Wanted Magazine November Issue 2020

want ed NOVEMBER

2020

easing

into summer

Some see what’s there.

We see beyond.

The new new Audi Audi A4 with Audi connect.

The Future is is an an attitude Future Find out out more more at progress.audi Find

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ED’S LETTER

11 / 2020

EDITOR.

IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, IT CAN’T BE THAT BAD

A

FEW weeks ago in the afternoon Joburg heat and over a glass of white, I chatted to Gina Molle, the curator of Everard Read gallery, at its real-life, in-theflesh opening of Wayne Barker’s latest show. We were talking about pink. It’s a colour I am instinctively drawn to. It makes me happy, and always has. In this instance, though, we were chatting about its weaponisation and fascinating history. Molle has been thinking on the shade because Everard Read is hanging a show engaging with it, succinctly called Pink, for Art Joburg from 6-18 November. It includes works by the likes of FNB Art Prize winner Lady Skollie and Lionel Smit.

Anyhow, I’m getting lost in the candyfloss and fuchsia. What I suddenly realised in that exact moment was that there we were having a conversation in person, at a show in person, about one coming up — in person! What a departure from six months ago. And what unmitigated joy it brought me, even if we were still wearing masks and I was paranoiahand-sanitising every few minutes. There were still people, and sun and art and wine and smart ideas and lots of laughing. I could have levitated with gladness.

I’ve thought, since then, that I will never ever take any of that for granted again.

Reflecting on its utter normality still makes me smile. It was a simple pleasure that, in the Covid-19 context, took on new proportions and meaning in my life. As have other things in the past month too. They include:

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M O R E , V I S I T

Moonlight dinner in the garden with friends.

Listening to starchitect Sir David Adjaye talk about the late Nigerian art critic and curator Okwui Enwezor on the BBC Great Lives podcast.

Crocheting. Yes, really.

The new collaboration between local luxe Carol Bouwer bags and national cultural treasure Esther Mahlangu. See what they’ve cooked up in the pic to the left.

My sister’s five rescue Chihuahuas.

A long, boozy lunch at Joburg’s brilliant Pron with handbreakbread and potstickers.

Rain.

Snort laughing as our sub Benazir Cassim and I practised pronouncing Jaeger LeCoultre for the interview I did with Benedict Cumberbatch on page 20. (It’s “jeh-jair luhcool-truh”, in case you were wondering).

I’m biased but I think this issue also offers a massive dose of delight. It illustrates that, after the pitch-dark moments of 2020, there are people hustling, spirits are fierce, and creativity makes the world a lot better. As does summer.

And pink.

Stay safe and happy,

Demetre Chiparus, bronze “Civa”, 54cm, circa 1920

Exhibiting SAADA Fair Maslow Hotel, Sandton Fri 13 to Sun 15 Nov 2020

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and Manelisi Dabata SUBEDITOR Benazir Cassim FASHION DIRECTOR Sharon Armstrong (armstrongs@arena.africa) FASHION EDITOR Sahil Harilal BEAUTY EDITOR Nokubonga Thusi (thusin@arena.africa) FASHION INTERN Nombuso Kumalo DÉCOR DIRECTOR Leana Schoeman (leanas@sundaytimes.co.za) GROUP MOTORING EDITOR Denis Droppa (droppad@arena.africa)

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the lightness of being

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18 A new Parisian hotel packs a punch of brilliant colour

20 The Cumberbatch connection: We talk to Benedict

28 We’ve got fairs, auctions, and art news in the bag

32 A feast of luxury local treats and artisanal delights

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36 Design index: Coffee-table books to grab now

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WAT C H E S

11 / 2020

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HE BOND films are among the top five highest-grossing, most enduring and endearing film franchises in the world.

The Eon-produced films, based on the Ian Fleming books, are also the longest continually running series of all time.

I was born into the suave Roger Moore Bond era, when the cars and wearable gadgets customised by Q literally came from the future. In a world now overpopulated with gadgets and where everything seems possible and on-demand, fast film cuts and special effects of epic proportion leave little to this “young” lad’s imagination. However, Bond films are still peppered with the customary Britishness, double entendres, smart psycho terrorists, and nail-biting, high-speed car chases.

In the hands of director Cary Joji Fukunaga and my other favourite Bond, Daniel Craig, No Time to Die will no doubt be a huge box-office hit for fans both young and old. Its release has been pushed out twice already due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s currently due in theatres in April 2021. The film also features four iconic Aston Martin sports cars: a classic DB5; the DBS V8; the latest super GT, DBS Superleggera; and the forthcoming Valhalla mid-engined hypercar, so of course I’ll be there.

For the past 25 of the franchise’s 58-year run, the Omega Seamaster has been the British secret agent’s chosen timepiece in the field. From Golden Eye (1995) the Seamaster 300M had a starring role on 007’s wrist, retrofitted by Q over the years with a detonator, miniature grappling hook, and even a laser. In 2006, Craig made his first appearance in Casino Royale, accompanied by the new Seamaster Diver 300M with its co-axial escapement, and a Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M. No Time to Die is Craig’s last Bond film and, to mark the occasion, Omega has released special editions of its famed diver model.

First launched in 1993, the flagship Diver 300M has built a legacy with professional divers, and become the quintessential Bond watch. In anticipation of the film’s original April release this year and to celebrate the 25th official James Bond film, Omega issued the 42mm

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M “James Bond” Numbered Edition

COLUMN.

QUALITY TIME Get kitted out like the spy who loves Omega

text

Gary Cotterell

Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition in December 2019. It’s crafted from Grade 2 Titanium and powered by Omega’s CoAxial Master Chronometer Calibre 8806.

Designed in consultation with Craig, the vintage, military-inspired edition retails from R151 000 and features an aluminium dial with a “tropical” finish — a colour that replicates the ageing of

some vintage watch dials — repeated in the bezel ring. The hands, hour, and bezel markers are also a shade of tan, which evokes the aged luminescence of older watches. The “broad arrow” insignia of the British Ministry of Defence appears at 6 o’clock and reinforces its vintage military aesthetic.

Joining the collection with cuttingedge style and innovation is a new Seamaster Diver 300M “James Bond” Numbered Edition, crafted in platinumgold on a black leather strap. Unique details include a black ceramic bezel ring with a platinum diving scale in positive relief, and a black enamel dial with the familiar spiralling gun-barrel design of the films’ opening sequences, done in 18k white gold. It also includes a hidden number 50 within the SuperLumiNova of the 10 o’clock index, a reference to the 50th anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service — to purists, the best Bond film ever. There’s a 007 logo at 7 o’clock on the white enamel minute track, as well as 18k white-gold features, including the hands, indexes and Bond family coat-of-arms at 12 o’clock.

Through the sapphire crystal caseback you can spy the high-precision Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8807 self-winding movement with magnetic-resistance at an impressive 15 000 Gauss. It comes in its own suitcase, made by Globe-Trotter with Nato-inspired straps and an additional black rubber strap.

Numbered to 7 007 platinumgold pieces, R966 000, Swatch Group 011 911 1200 or visit omegawatches.com

OVER THE RAINBOW Parmigiani’s spectacularly shimmering Fleurier Tonda Métropolitaine Rainbow Opal 36mm takes the healing rainbow trend to the next level through its bezel of baguette-cut gemstones and its blue opal dial.

Inside its rose-gold case is the Calibre PF310 automatic movement.

This timepiece is limited to five pieces worldwide and presented on an Hermès indigo blue alligator-leather strap. parmigiani.com

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A WORK OF ART The Vacheron Heures Créatives Heure Romantique is inspired by a 1916 timepiece in the Art Nouveau style.

Nature also inspires the flowing curves of its 26.5 x 36.2mm 18k white-gold case set with 104 diamonds. The dial is a shimmering black mother-of-pearl. Inside is the ultra-slim mechanical manual-winding Calibre 1055 movement with a handy 40-hour power reserve, allowing the case to be only 7.4mm thick. R1.07-million, vacheron-constantin. com

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NEWS A RARE FIND High complications for women are a rarity and the Piaget Altiplano Tourbillon Limited Edition is the first time we see Piaget present a tourbillon in a 38mm case exclusively for women.

Limited to 88 individually numbered timepieces, it has a 7.35mm rose-gold case, pure white mother-of-pearl dial, and a bezel set with 64 brilliant-cut diamonds.

