Making Friday : On the Promenade
The Sea Point Promenade really is my favourite place to take a walk. There’s so much to see! Waves & surfers, paragliders & windblown trees, dads with prams & nurses with wheelchairs, doggos & joggers all making up a passing parade that’s one of the enduring pleasures of Cape Town life.
It also has some really great midcentury architectural treasures, like the mosaic mural on the public bathrooms on Beach Road.
After years of walking, driving, cycling (once, even rollerblading) past the mosaic wall of the public bathrooms on Beach Road, I stopped one day to photograph & sketch the meandering design. It was honestly the first time I’d looked at it properly.
Anyway, I liked the line, so I tried it out in a canvas tapestry first, and then it was a knitted blanket sold in a limited edition for VISI magazine.
I tried stamping it with ink, and made cut paper versions, adding colour to give the line a bit of a De Stijl mood.
Then, when my friend Wendren of The Wren Design suggested we collaborate on an optimistic, bold new accessories range, this meandering line found a home. I worked it up into a couple of repeat patterns, and next thing, massive screenprints on special paper, ready for The Wren to stitch up into laptop sleeves, wallets, bags and more!
See more here.
Why did it take so long for me to really take a look? I don’t know, but I feel it’s part of the lesson I learned from being locked up at home, about the treasures right in front of our noses that we overlook every day as we trip over our feet with busy-ness.
Slowing down & looking closely at these mid-century facades (and others) has made me feel even more affection for them. And, of course, the slowing down ended up inspiring some designs and products too.
Esme
Very well played. The prints jump at you from reality, you must cherish this gift.
Marian van Wyk
A brilliant and beautiful ode to my hood.
Bruna Borriero
Sorry but not really to my liking, too linear
like most of your other designs.