Val de Vie Magazine Summer 2021/2022

CONTENTS SUMMER 2021/22

30 The Picture of Health

38 On the Wings of a Storm

While other industries have stood still for the

‘Social distancing’ is reframed and embraced

50 Electric Light Orchestrations Incandescent

last two years, the world of wellness has been

as Ryk Neethling explores one of the Earth’s last

inspiration and brilliant lighting design from

supercharged. Your health could follow suit.

true untouched spaces from the back of a horse.

South Africa and beyond.

74 Checking in with Mr Strauss From the Northern Cape

86 Young Blood

90 Body, Mind & Bow

South Africa’s young golfing prodigies

Kyudo – ‘the way of the bow’ – is an

to the Northern hemisphere, Jacu Strauss

exhibit the talent to make it big. Can they

exercise in both physical and mental well-

isn’t just living the dream, he’s designing it.

stay the course for international success?

being, focused on the beauty of the form.

Editor-in-Chief & Val de Vie Marketing Director: Ryk Neethling Editor: Les Aupiais Creative Director: Andrea Godwin

Marketing Manager: Marli van Schalkwyk marketing@valdevie.co.za Advertising Sales: Dina Swart magazine@valdevie.co.za

Copy Editor: Annie Brookstone Printing: Novus Print Solutions Distribution: Media Support Services Val de Vie Magazine is published for Val de Vie Estate, Val de Vie Management (Pty) Ltd

Val de Vie Estate: R301/Jan van Riebeeck Drive, Paarl, 7647, South Africa, Tel: 021 863 6100 Email: pr@valdevie.co.za Website: valdevie.co.za Social media: @valdevieestate

10 Playing it Forwards Ryk Neethling reflects on the year gone by, and – with hope – on what’s to come...

12 Going Ed First Uncertain times ask that we adapt and grow. We say, ‘Why not flourish?’

13 Contributors The people behind the pages.

60 Four Score Years and Then... We profile three octogenarians

72 When it’s All in the Family Motivated by personal experience,

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who share their wit, wisdom and secrets to

Tsitsi Mutendi is making the success of family-

What’s eye-catching, irresistible and

enjoying a life worth living well into their 80s.

owned businesses in Africa her business.

should be on your shortlist?

26 Watch This Space Meet the young head chef conducting symphonies of the senses, all from the kitchen of Chefs Warehouse Tintswalo Atlantic.

46 The Real Illuminati Shady? Oh, these creatives are anything but. How the brightest names in lighting are illuminating the future.

80 The Futurist

92 Leading the Charge

96 The Art of Dressage

E-bike sales are booming, and it has nothing

The relationship between man and horse is

day’s work for author Lauren Beukes but

to do with riders who are ‘too lazy’ to pedal up

thousands of years old. Little wonder we look

her latest novel is more on the money than

hills. Cycling could soon be for everybody.

to their power and elegance for inspiration.

even she could’ve ever imagined.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on an electronic system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, digital or mechanical,

including scanning, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher and copyright owners as featured.

ISSN 2221-4852

Cover image Photographer: Chelsea Wilson Location: Namib Desert

Creating speculative new realities is all in a

108 Drying the Cheetah’s Tears When it comes to the conservation

114 The Wilding

118 And Then, Suddenly...

Sometimes immersing yourself in the wild

From chance discoveries to intentional

of this vulnerable feline species, South Africa

and going ‘off-grid’ means plugging into

escapes, the luxury of exploration beckons

has found the sweet spot.

something much more meaningful.

with new experiences right on our doorstep.

132 Suspended Animation

136 Bringing Africa Home

140 A Golden Ratio

In David Reade’s Worcester studio, glass

A tour through Cape Town’s Pan-African

A shared obsession becomes the catalyst for 20

comes to life to dance through the hands of

art market reveals value and heritage

years of research and one of the most important

the artist and take its inimitable form.

beyond anything written on a price tag.

South African art books of the decade.

84 Rev-olution

150 Sense and Serensipity

Recent changes in the automobile industry are driving an unforeseen boon for buyers.

The right investment has never been so tempting but there’s know-how required for the ‘art of liquidity’.

144 The Evolution of a Legend

152 Green Gold

A fascinating dive into the rich history and timeless style of one of the world’s most iconic fragrances.

A small Karoo town takes inspiration from South Africa’s resilient indigenous plants – and will likely stay on the map for it.