It is powered by the same Manufacture Piaget 670P ultra-thin, hand-wound mechanical tourbillon movement found in the 2017 original 41mm Altiplano Tourbillon. piaget.com

OBJET

11 / 2020

photography

Sarah de Pina

Desk lights and Star pendants, available in a wide range of colours, POR, Mash T Design Studio

SEE THE LIGHT STOCKIST THABISA@MASHTDESIGNSTUDIO.COM

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This local design star has the strongest lighting game

TAG Heuer Boutiques: Sandton City and V&A Waterfront Also at selected fine jewellers nationwide For further information please call 011 669 0500. www.picotandmoss.co.za

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STYLE NOTES

11 / 2020

Nokubonga Thusi Sarah Buitendach

text

I

t’s lovely to look at and otherworldly to wear but, really, there’s so much more to fine jewellery. It tells stories of conquests and power, conniving and passion. It marks passing styles and great historical moments. For a crash course on all of the above, get your hands on Stellene Volandes’ wonderful new book, Jewels That Made History (Rizzoli).

The editor-in-chief of US Town & Country is also an acclaimed jewellery expert and this little number is proof that she really knows her stuff. Her smart, easy-going, and witty approach to knockout jewels and jewellery-related moments in time will have you captivated. Read about heists, royal intrigue (there is always plenty of this where jewels are concerned), Hollywood starlets, business empires, and revolutions through the prism of diamonds and other sparklers. Lady Gaga, Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Boleyn, and even former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright make stellar experiences but the headliners are definitely the gorgeous images of jewellery.

B E A U T Y

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WA T E R S H E D

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he next time you’re in Cape Town, pop into the Watershed, V&A Waterfront, to experience its new local beauty offering. With South African brands like Skoon, Chill Cape Town, Anim Naturals, and Tintiloux on offer, this is the place to indulge in globallypraised, home-grown products and get your skincare regime sorted. waterfront.co.za Skoon Wow-Wow Wonder Hydrating Serum, 15ml, R500; Chill Cape Town Active Repair Oils, R250 each

IN FULL BLOOM

W

e are ready to dive back into the Gucci garden with the latest update of the Gucci Bloom scent, Profumo Di Fiori.

Fans of the original eau de parfum will adore this update as it, too, has the notes of jasmine sambac and Rangoon creeper that have become synonymous with the scent. This iteration, however, is more luminous with subtle, fruity creamy undertones of tuberose essence, ylang ylang, and sandalwood.

It’s the stuff that Alessandro Michelestyle fragrant dreams are made of. Gucci Bloom Profumo Di Fiori, 100ml, R2 275

Chanel’s seductive new Coco Mademoiselle L’Eau Privée scent is as perfect for hitting the town as it is for luxuriating in bed.

Perfumer Olivier Polge describes it as a “watercolour or a soft, hazy veil for the skin and sheets”. This oriental blend of orange, patchouli, jasmine absolute, rose petals, and white musk immediately smells settled on the skin — but not faded — and can be spritzed on skin, lingerie, and your bed linen without overwhelming either yourself or significant bedfellows. Coco Mademoiselle L’Eau Privée Spray, 100ml, R2 315

IMAGES EDWARD STEICHEN/CONDÉ NAST/GETTY IMAGES; HISTORICAL VIEWS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; REPORTERS ASSOCIATI & ARCHIVI/MONDAC PORTFOLIO/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES AND SUPPLIED

A SPARKLING READ

&

L I V E YO U R PA S S I O N L A D I E S AU TO M AT I C S M A L L S ECO N D S FO R FU RTH E R I N F O R M AT I O N CO N TACT PICOT & M O S S (0 1 1 ) 6 6 9 - 0 5 0 0. W W W.P I COTA N DMOSS. CO. ZA

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DOWN TO BUSINESS

11 / 2020

portrait treatment

Manelisi Dabata

S COLUMN.

DESTINATION NOWHERE text

Lukanyo Mnyanda

“Using an airport as a benchmark for the state of the economy might not be the most conventional thing to do, at least before now”

O MUCH has been written since March about how the Covid-19 pandemic will transform aviation.

It’s one thing to read the headlines and quite another to experience it first-hand.

On a 12-hour stretch in October, I managed to go through OR Tambo (the busiest airport in Africa) and Heathrow (one of the world’s busiest airports), before making it to Edinburgh.

The buildup to the trip to OR Tambo was stressful enough, to say the least. Just the things you now have to consider before flying. Given an option between departing on Monday and Wednesday that week, my first thought was, “What if I wake up with a cold or sore throat on Wednesday?”

So it seemed to make more sense to go sooner rather than later. And that week, Scotland was due to introduce new Covid-19 restrictions. As unlikely as it was, the thought of the skies being closed again was another factor in the decision-making. This is just a new level of uncertainty that those of us who had gotten used to the globalised world getting smaller couldn’t have imagined before March 2020.

Using an airport as a benchmark for the state of the econ-

omy might not be the most conventional thing to do, at least before now. But walking through OR Tambo International, it was clear why we have an economy that’s set to shrink about 10% in 2020. The official Reserve Bank forecast is a drop of just over 8%, while the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sees a drop of more than 11%.

The travel agent’s advice to get to OR Tambo as early as possible because it was going to be “very busy” proved to be wildly off the mark. Instead of arriving four hours before take-off, I was slightly late after a nervy Uber ride that took place just as Joburg’s famed thunderstorms made their return for the season.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried — the whole check-in process, including the passport checks, was done in just 10 minutes. One normally expects to wait a long while before getting sorted for a London-bound flight. Not this time.

And on the other side, no crowds or people rushing into the duty-free shops to scoop up nicely priced, high-quality South African wines. In fact, the wine shops were closed and hardly anything else was open either. Cape Union Mart and high-end clothing store Boss

were among the few shops operating, with no customers. The business traveller who expected to kill time at one of the airport lounges? They were also gone.

This was the time of the year when tourism businesses across the country would normally be gearing up for their busiest period. The site of an empty OR Tambo was just a reminder of how this is definitely going to be a year like no other. At the time of writing, the government’s travel regulations had banned tourism traffic from some of the busiest markets.

And I couldn’t help wondering where everyone was. The men (always men) who used to hang around and offer to carry one’s suitcase in the hope of getting a tip, the people working in the bars and coffee shops, and the suppliers of traditional curios that would normally make it to many a tourist’s last-minute shopping bag before heading off to Europe and elsewhere.

The government has said it will review the list of countries from which leisure travellers can enter South Africa every two weeks. That uncertainty is just another killer — perhaps more so than the lack of business today. If OR Tambo without people is the future, then it’s a bleak one.

Mnyanda is the editor of Business Day

the new vintage of series c available now www.vilafonte/members

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T R AV E L

11 / 2020

This new Paris hotel is très bon and très bold

Sarah Buitendach

IMAGES SUPPLIED

text

ALL ABOARD THE BRIGHT TRAIN

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he city of lights might be in a slight Covidinduced pickle right now, but that doesn’t stop us fantasising about a visit. Our machinations to pop to Paris have taken a more earnest turn since we caught wind of the new Hotel Les Deux Gares in the 10th arrondissement.

Here’s the 411 on this bijoux banger.

THE BASICS: As the name suggests, the hotel lies close to both Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est train stations. In fact, it was, for many years, a station hotel — all shabby and marked by the passage of time and weary travellers. When the founder of the Touriste Group of hotels, Adrien Gloaguen, and his childhood friend Antoine Raccat got their hands on the little gem a while back they enlisted the help of British wunderkind designer/artist Luke Edward Hall to spin his

very distinctive magic, and this is the finished product. Hall always designs using vivid, slightly off colours, mad patterns, and eclectic interior pieces from various eras. This is totally evident everywhere in the hotel.

Beyond a chic place to rest your head, it also offers a gym and sauna, and across the road is the hotel restaurant — Café Les Deux Gares — a lovely little new-wave bistro with cherry-red finishes, lots of fermented foods (how on trend!), and good wine.

THE ROOMS: There are 40, which range in size from petit to big-ish (by Paris standards).

Expect Art-Deco bathrooms, trippy colours, classical touches, and views of the skyline.

WHAT WE ESPECIALLY LIKE: The wildly stylish interiors. If the characters from Brideshead Revisited were on an acid trip in Paris, this is where they’d stay.

Alexis Preller, Craters (detail) R1 800 000 - 2 400 000

NORTH/SOUTH – Strauss & Co’s New Cross-country Live Virtual Auction Modern and Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts, Jewellery and Fine Wine Auction 8–11 November 2020 Open for viewing by appointment: 26 October - 11 November 2020 Johannesburg | 011 728 8246 | Cape Town | 021 683 6560 www.straussart.co.za

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I NITNETREVRIVE IWE W

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STRANGE text

Sarah Buitendach

TIMES TIMES

2020 / 11

IMAGE SUPPLIED

S

TOP READING RIGHT here. No, really, I’m warning you. If you’re not in the business of witnessing a usually cool and collected editor gushing about her supreme Hollywood crush, then turn the page. Just one caveat before you do, though.

