DESIGN:A new development is emerging in the design industry in Africa, informing contemporary style with traditional accents while shaking off the clichés of colonial and tribal styles, writes Cathy O'Clery
A RECENT article posted on the American celebrity and fashion gossip site Jezebel.com titled "African Fashion: It's the new Black!" reported on how Kenyan designer Anna Trzebinski was taking Hollywood by storm. Her tribal-inspired clothing and accessories are available through Paul Smith's stores. According to the website, Smith chose to sell Trzebinski's range in limited numbers of one and two as a marketing technique to enhance their uniqueness; something that has irked the editors. "Is this good that the western market has finally opened up for African designers? Or is this just another example of the West taking from Africa for its own benefit?" they queried. And rather dramatically went on to say: "All we know is that we might actually start cutting ourselves if we hear the phrase 'tribal influences' in describing some European designer's latest collection ever again."
A bit over-the-top perhaps, but they are right; "tribal influences" and the perennial "safari-chic" are everywhere this season, both in fashion and decor. Ralph Lauren, who virtually owns the colonial look, has a new homeware collection, Cape Lodge, "inspired by an exotic estate with echoes of safari". The March issue of British Vogue, under the somewhat uninspiring title "African Queen", welcomed back colonial-style tailoring with examples from Stella McCartney, Michael Kors and Gap. In the May issue it promoted Finnish design company Marimekko's gorgeous retro collection for H&M by styling it "tribal". In other words, using a black model with "tribal" war paint and questionable, if not hackneyed, captions such as "Ethnic Girl" and, yet again, "African Queen". Across the Atlantic, sister magazine American Vogue Livingran a feature in its summer issue, "Afrique, C'est Chic", explaining how to get the best out of loud Senegalese prints. "I would not mix these powerful fabrics with chintz," seem wise words from Lauren duPont.
There is no doubt that Africa has always been an endless resource for international designers, from the grandeur and decadence of its colonial past to the extraordinary exotic beauty of its tribal cultures and the vibrant spirit of its townships. But are designers exploiting Africa or merely using it as an "ethnic" sourcebook? After all, designers gain inspiration from cultures around the globe. Maybe the difference is, that unlike India, say, or China, very little of what is actually produced or designed in Africa has been getting the recognition it deserves beyond its shores. Until now, it is westerners who have reaped the benefits and, to be fair, have seen the market potential.
But all that is about to change. Hidden behind the political bad press and the West's unwelcome despair over the continent's ability to govern itself, there is a thriving domestic design scene which is quietly gaining confidence. What's more, there is a conscious effort among designers to avoid the pitfalls and cliches that are currently perceived as "African Style". The new design that is coming out of Africa is holistic in attitude, encompassing the natural environment while remaining steeped in its diverse cultures. Above all, it has a contemporary voice and the growing effect on the international design scene is palpable. It's comparable to how the Australians impacted on the food industry with fusion food when Bill Grainger, Jill Dupleix and Donna Hay tuned into the influences of their Asian neighbours, married them with light, healthy ingredients and created a whole new contemporary cuisine.
Jezebel may be snide about Paul Smith's token nod to African design, but to call him exploitative is questionable. And he is not alone in looking to the continent for fresh products and ideas. The high-glamour fashion labels may be rehashing old themes, but it's the "slow fashion" creatives such as Smith, Nicole Farhi and John Rocha who are getting the gist of what Africa has to offer. Rocha explains the attraction: "I am particularly drawn to African artefacts . . . I believe they sit well with the white walls and natural materials such as limestone and solid walnut, the basis to my home aesthetic. The authenticity and I suppose the story behind the artwork or artefacts provide an informed decorative assortment which interests me most."
What Rocha and the others are responding to is something that is elusive in over-industrialised nations - evocative, hand-made design with depth, provenance and a connection to that intangible thing - soul.
Due to its prosperity, infrastructure and well-established design scene, South Africa is at the cutting edge of new design on the continent. Recent years have seen buyers from leading design stores Anthropologie and the Conran Shop snapping up local design. The African designers they are buying are not doing mass-produced high-tech numbers. Instead, there is a fundamental understanding that because of limited resources in Africa, work must be more intimate and production scaled down (take note, Jezebel).
Many designers are also working on sustainable projects, as Trzebinski does, employing and training local people, mostly women. Examples can be seen in the Conran Shop through the delightful ceramics of Wonki Ware or the steel "Profile" table by young Johannesburg designer Gregor Jenkin. Closer to home, World Design in Powerscourt Townhouse off Grafton St, stocks Mud Ceramics' fantastic chandelier of rolled African mud balls and the felt pebble designs of Ronel Jordaan. Owner Annig Barrett loves the "freshness and vibe that comes out of Africa, the quirky humour that is so on its own level", and cherishes the companies she represents, because "they support African women who have to be the most hard done-by people on the planet".
Influential international designers and trend analysts Tom Dixon, Ilse Crawford and Li Edelkoort have all been regular visitors to the annual Design Indaba conference and Expo in Cape Town. And last year Paul Denoly of Anthropologie reported at Indaba that South African design was "a breath of fresh air compared to all the products we have seen in the markets around the world". Describing the local scene, he said: "The balance between traditional African craftsmanship and how these designers have applied it to contemporary living is effective and made an emotional connection with every buyer from Anthropologie."
