds to the character of the building. Just visible on the top-floor balcony are developers and homeowners Christiaan Gabriël du Toit (left) and Malcolm Kluk.

"THE POINT WAS TO CREATE AN INTRIGUING BUILDING THAT REFERENCED THE STYLE, ATMOSPHERE AND AESTHETIC WE ADMIRED, AND WERE INSPIRED BY ON OUR TRAVELS."

The outdoor furniture has the same low and boxy form as much of the indoor seating. The chairs are from Chair Crazy and the coffee table bought years ago from the now-defunct South African decor store, Boardmans, now resprayed and with a new glass top. The bone-shaped ceramic piece was a gift.

'We wanted a narrative, so when people drove past they would ask themselves "What is that place. Could it be a gallery?"'

An obvious inspiration for the exterior breeze-brick screening is the Studio Ko-designed Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, which Malcolm reveres for its ability 'to look like a lantern when lit up from inside'. They also drew cues from the playful, retro glamour of Palms Springs modernism, and even the constant-coming-and-going social vibe of apartment living depicted on the '90s TV series, Melrose Place. The social aspect of Clarens is an interesting flex, and though it's not a courtyard building, the apartments all have gardens and the party-friendly pool areas – which all face away from the street towards an iconic vista of Lion’s Head – feel connected on different levels, while still being very private.

'It’s part of the layering,' Malcolm says. 'Very rarely do we see indoor and outdoor spaces designed to work together: they are usually seen as separate entities, but we wanted to make the outdoor space integrated to extend the living area, so plants were really important to this build. We wanted to be enveloped in nature, almost like it was taking over the building as you would see on ancient ruins.'

With such edge-to-edge sensory abundance, the interior design of their apartment needed to strike a suitably complementary note, and in retrospect, Malcolm’s earlier comment about balance and chaos makes perfect sense. What could at first seem like a vigorous aesthetic clash reveals itself on further acquaintance to be a flirty tension of styles. The colours tease a toasted and tan palette, the art pumps in extravagant swathes, and the furniture in the main living and dining area is a lean and serene hybrid of boxy modernist and sculptural pieces collected over the years, and frequently repurposed, reupholstered or resprayed.

'We were drawn to low-slung furniture – it makes the high ceilings look even more luxurious,' says Malcolm. You get the distinct impression that designing spaces is for the duo a moveable feast, a creative expression, a place of inspiration and experiment according to the way they feel they want to live, and inspire others to do so.