Said crush is Benedict Cumberbatch.

Yes — Sherlock. Or Doctor Strange, if you will. Yep, I figured as much; you love him too. Who doesn’t? The man can act. He’s suave, in an unassuming, English way. He’s the sort of stage-toscreen crossover that serious people admire. And the thinking woman’s catnip.

Which is why, if I do in fact qualify for the latter group, I’m all manic grins and purrs when we patch in digitally to talk watches, diving, and savouring time.

An apt list of topics, given that the minute Cumberbatch starts to talk, an air of calm descends. It’s only half an hour, but the minutes are suspended.

His mindful responses and obvious thoughtfulness about the world, the pandemic, his craft, and the JaegerLeCoultre brand are mesmerising.

Watch enthusiasts will know that the actor is a friend of the maison.

You may have seen him suited up at film premieres, sporting one of the Swiss brand’s Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon Enamel pieces. Or, more likely, all caped and cool as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Doctor Strange — wrist flashing a white-gold Ultra Thin Perpetual.

Cumberbatch actually came to the brand by way of this time-travelling character. Wearing the watch for the role, and then realising he was interested

in what Jaeger-LeCoultre stood for, he’s since spent time with its craftspeople, knows his stuff as far as its product goes, and talks perceptively about the role it plays in his world. Including, wait for it, to tell time — and not rely on your cellphone for that. “I don’t like looking at my phone to tell the time,” he says, “because then you get distracted into everything that is the modern malaise with instant technology and you see message alerts, a notification or a news item, or a friend posting something. And you find yourself half an hour later in a YouTube wormhole when all you had wanted to do was just check the time.”

Ain’t that the truth.

In noted contrast to the whirl of mobile madness and digital onslaught we all face, Cumberbatch’s latest gig with the brand is a moment of Zen. It’s a short film he made with JaegerLeCoultre off the coast of New Zealand, just as Covid-19 really kicked off across the globe. In it, he wears the new Polaris Mariner Memovox and can be seen free-diving deep into an ocean of quiet.

It’s a reminder to breathe. A reminder of

“If anything positive is to be taken from it, it’s being given a lens through which to view or review your priorities.

Time with people and time itself has all taken on a massively different weight”

Sarah Buitendach is the cat that got the cream, and to talk to actor Benedict Cumberbatch

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the passing of time, appropriately.

“I think it’s alright for me to admit that there was a slight bit of miscommunication in that my initial suggestion of ‘diving’ [in the video] was translated as ‘free diving’. I had meant scuba diving, but the set up was constructed around me doing ‘free diving’ and I just said, ‘Well great, I’ve never done that before.’ JaegerLeCoultre said, ‘But you do like diving?’

And I said, ‘Oh yeah, I like scuba diving,’ and so it ended with me learning how to ‘free dive’.” Not that you’d notice he was any kind of diving novice in the video.

But that’s consummate actors for you.

He does add, with a chuckle, “Everyone was worried about me getting cold in the water and I said, ‘Listen, this is like a warm bath compared to swimming in the English Channel,’ which I do a lot, or freshwater swimming in lakes.”

Of course, the film makes the most of the new diving watch, but it also allows for Cumberbatch to segue into some introspection. “And with diving again you appreciate the precious nature of the value of every second of being submerged and able to hold a breath,” he observes.

It’s clear that, for him, time is about treasuring the value of it and how precious it is. “Especially now, I think all of our gravity has been shifted by what has gone on globally and, if anything positive is to be taken from it, it’s being given a lens through which to view or review your priorities. Time with people and time itself has all taken on a massively different weight.”

I’m impressed by his sense of responsibility as a celebrity and awareness of his privilege, but also his warmth. Of his best way to spend free time, he says, without hesitation, “I never talk about my family but of course it’s them — in every regard.

And my friends. It’s people, and those closest to me are the ones I want to concentrate on.”

Not that he’s had much in the way of free time recently. Cumberbatch rattles off the films he’s been busy with over the past months. The second Doctor Strange film, which he’s just started filming, the Cold-War spy drama The Courier, and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, which is what had him in New Zealand in the first place. “You’ll be sick of the sight of me,” he says.

Incorrect. A glut of Benedict Cumberbatch on screen. I can’t think of a better way to pass the time.

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11 / 2020

This season, we long for gentle and sophisticated softness

Pain de Sucre swimsuit, R5 500, La Corset IntimĂŠ

FFAASSHHI IOONN

2020 / 11

THE LIGHTNESS OF BEING production

Sharon Armstrong

STARRING RADIYYA HAJAT

Blouse, R750, Reminiscene; swimsuit, R990, Kat van Duinen; belt, R539, Zara

photography

Steve Tanchel

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Swimsuit, R3 500, Erre

2020 / 11

Blouse, R15 000; trousers, R17 400, both Gucci; feather boa, R2 200, Reminiscene

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Blouse, R20 000; skirt, R37 000, both Dolce & Gabbana; headband, R1 200, Reminiscene

PHOTOGRAPHY STEVE TANCHEL/RED HOT OPS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT THEKISO MOKHELE HAIR SAADIQUE RYKLIEF/LAMPOST USING BALMAIN HAIR COUTURE MAKE UP LIZ VAN DER MERWE/RED HOT OPS MODEL RADIYYA HAJAT/BOSS MODELS PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS SAHIL HARILAL AND NOMBUSO KUMALO

2020 / 11

Jumpsuit, R32 300, Gucci Stockists D o l c e & G a b b a n a 0 1 1 3 2 6 7 8 0 8 , E r r e e r r e - f a s h i o n . c o m , G u cci 011 326 7928, Kat v a n D u i n e n k a t v a n d u in e n . c o m , L a C o r s e t I n t i m é 0 1 1 2 6 8 6 9 7 3 , Reminiscene 083 256 0813, V i v i e r s i n f o @ v i v i e r s . s t u d i o , Z a r a z a r a . c o m /za

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AR R TT A

11 / 2020

PROFILE.

FNB Art Joburg (artjoburg.com )

T

HERE WAS A moment after lockdown level one was announced when art-world punters speculated whether Art Joburg might actually hold a live (or at least blended) event this year after all. It’s not to be.

“Firstly, the pandemic is still happening, and we don’t want to follow Europe and the US and have a second wave,” says fair manager Nicole Siegenthaler. “We don’t want to contribute to that in any way.”

Secondly, Art Joburg has poured much thought and effort into its digital incarnation and remains committed to seeing it through.

The fair is running later than usual this year, from 6-18 November. The advantage of delaying the fair is that, as Siegenthaler explains, the organisers gave themselves time to develop the best online experience they could. The disadvantage is digital fatigue among their audience: the online viewing rooms, which did so much to help galleries and fairs weather lockdown, have lost some of their lustre. Siegenthaler insists, however, that Art Joburg has what it takes to invigorate the art world for one last hurrah this year. On one hand, she says, the online platform concentrates on getting the basics right: easy, effective functionality, searching for what you want, and making new discoveries. “We want users to be able to explore the galleries, discover work by new artists,” she says.

And it’ll look good. “It’s really about the images, having big,

clear, beautiful imagery,” she says.

Also, all the pesky little barriers to entry have been done away with. “There’s no login,” says Siegenthaler. It’s free to the public, so anyone with a device and an internet connection can have a look.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, they’ve thought of ways to simply put some fun back into the fair — “for it to be an enjoyable experience”, she says.

“We wanted to be a bit playful with technology, so we’re integrating 3D AR [augmented reality] features into the fair…

Every gallery will have at least one work that is designed in augmented reality.”

This means that you’ll be able to click on certain artworks, which will launch your camera. “And wherever you are, that artwork will be projected to scale in your

setting,” she says. “You can virtually hang your [home] with artwork from the fair.”

Similarly, for the Gallery Lab section, curated by Siegenthaler and artist/gallery owner Banele Khoza to showcase the exciting stuff that isn’t represented by traditional galleries, “each artist, each exhibitor, did a solo presentation completely in augmented reality”, says Siegenthaler. Using Instagram

on your smartphone, you can “move around in the installation as you move your phone”.