146 A Virtual Triumph

160 Diet Hard with a Vengeance You can tell Les Aupiais

Master Swiss watch Manufacture JaegerLeCoultre is keeping with the times by marrying innovation and tradition.

‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ but it’s unlikely that she’ll believe you.

in perspective

Little Karoo region of the Western Cape, and it’s fast unfolding as an extremely exciting conservation development project.

In essence, the development will be established along the lines

Playing It Forwards...

of a ‘traditional farm meets contemporary African ranch’ and set on

THERE IS NO DOUBT that the past two years have seen a funda-

and will run with the same attention to detail and meticulously designed

mental shift in the way we live and work. While we grapple with what

infrastructure that have been our signature for over 15 years. Owners will

the global pandemic has meant in terms of travel, business and life-

have the opportunity to turn these properties into attractive destinations

style, and how best to recover our equilibrium, many South Africans

for a new breed of eco-traveller or for regular use by families, especially

have shown their true mettle in the face of multiple challenges. We are

should we experience future lockdowns. Already, a ‘dude-ranch’ hospi-

a tough lot. We are certainly agile and inventive, and it’s showing.

tality concept in the Graaff-Reinet area is fully booked until 2022. That’s

Karoo-style home, ride horses, spot wild game, go raw-terrain biking, camp out, and perhaps discover new sites of ancient San rock art.

The Karoo ranch will be the latest addition to the Val de Vie collection

the litmus test for a venture right for our times.

and wilderness, which we have landed firmly in this edition of the maga-

These escapes to the wild bring home the beauty and importance

zine in a series of evocative essays and features, including my unforget-

of our natural heritage, a reconnection with the land and each other.

table Namibian equestrian safari.

Luxury will mean space, clean air, conversation and a critical discon-

Quite soon though, that kind of quality escape will be a lot closer to home.

CEO and founder of the Val de Vie Group of Companies, Martin Venter, has just concluded the purchase of a significant tract of land in the

nection from matters that clamour relentlessly for our attention. What better place then than here in our own backyard wilderness to take that first step towards meaningful change to the quality of our lives?

We look forward to guiding you there in our next edition.

PHOTOGRAPH: CHELSEA WILSON

One of the key indicators of change is a serious focus on wellness

a sweeping expanse of land with the opportunity to build your own

going ed first

sharper focus on what we are putting into our bodies and why. Where large, successful industries have felt their foundations crack, new and more agile businesses have filled the gaps.

We are not out of the trenches yet but there is light.

It’s one of the reasons why this double volume 2021/22 edition of Val de Vie is designed the way it is. What can we do but find you inspiration – people, places and new ideas – and present you with nearfuture options?

We have sourced several short-term hidden escapes, which hit that spot for breathing space. We have three major features that beautifully encapsulate the allure of the wilderness. And here we are the lucky ones – ‘wild’ is South Africa’s middle name.

From the 2021 Global Wellness Trend Report, we extract a few of the key ideas and expand on them in our own South African way: we give you sound reasons to take up e-cycling or to take a plunge in our magnificent kelp forests. We also dangle the idea of Japanese archery

We’ve included three short essays on the wisdom we might glean

that a global pandemic

that left few of us untouched, either physically, mentally or financially, could at the same time spawn something good. If nothing else, we are conscious of the blessing of good health and ‘stay well’ has become a common sign-off in digital correspondence.

We are more inclined now to connect with family and true friends with an increased intensity and purpose, consciously valuing these moments. We are doing things right now, if we can, when before a vague ‘someday’ would suffice. If going to work these days means a hop from a bed to a nearby desk, an escape, even for a weekend, needs to include nature, pristine air quality, and space to think. From what we see and hear out there, it feels like while we may love the pampering that luxury brings, we’re leaning more towards an ethereal wish list when it comes to a meaningful escape. If we’re staying home, then our houses having to work a little harder for their square metres, morphing into multifunctional, better utilised and more ergonomically designed spaces. We’re spending a great deal more time here, and designers are revelling in the challenge of delivering this new paradigm.

Change is driving a digital tsunami. There’s been a marked rise in music composed and compiled to reduce stress and anxiety. There’s a

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from octogenarians and marvel at what they have packed into their long and active lives, and then balance this wisdom with a critical look at South Africa’s bright young golfing stars, their potential to win and the bunkers that lie in their paths.

