The four-day festival of furniture is curated by Cape Town Furniture Focus (CTFF) across a number of walkable districts within the city centre.
The inaugural Cape Town Furniture Week (CTFW) will be on from 15 to 18 February. Centred around a curated programme of showrooms, exhibitions, product launches and window displays, anyone can attend the free, walkable event in the central business district.
The four-day festival of furniture is curated by Cape Town Furniture Focus (CTFF) across a number of walkable districts within the city centre. CTFF acts as a platform for the celebration of the city’s contemporary furniture design industry. Household names like Bofred, Pedersen & Lennard and Arrange Studio will be telling their stories.
Pedersen & Lennard’s simple lines and timeless aesthetic bring a Scandinavian playfulness to everyday objects in the home. At CTFW, they will launch Umpire, a tennis-inspired outdoor furniture collection. Think tennis court green and playful swooping lines.
“In taking inspiration from the spirit of community and competition tennis tournament fosters, a
celebration of play is central to the new collection. Round armrests and gentle curves offer a sense of playfulness and give the pieces a unique silhouette. This sculptural form is accentuated by the contrasting angular taper of the legs and bold lines in the slatted seat detailing,” says Tiyani Rikhotso, marketing assistant at Pedersen & Lennard.
CTFF is not new to turning the streets into a festival of creativity and good design. The platform was formed by Gareth Pearson, one of the co-founders of First Thursdays in Cape Town and Johannesburg, where the city’s artists, designers and streets open to the public on the first Thursday of every month. With the cultural phenomena that First Thursdays has become, CTFW is sure to bring a similar, celebratory spirit.
“[CTFF] exists to give local furniture-design brands a space to tell their story and to guide the public to explore and discover the remarkable output of products designed and made right here at the southern tip of Africa,” says Pearson.
“One of the primary aims of Furniture Week is to create opportunities for the public to discover and engage with local design. Everyone is welcome.”
The CTFW venues are in the inner city. Holland House Atelier is adjacent to Loop Street’s string of art galleries. The newly opened showroom of Always Welcome on Shortmarket Street, Open Co on Loop Street, and fashion boutique AKJP on Kloof Street are opening their doors to those who want to learn about and champion good South African design.
Ex Hotel’s nostalgic luxury
One of the brands to show at CTFW is Gabriel Hope’s Ex Hotel, which exists in an imagined hotel. The pieces are a blend of luxury, nostalgia and the desire for the pleasures of travel, yet with a subtle hint of humour. Hope says he “takes playfulness very seriously”.
Ex Hotel’s pieces are typically accompanied by a short tale. This last week a cabinet, with the story The Thief’s Bedside Table, about a guest who stole their bedside table, was actually taken from its showspace in Church Street.
“The hotel becomes the imagined setting for functional design objects and furniture and offers itself as housing for ideas to inhabit. These ideas play the part of guests, taking up residence until they become form. Some are weekend affairs, others never leave and few stay for only a drink,” says Hope.
AT CTFF, Ex Hotel will have a bar where drinks will be served to visitors. Last year, Ex Hotel and Bree Street’s Max Bagels & Leo’s Wine Bar came together for the perfect pairing. The eatery created a laidback pavement social club where diners sit on ash stools made by Ex Hotel.
Paradise of light!
Considering the daily lack of light in our homes these days, thanks to Eskom, celebrating beautifully designed lamps might seem like bad timing. But Arrange Studio sheds light on the desire for funky, colourful pieces with their Paradise Lights.
“The Paradise Lights take inspiration from the many birds-of-paradise and the kaleidoscope of colour in the natural world,” says Arrange Studio’s founder Roxanne Ferreira.
Their pieces will bring a playful pop of colour, with pastel shades, cheesy yellows and burned sunset hues. Arrange Studio’s spaces are refreshingly feminine and playful in a world where interiors tend to be dominated by muted neutrals.
Arrange Studio’s spaces, such as Me&B’s fashion store and skin boutique Glow Theory in Johannesburg’s 44 Stanley, give a sneak peek of what to expect from the studio at CTFW — bright colours, many lamps and 1980’s squiggles and organic shapes.
The full programme for Cape Town Furniture Week can be found on their website.