The fact that the fair is online also means that galleries both from South Africa and the rest of the continent have been able to commit and contribute to the fair, so perhaps the most crucial ingredient is taken care of, too: “It is really going to be a great line-up of contemporary African art,” Siegenthaler says.

2.

1.

November brings with it online fairs, auctions, and baller bags

text

Jo Buitendach and Graham Wood

PROFILE.

Louis Vuitton Artycapucines Collection 2020 (louisvuitton.com)

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OUIS VUITTON’S 2020 Artycapucines Collection has just dropped. The inaugural range, launched last year, saw the brand collaborating with a handful of artists (including South Africa’s own Nicholas Hlobo) who were tasked with reimagining the Capucines bag.

The bag, first introduced in 2013, has become a modern classic.

This year’s chosen contemporary artists are Beatriz Milhazes, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Josh Smith, Henry Taylor, Liu Wei, and Zhao Zhao. Their eyecatching designs really illustrate Louis Vuitton’s talent in aiding artists to bring their ideas to life through technology and design.

Celebrated Brazilian artist Milhazes, known for her

artwork

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detailed, abstract, kaleidoscope-like paintings and collages, has translated an original artwork onto the Capucines, using texture, 18 different types of leather, gold leaf, and a playful gel peace sign. The piece is a breath of fresh air.

American artist Henry Taylor chose to use A Young Master, a 2017 painting he did of Black American artist Noah Taylor for his Artycapucines creation. The challenge faced by Louis Vuitton on this bag was how to not only reproduce the painting onto leather, but also how to replicate the exact varied colours and textures. This was eventually done, over 100 2D and 3D printing

1. Claudie Dimbeng, La Traversée, 2019

6. Irma Stern, Still Life of Hydrangeas in a Jar With Mangoes, 1945

Strauss & Co Tasso Collection Auction (straussart.co.za)

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2. Lady Skollie, winner of the 2020 FNB Art Prize 7. Stanley Pinker, The Bathers

experiments later, using laser printing and traditional marquetry.

We are gaga over all of this year’s bags, but our favourite is New York-based artist Josh Smith’s joyful design. Smith’s work is known to explore the visual and philosophical possibilities of his moniker, and the bag is no different. Smith says, “Louis Vuitton puts its name on all its stuff, so I feel like my name should float on top of theirs. That’s the whole point, like, ‘Who is this Josh Smith guy? With this bag’.” An added bonus, Smith’s design is leather-free, rather using a highly embroidered cotton canvas and a natural apple wood handle.

3. Henry Taylor

4. Josh Smith

8. Irma Stern, Grand Canal-Venice, 1948

5. Beatriz Milhazes

9. Zander Blom, Untitled [1.62], 2011

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TRAUSS & CO’S upcoming North/South online auction takes place from 8-12 November. It’s an absolute cracker, including fine wines from Burgundy and the Rhone Valley, oriental art, and a focus on South African ceramics.

We definitely have a few pieces from the Tasso Foundation Collection at the top of our wishlist. This impressive selection was assembled by Giulio Bertrand, the late owner of the Morgenster Estate in Somerset West, which we all know for its award-winning wine and olives. The 75 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper on sale tell the story of South African art and artists, and include both historical works as well as pieces by leading contemporary artists. Italian-born Bertrand also included artists in his collection whose work emphasised the strong link between Italy and South Africa. The highest value lot on offer, Irma Stern’s landscape of the Grand Canal-Venice (estimated at R5-million R7-million) is one such piece.

Pieces that caught our eye include Norman Catherine’s Piscivorous sculpture, Zander Blom’s Untitled [1.62] and Alexis Preller’s The Red Pineapples.

Plus, because the collection hails from the Morgenster Estate, it’s only fitting that we mention three lovely sun-dappled oil paintings depicting Morgenster’s manor house: two by Edward Roworth and one by Frank Spears.

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DESIGN

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AUCTION.

IT’S HAMMER TIME

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text

E’RE A COUNTRY FAMILIAR with art auctions.

Even in this parallel pandemic universe, we’ve been quick to embrace buying lots of paintings and sculptures via virtual bidding — but taking the auction approach to local contemporary furniture, now there’s a largely foreign notion.

Sure, it’s not completely alien. The auction of antiques and old furniture, even a smattering of now wildly en-vogue, mid-centurymodern works — we know that terrain. Though that’s not the same as an auction dedicated entirely to the continent’s fine design.

Which is exactly what’s happening on 26 November in a collaboration between Aspire Auctions and top local design firm Tonic Design. Tonic’s owners Greg Gamble and Philippe van der Merwe have curated a consignment of over 100 pieces by leading African design studios, alongside iconic international products.

They’re hoping it’ll be the first in an endeavour to give South African designers an international platform to showcase their catalogue, much like Phillips and other big global auction houses do abroad.

“Putting good local design on par with its overseas collectable equivalents elevates the South African product and reminds you

Sarah Buitendach

that if you buy good, well-designed furniture, wherever it comes from, it can still have the resale value,” explains Gamble.

In the offing are pieces by top makers like Dokter and Misses, Gregor Jenkin, Houtlander, Mash T, Joe Paine and, of course, Tonic. International product-wise there are gems from icons like Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner.

“There is a market for both primary and secondary sales in South Africa,” adds Gamble, who himself qualifies as the former. “We should be comfortable with the fact that if you buy a good piece of design it’s going to cost you a bit more. In a few years’ time you can sell it and get some money for it.” “It should reinforce the value in both,” adds van der Merwe. Plus, because Aspire is aligned to international platforms, the overseas market will have access to buy too.

“We’ve always enjoyed using design pieces from the 20th century for the interior side of Tonic,” say van der Merwe.

“We’re really passionate about it and the auction is special in that it’s a celebration of this kind of design. Also, we’ve also created spaces that are not just about new furniture. The appeal of a good interior is the mix and very often the right items that can’t be found in shops. So often, exciting pieces come from auctions.”

There will be a viewing of the items on auction on Saturday 21 November at Aspire’s offices in Illovo. For more info on the sale go to aspireart.net

Joburg has bagged itself a fine-design auction, so get ready to bid for the contemporary best

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artwork 1. Hlabisa bench, Mash T x Houtlander x Beauty Ngxongo 2. a ghost that we new table, Gregor Jenkin 5. Domino side light, Dokter and Misses 6. Moonjelly standing lamp, Dokter and Misses

3. Hunting chair, Børge Mogensen

4. Hawkers bench, Tonic Design

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Photo Michel Gibert, photograph used for reference only. Flower arrangement by Thierry Féret.

November 6-21

Bombom, design Joana Vasconcelos.

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FOOD

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Whether you’re catering a last supper or a luxe one, Steve Steinfeld lists some of the best locally available treats for your table

R I T I S H R E S TAU R A N T reviewer Jay Rayner is my guru. He is the apotheosis of all that is great and smart in the world of food writing. For this morsel of a story, I’ve taken my cue from his wonderful book My Last Supper: One Meal, a Lifetime in the Making.

It is a brilliant degustation-cummemoir that delves into details of his food-centric life while he attempts to answer the question, “What would my last meal be?”

Along the way, he revisits his most memorable people, produce, travels, lessons, and flavours in order to create an eight-course menu which encapsulates his life so far, while simultaneously reflecting on our human and very complex relationship with food.

Think of this as micro version, Wanted style. Where suppers are concerned, Rayner does “last”. We do “luxe”. So here’s what I’d pile onto my gilded plate, given the chance. It is a

glimpse at South African producers, artisans, and eateries who are offering up the finest in simple luxuries and extravagant eats.

SIMPLE LUXURIES: BUTTER

text

Steve Steinfeld

illustration

Shaun Uthum

Butter is a truly wonderful thing. It’s that glorious fat that makes everything from a piece of toast to roast chicken just taste better. Doing what I do, I’ve had the pleasure of eating my fair share of butter. I’ve had it virgin and I’ve had it whipped, I’ve had it flavoured with seaweed, hay, truffle, anchovy, cabbage, wine, and so much more. But for this list, I wanted a classic salted butter — the type you can lather onto chunks of bread and enjoy as is, no additional flavours necessary.

Cream of The Crop is that type of butter.

This cultured butter is made in Cape Town by Maria van Zyl, who learnt the art from small producers in the Alps. It’s cultured, which means it’s a great source of probiotics, in addition to having lower lactose than the regular “uncultured” variety. But this list is not about health, this list is about taste. The real beauty of cultured butter is that it’s more flavourful. It’s deep, rich and, well, more buttery than

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“Doing what I do, I’ve had the pleasure of eating my fair share of butter. I’ve had it virgin and I’ve had it whipped, I’ve had it flavoured with seaweed, hay, truffle, anchovy, cabbage, wine, and so much more”

Imperial Heritage caviar comes from sustainably farmed sturgeons that are grown in natural spring water (rumoured to be from the very same springs from which San Pellegrino is bottled), resulting in a pure and clean roe. The roe is harvested and prepared according to a traditional Russian salting technique called “malossol”, after which it is immediately packaged and thus optimally preserved.