Such exposure to the design elite is beginning to rub off on local designers in South Africa and they are smartening up their acts to address a wider market. However, the current surge in design started, appropriately enough, shortly after the 1994 elections when there was a deliberate effort to explore new Afro-centric styles in architecture, fashion and interior decoration.
An early pioneer was Jo'burg architect Silvio Rech, whose freehand attempt at indigenous style in Makalali Game Reserve in South Africa and Ngora Ngora Crater in Tanzania was much lauded and then copied. Rech's work differed from standard practices because it was site-specific and relied not on western knowledge, but on local building methods and materials. He learned skills from the ethnic tradesmen and often started a building by drawing the outline in the sand with a stick. But the style was crude and sometimes brutal, with obvious limitations in application and was only successful in certain environments; usually the bush.
The next big impact on the local scene was urban and ultra-slick: Stephen Falcke's decoration of the Saxon Hotel in Jo'burg. Falcke used the abstract qualities of tribal artefacts in light natural and neutral tones to implement an impressive and dramatic scheme. It won him the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year award in 1999. Most notable was a hall bedecked in thousands of flat baskets. It was a celebratory piece and reflected the early optimism of the new South Africa, a shedding of old influences and a new-found pride of white South Africans in being African.
Meanwhile, as many of the new black elite headed for the temples of the nouveau riche, Gucci, Versace and Louis Vuitton, the trendier feted their township heritage with flirtations of "Shack-Chic", a spin on the creative ability to make something-out-of-nothing, and "Afro-Pop", a light-hearted take on old and new pop culture.
Fashionable new cafes in downtown Jo'burg opened, such as Sophiatown, which fused designer furniture with huge nostalgic images of music and political heros from the 1950s, and the Colour Bar, decorated in the retro style of the same era. In fashion, the label Stoned Cherry, launched by television personality and designer Nkhensani Manganyi, complemented the self-assurance of the new Afro-urbanites with street-savvy clothing.
Iconic buildings such as the Apartheid Museum and the New Constitutional Court, designed by empowered architectural firms, were erected. Both are seminal, sculptural and poetic buildings that require the visitor to be retrospective and forward thinking all at once. Much like the Irish Renaissance - everything from art to fashion reflected the positive mood and an emerging culture free of its colonial past.
But it's through two young interior decorators, Boyd Ferguson of Cecil & Boyd and Maira Koutsoudakis of Life, that the biggest impact has been seen. Both have received commissions through the luxury hotel market, but Koutsoudakis is also a product designer, selling through the Conran Shop, Kelly Hoppen Interiors and her own über-chic style emporium in Jo'burg. Her tour-de-force was the sensuous organic decoration of North Island in the Seychelles, which complemented the luxury bare-footed existence demanded in a top-of-the-range resort.
Ferguson moves from the colonial style of his Durban roots to the contemporary lifestyle of his base in Cape Town with ease, but it was his work at Singita Lebombo, a project done in partnership with architects of the Constitutional Court, OMM Design Workshop, that set the benchmark of new design in Africa.
Moving completely away from the thatched colonial style of safari lodges, their goal was to celebrate the landscape by touching the earth lightly, and to create a space of contemplation as well as contemporary luxury. "Lebombo is not a stylistic response that uses skins or colonialism and so on as a starting point for an 'African response'. Instead, it attempts to respond in an organic manner to the making of form and use of materials," explains Ferguson.
Set on a long ridge in the Kruger Park, Lebombo is made from a mix of old and new techniques. As it is in a conservation area, they had to build it with the idea that the lodge may be pulled down in 20 years' time and returned to the bush, which the team described as a "humbling" experience. Ancient building techniques such as mud-impacted walls were set against contemporary walls of glass, which in turn were shaded by drapes of latte (hand-cut sticks). Where Falcke had introduced the idea of tribal artefacts as sculptural tools, Ferguson abstracted them even further by painting them in contemporary white: a seemingly simple technique, but pioneering at the time. Furniture in the bush had always been traditional and colonial - he brought in contemporary Scandinavian pieces or commissioned local contemporary designers. Even the all-essential mosquito net got a new lease of life in the form of a fine metallic tent zipped down over the bed.
Lianne Burton, editor of the South African lifestyle magazine House and Leisure, elaborates on the impact of Ferguson and Koutsoudakis on African design. "They both succeed in refining an earthy, natural and organic aesthetic to create a more elegant and sophisticated interpretation. Where previously African style was defined by overtly tribal or ethnic references, they referenced natural African forms and textures first and foremost and then wove ethnic elements in as a secondary thread. In Africa, with our up-market bush lodge culture, nature and luxury go hand in hand. Maira and Boyd understood this and made it the starting point of their work. As a result, they have pioneered the idea of organic-luxe and are inspiring decorators globally with this new African style."
Though Ferguson's and Koutsoudakis's style idiom is African, there is no reason why elements of what they are achieving can't be adapted to the rest of the world and - more specifically - in Ireland. What it comes down to is their analysis of the immediate environment, the use of local skills, no matter how primitive, and indigenous age-old methods on a contemporary platform. It's a very low impact and "now" concept. It's something which we have already adapted in the way we think about the provenance of our food.
Organic, local, sustainable - it's all the same language. There is no reason why it shouldn't be feasible to adapt the same principles to what we surround ourselves with in our homes and public buildings throughout the country. It's a sad indictment of modern Ireland that our homes are more likely to reflect the ethos of Ikea than our own heritage. If there is one thing we should be ready to learn from modern Africa, it is that we shouldn't lose sight of what is on our own doorstep and enhance it, as they have done.