From sports, we plunge into the arts where we feature one of the decade’s most important books that documents and celebrates renowned black sculptors who were not widely acknowledged while they lived and worked. We hope that our feature on African art inspires you to buy something handcrafted on our continent, not because it’s financially valuable, but because it resonates with you. We are African, after all, and the work should speak more to us than any foreign buyer.

South Africans adapt and our agility will be our saving grace. We find the beginnings of a new industry in a drought-ravaged town; one which might be the spark that saves the whole community, not just the farmers.

We hope that you continue to enjoy the content we have curated, and that you find yourself returning to read the magazine more than once to sweep up features that you may have missed the first time around. We hope these stories spark conversations, the urge for a dash of adventure and, most of all, a sense of connection.

LES AUPIAIS

PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED

It’s almost unimaginable

as a sporting way of calming your jagged spirit.

LINDA MZAMANE At the helm of various publications for the past 11 years, it’s safe to say that Linda is a certified mag-hag. She’s also a seasoned voice-over artist, wife and mum of two kids under the age of four. Send help (and wine)!

KEITH BAIN prefers sleeping under the stars to being in a tent, and likes hikes that seem to never end. A former academic and author of travel guidebooks, he’s now a freelance wordsmith who claims the pandemic triggered his addiction to reading. His gateway drug was an uncannily prescient post-pandemic novel by Cape Town story-peddler Lauren Beukes, so – of course – he had to ask her about it, which he did in an interview for this issue.

STUART MCLEAN is editor of South Africa’s Top 100 Courses, a website that annually ranks the best golf courses. He founded the SA Course Rankings while editor of Golf Digest South Africa from 1997 to 2018. When the magazine closed, he developed the digital site to ensure the continuance of the rankings.

‘I’m an avid golfer and travel writer,’ he says, ‘and maintaining the website means regular road trips around the country visiting the 100 best courses and many others.’ satop100courses.com

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KATHY MALHERBE has been a freelance writer for over 20 years, writing features for publications as well as working for corporates.

She has worked predominantly in the healthcare sector, specialising in medical science and technology. Kathy is a winner of the Pan African Profile Awards for excellence in science and technology journalism, and strives to find and write about breakthroughs in medicine that benefit both the public and healthcare patients. She has an insatiable curiosity, is always up for a challenge and has written a number of bucket-list features, which usually involve more than a dash of adrenaline…

PIPPA DE BRUYN is the South Africa destination expert for The Telegraph and author of several guidebooks, including Frommer’s South Africa, Frommer’s East Africa, Frommer’s India, and A Hedonist’s Guide To Cape Town. Aside from writing, she also creates uniquely tailored itineraries for solo travellers, couples, families and small groups, and creates content for the hospitality and travel industry. @pippadebruyn

MARTIN JACOBS is a creative director and content creator passionate about interior and product design. He has spent much of his career strategising and creating for publications that include Condé Nast House & Garden, Elle Decoration UK, Homes & Gardens UK and House & Leisure. ‘Good design – like that of Jacu Strauss’s or of the lighting designers featured in this issue – elevates and enhances our collective mood, and is vital in these challenging times.’

Life’s Little Luxuries

The Sterling Steed The relationship between man and horse is 5 000 years old. And while we may no longer depend on them for carrying us into war or as our means of transport, that powerful link remains. Our fashion spread on page 96 celebrates this relationship, and in a time of stress and uncertainty, the horse takes one step closer to us for our own good: we are the better for caring for them, we look to them as our partners in sport, for giving us moments of calm and connectivity with nature, and yes, as inspiration in what we wear.

PHOTOGRAPH: CHELSEA WILSON WORDS: LES AUPIAIS

Mila is wearing: TOP, Zara; BELT, Espoir Equestrian; BOOTS and RIDING PANTS, own. Max is wearing: TOP and JACKET, Zara; BOOTS and RIDING PANTS, own.

Horse is Frangelico: Tack, owner’s own.