TRUFFLES

you usually come across — also a result of its high fat content. It’s the type of butter that momentarily clings to your palate before melting, leaving a slightly cheesy aftertaste.

Cream of the Crop is produced in very small batches from cream sourced from a grass-fed Jersey cattle herd in Robertson. Van Zyl ferments her own culture, which is then used to make the butter, giving it its truly unique taste.

Once churned, it’s left in buttermilk, imbuing further flavour, before the salt is added. The final step is hand pressing into gorgeous floral moulds — the dearest one, featuring three flowers, was gifted to van Zyl from the butter maker who taught her the craft.

CHEESE If you ask any chef worth their salt who to speak to about cheese — especially goat’s cheese — you’re likely to be sent in the direction of Pépé Charlot. His name is actually Gerald Tanesse but to the industry he’s fondly known as Pépé.

The name is that of his business and translates from French as “Grandfather Charles” — the man who taught Tanesse all about the fine appreciation of goat’s cheese.

Arriving in South Africa, Pépé was disheartened (to say the least) by the goat’s cheese available, and searched high and low before finding a cheesemaker who was up to scratch.

In 2010 he took over the cheesery and, after one weekend of on-thejob learning and countless hours watching YouTube videos, he was soon producing some of the best goat’s cheese in South Africa, all from the kitchen of his garden cottage. Now set up in Kommetjie, he makes a variety of cheeses ranging from soft to hard; all magnificent iterations of their traditional French counterparts. Don’t expect any of that “I’ve just licked a

Anthonij Rupert Wyne proudly holds the title of the first wine estate in South Africa to both cultivate and produce black Perigord truffles, and rightly so. The project has been years in the making, with the oak-tree roots first inoculated with truffle spores and planted on their cool-climate farm Altima Estate back in 2010. However, it would be seven years before estate truffle hunter Hanene van Dyk (having honed her craft in Piedmont, Italy), together with her pack of Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, would first unearth fully grown truffles.

Last year saw the first public launch of their truffle experiences, which included four-course truffle lunches and, for those with a real passion for the fancy fungi, a visit to the farm itself for an exclusive tour and truffle hunting experience. While these have not taken place this year, the team instead has been cooking up a host of truffle-based products that are available to purchase from the estate — think the likes of truffle salt, truffle butter, and truffle salami.

goat” flavour found in so many other local goat’s milk cheeses — these are the real deal.

Renowned chef Luke Dale Roberts has introduced “Pépé’s Cheese Chariot” as the final course on the menu of his recently launched The Test Kitchen Origins. For this, Dale Roberts required more than just the goat’s milk cheese.

This request was the catalyst that has led the cheesemaker to his dream job of being an affineur. This is the very French profession of maturing cheese, which now sees him sourcing different cheeses from around the country and maturing, resurrecting, and preparing them for sale at their best potential.

JUST ARRIVED: OLIVE OIL Eben Sadie may be known as one of South Africa’s finest winemakers, but it’s actually his olive oil that makes this list. The just-released, small-batch olive oil originates from the olive trees planted around his famed winery and cellar. This year was a particularly good olive harvest, so he decided to go ahead and press the olives for bottling, aptly naming it Uit Die Tuin. It’s a super-limited release with only 300 bottles made available for sale. I could rattle on about how it tastes, but Sadie puts it best: “The oil is epic this year,” and I’m not one to disagree.

EXTRAVAGANT EATS: CAVIAR When I was growing up, we often had a jar of what we colloquially called caviar in the fridge. A Provita topped with cream cheese and finished with a dollop of the tiny black beads always went down a treat. Technically, it wasn’t caviar but rather lumpfish roe.

Nonetheless, by some virtue of fish-eggimpostor syndrome, it’s how my taste for caviar began.

JUST ARRIVED: ATLANTIC LOBSTER

My first taste of real caviar was at The Restaurant at Waterkloof, and so it’s this caviar that’s making the list. It was a spectacularly simple dish, a delicate Parmesan custard with a “floating island” of egg-white espuma topped with the iridescent pearls of Imperial Heritage Oscietra.

This was nothing like the “caviar” I remembered eating as a child — the colour was almost pewter-like with a glorious sheen, they were bigger and the flavours deeper and much more complex; lightly salted, these pearls were rich and creamy, tiny little bursts of umami and the slight aftertaste of the ocean. It’s a moment I won’t forget and a luxury that just tastes like more.

The dynamic duo of businessman Gary Kyriacou and celebrity chef David Higgs continue to treat visitors to their Joburg hotspots with worldclass culinary experiences. While last year saw the arrival of a premium, international meat offering to Marble, this year sees the arrival of lobster to Saint. In an effort to supplement the catch of the local West Coast rock lobster (commonly called crayfish) with something more sustainable, the two were inspired by a trip to the US and the shellfish they ate there — namely Atlantic lobsters. You know, the kind you see in movies. They’ll fill a plate and are deep red with big claws, to be cracked open and enjoyed with reckless abandon — a bib may be required for the more highly strung among us. The team has followed all protocols, both locally and abroad, to ensure that the lobsters meet all required regulations and quotas.

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LIVING

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DESIGNING YOUR COFFEE TABLE

OFFEE-TABLE books are a curious phenomenon. I own an enormous Bauhaus book, found at Foyles in London, schlepped back to South Africa in my hand luggage but never read and now used as a very minimal-chic MacBook stand. Johannesburg Style, Clive Chipkin’s tribute to architectural excellence in the City of Gold, is an infinitely more loved purchase: read and reread so many times it’s falling to bits. The books we place on our coffee tables offer a window into the things that make us tick, the lives we live and the ones we aspire to. They’re powerful stuff.

04 A luxurious, black Tom Ford tome can instantly inject an edge of risqué Manhattan glamour into even the most generic Fourways cluster house interior — a sort of cool-by-association effect.

I’ll never get enough of the beautiful covers, luscious photographs, pages of endless escape, and the simple way a good coffee-table book affords a Pinterest-perfect finish to almost any space. Here are a couple of options to feed your burgeoning 05 addiction too.

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Brian McKechnie

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1. UP UP: STORIES OF JOHANNESBURG’S HIGHRISES:

Edited by Nele Dechmann, Fabian Jaggi, Katrin Murbach and Nicola Ruffo.

Photographs by Mpho Mokgadi (Fourthwall) Up Up documents the transformation of downtown Joburg’s modernist skyscrapers, from monuments of corporate mid-century South Africa to diverse, vertical ecosystems sustaining today’s cosmopolitan African metropolis. The book explores icons — including the Art-Deco Anstey’s ziggurat building and the legendary Carlton Centre.

Historical documents and photographs are juxtaposed against images of the contemporary city, poignantly captured by photographer Mpho Mokgadi. This is the perfect addition to the lounges of architects, artists, and lovers of mid-century design and South African cityscapes.

Brian McKechnie on the grand architecture and design compendiums that you need in your life and your living room now

2. DESIGNING HISTORY: THE EXTRAORDINARY ART & STYLE OF THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE:

Michael S Smith (Rizzoli) Michael Smith offers us mere mortals a glimpse inside the palatial interiors of the most famous house on the planet, and a nostalgic throwback to a time when art and style could still be used in conjunction with the US administration. If that’s not enough, the foreword is penned by the first lady of style herself, Michelle Obama — that’s the coffee-table book equivalent of Barack’s mic drop.

3. EAMES: BEAUTIFUL DETAILS:

Eames Demetrios (Ammo books) Probably one of the most prolific and celebrated design teams of the 20th century, Charles and Ray Eames’ influence extends across the spheres of architecture, graphic design, furniture making, and even children’s toys.

The book is packaged in a colourful geometric slip case, based on an Eames design, simply titled “The Toy”. Eames: Beautiful Details is a fitting and fun visual tribute to this 20th-century design power couple, known for their quirky sense of humour. To quote Ray Eames, “Always take your pleasure seriously!”

4. S, M, L, XL:

Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau (The Monacelli Press) The mid-’90s bible of architecture, Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau’s mammoth, silver-bound compendium is as relevant to today’s creative process and the understanding of design complexity as it was almost 30 years ago.

The book’s freehand sketches and architectural anecdotes will fascinate even non-architects.

Plus, who wouldn’t want their very own hedonistic slice of the ’90s Eurodesign zeitgeist?

5. THE 99% INVISIBLE CITY: A FIELD GUIDE TO THE HIDDEN WORLD OF EVERYDAY DESIGN:

Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) From manhole-cover design to skipping the number 13 in naming floors, Mars and Kohlstedt (of the 99% Invisible design podcast) decode the layered meanings and origins of our everyday urban surroundings in this expertly illustrated and innovative title. If you consider yourself a design disciple, or a wannabe urban aficionado, The 99% Invisible City is a brand new weapon in your coffee-table arsenal.

READ ALERT

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Sisters ( Jonathan Cape), her second novel, takes sinister to a whole new level.

Now teenagers, July and September were born just 10 months apart and are closer than twins. As July explains, “When one of us speaks we both feel the words moving on our tongues.

When one of us eats we both feel the food slipping down our gullets. It would have surprised neither of us to have found, slit open, that we shared organs, that one’s lungs breathed for the both, that a single heart beat a doubling, feverish pulse.”

Something unspeakable has happened to the girls at their school in Oxford, and their distraught mother Sheela has taken them to an old family house on a desolate stretch of the Yorkshire coast for the summer. The house belongs to their dead father’s sister and is a somewhat malign character in itself, breathing, thumping, watching them: a “rankled, bentouttashape, dirtyallover” house.

The sisters speak in a strange patois; their schoolmates are “judderingwitches, ranksalivafaces” and their father is a

COLUMN.

HORRIFYING MONTHS text

Michele Magwood

Shannon Daniels

“howlingbanderlootinggrifter”.

At times it is difficult to know where one sister begins and the other ends.

It is as if Johnson has taken an eraser and rubbed their forms together. September is the older sibling, wild and headstrong, who both protects and harms July and eggs her on in dangerous games.

“September says do a roly-poly.

September says cross your eyes.

September says cut off your fingernails and put them in the milk. Cut off all your hair. September says put all your clothes in the bin and stand in front of the window. Put this needle through your finger.”

July is the main narrator of the story but their mother Sheela occasionally provides a chapter, allowing us to see the girls from a distance. She remembers a teacher’s comment that the girls were “isolated, uninterested, conjoined, young for their age, sometimes moved to great cruelty”. Sheela is drenched in depression, “living in a sadness the colour of leather and rust”. She closets herself in

Chillingly smart young writer Daisy Johnson’s new book puts a sinister spin on sisterhood

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N A YEAR stalked by plague and fear, it is surprising how the appetite for horror is undiminished. The most eagerly awaited features on Netflix recently were the supernatural chiller The Haunting of Bly Manor and the remake of the ageless ghost story Rebecca.

The maestro Stephen King has had a bumper year with a new novel If It Bleeds and adaptations for television of The Outsider and The Stand.

Daisy Johnson lists King as a major influence on her writing, but she doesn’t refer to her books as horror, preferring the term “domestic menace”.

She is a slip of a thing, not yet 30, with curling blonde hair and the appleydapply red cheeks you normally see on children in British Christmas cards.

And yet she is emerging as a mistress of the art of very dark storytelling.

In her first outing two years ago, she was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, the youngest author to have done so. That novel, Everything Under, was a brilliant, bent take on the Oedipus myth that was lauded by the judges for its “sinister sensitivity”.

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SISTERS Daisy Johnson

her bedroom where she works illustrating children’s books. She despairs for her daughters, coming out only at night when they are asleep.

The days flicker past as they roam the house, feral and hungry, playing endless games of hide-and-seek, watching reruns of nature programmes on television.

The time pools and shifts as July casts back to the event that drove them out of their school, and a sense of dread begins to rise up from the pages.

Johnson has been compared to Shirley Jackson, the American author who wrote, among other novels, The Haunting of Hill House. But Johnson has a singular inventiveness in her prose, an entrancing, elliptical way with imagery and language that feeds the neurotic atmosphere.

“My sister is a black hole. My sister is a tornado. My sister is the end of the line my sister is the locked door my sister is a shot in the dark. My sister is waiting for me.”

The tension builds until a ghastly climax that will have readers turning back to the front page to begin the book all over again, shutting out the real horrors of the world outside our windows.

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MOTORING

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HE BIRTH OF the hot hatchback can be traced back to a “moonlighting” project in the mid-1970s by a group of Volkswagen

POCKET ROCKETS 2.

HERE ARE EIGHT OF THE TOP BITE-SIZED BLITZERS AVAILABLE ON THE MARKET TODAY

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text

Denis Droppa

Mercedes-AMG A45 S 4Matic (R1 113 840)

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The new MercedesAMG A45 S is South Africa’s king of hot hatchbacks. Its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine makes remarkable outputs of 310kW and 500Nm. With all-wheel drive traction, this ballistic Benz slings from rest to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds — a feat that was, until recently, the preserve of exotic sports cars.

The Robin to the A45’s Batman, this sidekick model still produces a very punchy 225kW and 400Nm, which is good enough for a 0-100 sprint of 4.7 seconds. It, too, comes with allwheel drive claws and the Benz luxury paraphernalia, at a somewhat more appealing price.

Honda Civic Type-R (R 771 600)

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From left: Journey on Route 62; (top) Triumph Tiger 900 instrument panel; (bottom) BMW S1000 XR instrument panel; BMW S1000 XR; Railroad station serving the Cullinan diamond mine

Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic (R850 000)

The Civic Type-R is tugged along by its front wheels and gearshifts are manual in the timehonoured hot-hatch way. It’s a high-intensity ride with a high-revving 2.0 turbo V-Tec engine making 228kW and 400Nm, good for 0-100km/h in 5.8 seconds. With its flamboyant styling and triple exhausts, this Japanese rocket looks like it’s escaped from a video game.

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engineers who stuck a 1.6-litre fuelinjected engine into the humble firstgeneration Golf. When VW’s bosses gave the project the green light, little could

they know what a legend the Golf GTI would become and what a popular genre it would spawn. Other carmakers jumped onto the bandwagon with their own

contenders, making icons of cars such as the Ford Focus ST and RS, Opel Kadett GSi, Honda Civic Type-R, and Renault Megane RS. Although early hot hatches

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were relatively affordable and associated with boy racers, they’ve moved away from that image as they’ve become more powerful, sophisticated, and expensive.

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BMW M135i xDrive (R773 790)

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IMAGES DENIS DROPPA AND SUPPLIED

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Having graced Bavaria’s larger performance cars over the decades, the “M” badge recently made its way onto BMW’s smaller cars. The most powerful hatch to wear it is the M135i xDrive, an all-wheel-drive 1 Series packing 225kW/450Nm 2.0-litre turbo power.

With its ability to blitz the 0-100 in 4.8 seconds, it’s part of a subfive-second, hothatch elite.

Renault Megane RS 280 Cup (R634 900)

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Hyundai i30N (R679 900)

VW Golf GTI TCR (R669 000)

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The Megane RS 280 sends 205kW and 390Nm to the front wheels and is available in two versions, both priced at R634 900: the “softer” and more commute-friendly RS 280 Lux automatic, and the more hardcore RS 280 Cup with a six-speed manual transmission, 20% stiffer suspension, and tractionenhancing limitedslip differential. It’s also available as the more powerful RS 300 — of which only seven units came to South Africa — priced at R774 900 for the manual and R799 900 for the dual-clutch automatic.

It may be somewhat underpowered compared to its peers, with its 202kW and 353Nm outputs yielding a 0-100 sprint of 6.1 seconds, but Hyundai’s hothatch debut is an impressive effort.

Chassis tuning carried out on Germany’s Nürburgring racetrack has produced a slickhandling car that dances through corners with finesse when the suspension is on the sports setting; and a rev-matching feature blips the throttle when downshifting in the six-speed manual.

Set to its softer suspension mode, the car is a civilised hatch that makes a comfortable daily driver.

The seventh generation of the original hot hatch bows out with a motorsport-inspired TCR version named after a racing series.

Available locally in just 300 units, it is the final derivative of the Golf 7 before the eighth-generation range, including the new GTI, is launched here early next year. Aimed at Golf enthusiasts looking for a collector’s car, the front-wheel-drive TCR gets a power boost to 213kW and 380Nm, uprated brakes, and some sporty internal and external style tweaks.