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AN EXPLORATION OF ICONS, CLASSICS-INTHE-MAKING AND A NEW LIFESTYLE CONCEPT THAT PRIORITISES A PROFOUND SENSE OF WELLBEING

We first spotted Latitudes several months ago when they captured our attention with an intriguing online exhibition of photographs by Billy Monk of Cape Town in the 1960s. Latitudes is an online portal to buy contemporary art from Africa and brings together works in galleries, studios and from independent artists. Right now, there are 800 artists represented on the site. Their current partnership with Artnet, a leading source for buying, selling and researching art online, will focus on established and up-and-coming artists from the African continent. We see it as an invaluable resource for those readers making their first foray into investing in artworks or those who have begun to collect and are looking to broaden their collections. The Africa Present sale is on until 14 September but their website offers a rich gallery of options. latitudes.online

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3. Now Hear This

2. Spirit in the Stone

In Geta Finlayson’s hands, a design for a piece of jewellery evolves in nuanced layers. For a bespoke piece, it may begin with a conversation about a person’s lifestyle and personality. For others, an existing piece may catch the eye in her studio or on her website.

Geta speaks of a natural ‘geometry’ to her work and if we are attuned to nature, we see it all around us in the symmetry and balance that delight the eye. The pieces are crafted in gold and silver, interspersed with semiprecious stones such as black tourmaline, aquamarine, South Sea pearls, rutile quartz and amethyst. They have a subtle energy and ultimately become a unique extension of the wearer. geta.co.za, finonrus@hermanus.co.za

‘...and if we are attuned to nature, we see it all around us in the symmetry and balance that delight the eye’

It’s almost impossible to call the Reverb a sofa. It’s a bit like calling a William Kentridge a ‘little sketch’ or an Aston Martin your ‘wheels’. The design is more of a concept in seating; a fluid, organic, touchable space that invites you to strike some sort of elegant pose while you think up a clever haiku. The name has its roots in what we cannot see but sense: a reverb is created when a sound, signal or frequency is reflected off a surface causing numerous reflections to build up, says Adam Court of OKHA. What we see are sensual, sculptural curves and what we feel is the urge to let it cosset and cocoon our shape. Now here’s a design for stressful times, and the exact space for your own stay-athome ‘daycation’. okha.com

PHOTOGRAPHS: BILLY MONK; SUPPLIED. WORDS: LES AUPIAIS

1. Browsing the E-gallery

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1. Manor From Heaven

While the past two years have brought challenges, they’ve brought unexpected change too. Gorgeous escapes (think local ‘staycations’ or mini breaks near to home, now called ‘daycations’) beckon, and Brookdale Estate Manor House in Paarl has opened in time to offer the perfect combination of elements: tranquillity, over 60 hectares of ramble room through vineyards and fynbos, a fitness centre and spa, an executive chef who designs your meals, and intriguing wine blends. And until 31 October, their rates are irresistible for local travellers. Reward yourself. brookdale-estate.com

ceptional glassware – the good stuff that for some inexplicable reason makes wine taste better. Then put together a selection of fine vintages – whisky, gins and more.

Finally, invest in the Serala drinks cabinet from the Jacobs Collection, designed in collaboration with Wolkberg castings.

This is an eye-catcher. It’s a beautifully crafted piece with an epoxy finish (from black to silver-grey) offset by bronze glass and insert details. Think contemporary functional art. The company was founded

by Christine Goosen and as the sole designer, coupled with her background in fine art, she brings an impeccable sense of line and form to all her pieces. jacobscollection.co.za

2. Stand and Serve

3. Cellar Gems

We’d like to introduce the idea of a little ritual. First, gather a collection of ex-

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With several thousand choices of wine in your favourite wine shop, it can end

‘...the good stuff that for some inexplicable reason makes wine taste better’

up a bit of an impulse buy. And not all delicious wines have gold award labels. The team from Wine Concepts in Cape Town recently suggested the DisDit white blend and the Tesame red blend from small-batch Anysbos from the Bot River region. And then there’s Waterkloof Vineyards’ Revenant wines – contemporary gems ‘at an amazing price-level’. Stephen Taylor, head of the tasting room at Wine Village, is happy to select Bartho Eksteen’s 2021 Blom rosé; a deliciously sweet Asara Vine Dried Sauvignon Blanc 2014; Optenhorst 2019, a single vineyard bushvine Chenin Blanc from Bosman Family Vineyards in Wellington; and, for bubbly, Strandveld Skaamgesiggie Pinot Noir Brut 2019 for a celebration summer. wineconcepts.co.za and winevillage.co.za

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. WORDS: LES AUPIAIS

TODAY, ‘EXPLORATION’ FINDS THE GEMS ON OUR OWN DOORSTEPS – OR IN OUR OWN WINE CELLARS

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WE LIKE OUR MEMORIES LIKE WE LIKE OUR INVESTMENT PIECES – MADE TO LAST A LIFETIME 2