“Chassis tuning carried out on Germany’s Nürburgring racetrack has produced a slickhandling car”

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Mini Cooper JCW (R605 800)

08 With three doors, it doesn’t have much family practicality, but the John Cooper Works edition of the modern Mini is all about punchy power and Pac-man -like agility.

With 170kW and 320Nm it’s good for a 6.1 second 0-100 sprint and, at just over R600k, it’s a relative bargain in the hot-hatch league.

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Di sp a t ch e s o n a l l t h i n g s c ool , c ove t a bl e , a n d c onve r s a t i o n - wo r t hy

C A P E T O W N ’ S F I N E S T S P O T S T O S H O P , S P A A N D S T A Y. J O B U R G O U T D O O R A R T A N D E X T R A - S P E C I A L E A T S

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CAPE GRACE

A trio of charming spots to check out in the Mother City and s u r r o u n d s

text

Julia Freemantle

SHOP AT:

Story Design Collective

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nterior design and curation studio Story Design Collective, founded by Jackie Fitzgerald, has a long and impressive track record of designing hospitality spaces. But it’s their new jewel of a store

SPA AT:

Die Stalle

D

ie Stalle spa is a new addition to the already all-encompassing lifestyle venue that is Bosjes Estate in the Breede Valley. Masterminded

by Cape Town interior designer Liam Mooney — who has been involved with the Bosjes project from the beginning and had a hand in the design of the guest house, restaurant, and chapel — it’s opening soon and you should be first to know.

Fashioned out of the property’s original stable building, the spa will feature two cleverly configured treatment rooms and a rasul chamber (slated to be the spa’s signature treatment), while an elegant “trough” water feature at the entrance serves as a nod to the original occupants.

Summer will also usher in the opening of a new deli and shop at Bosjes, which will form an extension of the beautiful gardens designed by architect Coetzee Steyn (the talent behind the now iconic Kapel event venue on the property).

Watch this space! bosjes.co.za

in Seapoint that’s got everyone pressed up to the window.

Expect a space that is pretty in the true sense of the word — feminine and artfully styled and filled with decorative trinkets, contemporary fittings, quirky furniture, softs, and great gifts.

It’s a real tribute to the talent and standard of craftsmanship so readily available and present in South Africa as the contents of the store were sourced (with some designed especially by Story) and produced locally. storydesigncollective.com

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STAY AT:

Old Foundry Hotel

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ext time you’re in Cape Town for business (or leisure), check in at the stylishly appointed Old Foundry Hotel in Green Point. It’s one of Ideas Cartel’s newest and most elegant outfits and offers 24 eclectic rooms to choose from — and lots more too.

The multilayered lifestyle brand (a collection of co-working spaces, boutique hotels, lounges, cafés, and bars) has, to use 2020’s arguably overused term, “pivoted” subtly but smartly to adapt to the Covid-19-conscious traveller. Its already forward-thinking hybrid spaces were reimagined during lockdown to cater to a new breed of hotel guest and remote worker (and adhere to 2020’s necessary standards).

With co-working numbers dropping sharply, CEO Schuyler Vorster and his team decided to modify and kit out a number of coworking partitions as glass-sealed, singular spaces for indoor training — cue the new hygiene-checked, private FitPods. A great extra to add to your already cool stay.

ideascartel.com

N AV I G A T O R

N AV I G A T O R

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o breathe fresh, clean air; to be surrounded by indigenous flora and fauna; and to appreciate the sophistication of local art and design are luxuries that many of us strive for. Imagine having all of this right on your doorstep, to enjoy whenever your heart desires.

Steyn City, a curated lifestyle resort on the doorstep of Dainfern in Johannesburg, has acres of open, lush, green space thanks to its strict 50% development rule. Nestling within this urban ecosystem are bold, cleverly-located land art and sculptures that encourage friends and family to step outside and interact with them.

We can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday than packing a picnic basket and getting an intellectual and physical boost from exploring Steyn City’s artistic offerings. You can almost feel the ground beneath your feet tremble as you tentatively step onto Martin Amali’s Giant Awakening, a massive land-art piece depicting a lazy-looking giant grasping at the trees and soil as he hoists himself out of his bed of earth.

Our favourite has to be Ubuntu, a quietly spiritual piece situated next to a peaceful stream, depicting 11 elders representing each of South Africa’s 11 official languages. The artwork is by Martin Garafa, and his figures are depicted as calmly contemplative in their stone circle. There is something strongly reminiscent of the ancient stone henges dotted throughout Europe in their stoic bearing, as if they are puzzling out the mysteries of our land.

With about 60 of these unique pieces dotted throughout the Steyn City parkland, you’re guaranteed to discover new creativity every time you pop out for your morning run or walk. All landart pieces in the Steyn City parkland are part of a programme designed to uplift local artists from the community of Diepsloot.

steyncity.co.za

THE ART OF LIVING

Clockwise: Melvern Makhonya, Stallion’s Head; Martin Amali, Giant Awakening; Martin Garafa, Ubuntu

STEYN CITY BRINGS VERDANT DREAMS TO LIFE

SMALL PLEASURES text

Matthew McClure

These low-key Joburg spots epitomise great service and food with heart.

S u p p o r t t h e m n o w TILT COFFEE, MELVILLE: It’s eternally true that good food, and coffee, bring people together. And equally, that dynamite comes in small packages. Tilt Coffee is a manifestation of all of the above, and a Melville institution that’s been going strong for years. Coowner Lia Syrrafos’ friendly face and uncanny ability to remember patrons’ favourite food and coffee orders kept me going during the toughest of level five lockdown, and I know the rest of the Melville community would agree.

Tilt does a toasted caprese sandwich on buttered bread to die for (add a fried egg, trust me), but the real winner has to be their carrot cake. I’ve yet to enjoy a baked item as much as this light and scrumptious treat — decorated with glazed fruit and with just the right blend of spices. I never leave without taking a second slice home. I’d advise that you call ahead to make sure Lia has some available but, if not, their homemade pecan-nut pie is a tasty alternative. @tilt_coffee on Instagram

FRESH EARTH, EMMARENTIA: This vegan-friendly restaurant and grocer will already be familiar to Joburgers who hunger for fresh, healthy alternatives to more mainstream dine-in options. Situated in the leafy suburb of Emmarentia, Fresh Earth is staffed with knowledgeable and smiling waiters who know the menu inside and out. Arrive on a Sunday for breakfast and be greeted at the door with their daily offering of freshly baked sweet treats; their cinnabons being my first choice if I’m feeling like a spoil. I always say one of the true tests of a breakfast joint is hollandaise sauce, and Fresh Earth passes with flying colours. Oh, and don’t leave without stocking up on groceries and the many organic, vegan, and environmentally friendly products they have on offer too. freshearth.co.za

SWEET TEA AND CHICKADEE, EMMARENTIA: Fancy a visit to Alabama or Georgia? The steady hum of the cicadas in the mossy oaks, sipping iced tea on a wide porch in your rocker while lazily turning pages in your F Scott Fitzgerald novel? Well, Sweet Tea and Chickadee in Emmarentia is the closest you’re going to get to an authentic Southern American experience. Owners Natasha Robson-Lovato and Jason Lovato (Natasha is South African-born while Jason is a native of the US) moved back to Joburg to start this passion project, born from their love of good, old-fashioned, American soul food.

Think buttery biscuits (a South African scone, just nextlevel delicious), grits, and even fried green tomatoes.

The Mount Pleasant biscuit sandwich is my real love.

Not to be deterred by not being able to buy traditional American graham crackers here, the couple simply decided to make their own, as the crackers are an essential element for their key lime pie, which is out of this world. How’s that for dedication? sweetteachickadee.co.za

IMAGES SUPPLIED

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PA R T N E R S H I P

LOCAL LUXE: WHEN ART, DESIGN AND WINE COLLIDE Carol Bouwer, Dr Esther Mahlangu handbag collection

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N A UNIQUE collaboration celebrating local art and luxury craftsmanship, Carol Bouwer Bags has partnered with one of South Africa’s most highly acclaimed artists, Dr Esther Mahlangu, to produce a limited-edition range of luxury handbags. Pairing Dr Mahlangu’s iconic artworks with locally and ethically sourced python, ostrich, and crocodile skin has resulted in collector’s pieces that couldn’t be more proudly South African. The launch of the collection marks Dr Mahlangu’s milestone 85th birthday. Carol Bouwer, CEO of Carol Bouwer Bags — in partnership with entrepreneur Amanda Dambuza, The Melrose Gallery, and Boschendal Wines — is thrilled to present the world with a proudly South African treasure.

Dr Mahlangu’s large-scale bold geometric paintings that reference her Ndebele heritage are recognised worldwide. The double winner of the Mbokodo Award was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Johannesburg and the Durban University of Technology and holds the French Order of Arts and Letters.

This project scales her artworks right down to adorn the sides of handbags but with no less impact than her sizeable creations. Viewed alongside the vibrant colours of the bags, the artworks are striking.

“What an exciting time for us to share this bag with the collectors of Mam’ Esther’s art, our bag collectors, and the art world at large. The collection is testament to Africa’s endowment and beauty, and tribute to the fact that luxury is not foreign to our land.

Each bag is a proud display of African ‘craftswomanship’ and pioneering in the sense that luxury local fashion can now be regarded as a collector’s item,” says Bouwer. “To present Mam’ Esther with a gift she values so dearly has been such a delight. Upon learning of what Carol and the Melrose Gallery were cooking, I had to grab the opportunity to partake in such a ground-breaking collaboration. South Africa is rich with natural beauty and it is time we shared it with the world,” Dambuza says.

The elegant, structured python, ostrich, and crocodile leather handbags combine classic silhouettes with contemporary colours and sophisticated, luxe finishes. “The manufacturing processes are in line with the United Nations Convention on Endangered Species, and production takes place exclusively in South Africa.

Job creation in the manufacturing sector is paramount to us, and we promote the value of employment in the luxury industry,” Bouwer notes.

The collection will be launched at The Melrose Gallery in partnership with Boschendal Wines on 20 November, shortly after Dr Mahlangu’s birthday. “This collaboration between such powerful women brings the very best in local luxury together with the beautiful art of a South African icon and creates a part of our heritage that will live on,” Says Shirley van Wyk, marketing manager of Boschendal Wines, a longtime supporter of African arts and luxury. Nestled in the Franschhoek Valley, the heritage wine estate has accumulated a multitude of accolades this year, including: seven 90+ point ratings by British Master of Wine Tim Atkin, the unveiling of Boschendal Vin D’Or Noble Late Harvest as part of the

brand’s awarded Heritage Collection, and its Boschendal Black Angus 2017 and Boschendal Nicolas 2017 noted as the top two red wines in South Africa by the Prescient Signature Red Blends Report. “We recognise this collaboration as one that celebrates craft and heritage, which are two pillars of our 335-year old estate. We could not be more excited for the launch event, which will feature our most acclaimed wines,” Van Wyk says.

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Wade Bales

DRINKS

CABINET

W H A T

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M O U T H F U L

Celebrate Johnnie Walker’s 200th anniversary with a whisky whose name is as complex as its liquid contents. Johnnie

Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Glenury Royal is the DEMI-SEC NECTAR 2018 CAP CLASSIQUE

Made from 100% chardonnay grapes, Lourensford’s latest addition joins its award-winning Cap Classique range, adding a touch more sweetness to the lineup. This is the perfect addition to a brunch, lunch, or supper.

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very drop of Boschendal’s Vin D’Or 2018 vintage is as rich as it is rare.

Unlike many dessert wines, it doesn’t leave you with a cloying sweetness — but instead finishes off with a fresh citrus zest due to its structure and acidity. Enjoy chilled on its own, or paired with crème brûlée or apple strudel and vanilla custard.

LIQUID GOLD

third in a series of special releases crafted using incredibly rare whiskies. At the heart of this limitededition whisky lies the

Highland single malt, Glenury Royal — a “ghost”

distillery that opened in 1825 and shut its doors in 1985 after a long and colourful history. Other highly sought-after “ghost” whiskies have been blended in too, along with five incredibly rare malts. The result is a dram with smooth, nutty layers of dark chocolate,

vanilla, honey, and creamy toffee.

Clifton Gin offers a beach-inspired burst of the Atlantic in every sip. Founded by Silvana Bottega and incorporating the skills of master distiller Kobus Gelderblom, there are two gins in the newly launched portfolio: Clifton One and Clifton Two. The first offers hints of citrus and cardamom, as well as some distinctive fynbos and honeybush notes.

The second is eminently mixable — lifted by marine and fynbos botanicals that all work in harmony to capture the spirit of the ocean. Impressively, they have already claimed two gold medals at the South African Craft Gin Awards.

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he boutique vineyards of Bouchard Finlayson have just released another knockout: Galpin Peak Pinot Noir 2018. Grown on the slopes of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, a total of eight carefully selected vineyards

P I N OT N O I R P EA K S have been combined to each contribute to the wine’s complexity. The wine possesses an intriguingly perfumed dark-cherry and wild-berry accent, and is deftly balanced, with elegant tannins and a lengthy finish.

With over two decades of experience in the luxury-drinks market, Wade Bales’ passion is sourcing really great drinks and sharing them with really great people

where families come to grow up STANDS

3m18m +27(0)10 597 1040 www.steyncity.co.za

GIFTED

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ssential grooming product? Marseille soap. It’s 100% natural, traditionally made in the south of France, cooked in a cauldron, stamped, and cut by hand. Favourite scent? I wear Eau Sauvage by Dior. The place everyone should visit before they die? Petra in Jordan is the most beautiful ancient city carved out of red sandstone. Essential tech? My Fitbit watch — it’s definitely helped to improve my fitness. Coffee or tea?

Green tea, especially by Mariage Frères teas. Ultimate luxury?

Time with friends and family.

Favourite place to eat out?

I am a Peter Tempelhoff fan and love his restaurant, Fyn, in central Cape Town. Dream purchase? To buy land and forests, in order to help contain climate change and assist the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of nature.

By conserving biodiversity, we

not only make sure that our surroundings are richer and more diverse, but we also secure the resources that will continue to provide improvements in the quality of human life. Currently reading? The Key of Solomon by JR dos Santos. Listening to?

Stormzy, Bob Marley, Rilès, Aya Nakamura, Chilly Gonzales, and local superstars Boity and Black Coffee. Artists you’ve got your eye on? Richard Mudariki — he’s deeply interested in the intersection of personal and political worlds. I also like Jake Aikman’s vast and seductive seascapes. Best way to spend a Sunday morning? A walk around Lion’s Head and brunch with friends and family. Series you’ve been bingeing on?

During lockdown I discovered the Genius of the Modern World documentaries, which I loved.

Fashion icon? I am so proud of our own Thebe Magugu, winner of the 2020 LVMH prize.

I find his work really inspiring.

What makes you happiest?

Walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean, being in touch with nature — simple pleasures I had forgotten for the past 20 years due to my intensive work schedule. Minimalism or maximalism? Definitely minimalist. Last knockout travel destination? Croatia, with its 1 800km coastline, islands, turquoise Adriatic Sea, and fantastic history and food.

When travel resumes as normal, to where would you immediately book a ticket? Cappadocia in Turkey.

Dream dinner-party guests?

Michael Jordan, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Michelle Obama, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Joyce Banda, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, and Leonardo da Vinci.

What will we always find in your fridge? Organic fruit and veggies and champagne: Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot or Ruinart. A great gift you were given recently? On my

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50th birthday, my closest friend surprised me with a birthday weekend away with my innermost circle of friends. It was completely unexpected. It is always a special moment to be surrounded by the people you appreciate and love and celebrate a big milestone.

What inspires you? People fighting for good causes. The world needs more people with strong belief systems who fight inertia and the status quo in the hopes of making a positive impact.

I applaud their efforts and I am so respectful of their good work. For example, the Kolisi Foundation — founded by Siya and Rachel Kolisi — and Gavin Rajah with his NPO, White Light Movement, which helps victims of gender-based violence and abuse. I am also very proud of Richard Mabaso, an amazing social entrepreneur.

Top city in the world? Paris in the morning is beautiful, Paris in the afternoon is charming, and Paris in the evening is enchanting and magical.

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PROFILE.

PASCAL ASIN The managing director of Moët Hennessy Africa & Middle East on great humans, cities, and, of course, bubbly 1. Eau Sauvage Parfum by Christian Dior 2. Cappadocia, Turkey 3. Moët & Chandon Rosé Imperial 4. Petra, Jordan 5. Stormzy 6. The Passover by Richard Mudariki 7. Fyn Restaurant 8. Begin Again by Jake Aikman 9. Fitbit watch 10. Bob Marley

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IMAGES BOB MARLEY BY PAUL NATKIN/GETTY IMAGES; PETRA BY BUYENLARGE/GETTY IMAGES; STORMZY BY JOSEPH OKPAKO/WIREIMAGE; CAPPADOCIA /123RF, AND SUPPLIED

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PROUD SPONSOR OF

MBOKODO AWARDS

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