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2. Palette Appeal

There is something about being a tern’s wing from the water that relaxes you almost immediately. Mosaic Lagoon Lodge on the Klein River Lagoon is a few hours’ drive from Cape Town and consists of only five suites with private decks set among the indigenous milkwood trees. It’s a lovely family escape but their Forest Lodge rooms with their wood-fired hot tubs are for couples on a well-earned break. You can join in any number of adventure activities or book the lodge’s spa for a full rejuvenation. A Springfontein Wine Estate and Raka Wines tasting and a spa treatment is all part of the package. mosaiclagoonlodge.co.za

Le Creuset pops a new colour range regularly, coaxing us into expanding our collections with lime green, artichaut, cerise, purple and now a delicate Olive Branch range with a soft matte finish. It’s a rumour but we hear their store in Jo’burg’s Mall of Africa sells several hundred thousand rands worth of stock a month, simply because the brand has become the absolute must-have on any bridal registry. It’s the quality and guarantee that clinch it. Not just one casserole dish, the full range. The cast-iron range is a classic and no self-respecting Frenchwoman would run her kitchen without a set. Who are we to disagree? It’s heavy, durable, easy on the eye, modern yet classic.

Not a bad way to fill a modern trousseau or add to a bachelor’s bounty. And, of course, it’s gender neutral. lecreuset.co.za

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‘There’s always Mastercard if you leave something behind, not so?’

3. Little Masterpieces

This issue of the magazine is filled with tempting escapes, from weeklong adventures to weekend and overnight stays.

And while the good old wheely-case is convenient to haul about, there’s a lot to be said for owning one gorgeous safaristyle weekend bag or a tote that carries just enough to travel light but efficiently.

(There’s always Mastercard if you leave something behind, not so?) African Logic’s overnight or weekend bag in canvas is a lightweight and affordable option (and have a look at their picnic range too, to kit yourself out for a day’s outing). But if you’re going to go small but super-stylish, then Melvill & Moon’s Safari Duffel (Short) is perfect for a weekend escape. The buckles and fittings are brass and look very five-star lodge. melvillandmoon.com, africanlogic.co.za

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. WORDS: LES AUPIAIS

1. An All-In Pamper

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WE WILL ALWAYS ADVOCATE FOR INVESTING IN THE PLANET, INVESTING LOCAL AND – OF COURSE – INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE

1. South African APPeal

No one could accuse Christine Meintjes of not doing her homework before she teamed up with Berdine Swart to launch app The Local Edit, which goes live any day now. Christine spent 11 years celebrating the creativity of South African entrepreneurs online and in that time, built up brilliant relationships with the country’s most celebrated designers.

Berdine shares her determination and passion to create a positive impact in the local retail space. The Local Edit is a one-cart shopping experience for accessories, homeware, skincare, clothing and wellness. If you’re interested in the designers and personalities behind the brand, right now the site has podcasts to drum up excitement. As if. We’re ready to give well-deserving South African designers the boost they deserve. thelocaledit.com

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2. Passing the Time

‘...but then, when a design is timeless and elegant, it will travel the ages well’

We have always loved the Patek Philippe campaigns that showed fathers handing down their precious watches to their sons.

The creative approach really added a narrative to the brand and set it apart from many of its peers in the luxury watch sector. But we’re going to suggest that the brand’s gorgeous chocolate brown and rose gold Twenty~4 timepiece, with its elegant baton-style hands and Arabic numerals, is a perfect heirloom for women to pass to their daughters. The Twenty~4 collection (referring to its suitability for day and night) was first launched in 1999 and was the first model exclusively aimed at a discerning women’s market.

The case is set with 34 diamonds, which does elevate it to an investment purchase, but then, when a design is timeless and elegant, it will travel the ages well. patek.com

3. The Great Recycle of Life

If we’re talking ‘save the planet’ and ‘job creation’ but we don’t start right at home, then it’s all a bit of a concept, not a reality.

September is National Recycling and Clean Up SA month and what better place to start than at home? What we can recycle can be confusing. A few tips: Set up a system of easily accessible bins in a cool, dry place in the garage, scullery or storeroom, if you have one. There’s a good lot to be recycled but no, dirty cardboard and food-encrusted paper plates are a no-no. So are wax- and foil-coated boxes, dog food bags and foil gift wrap. Who knew? Lets change that poor local statistic that shows only six percent of us recycle, and reduce landfill, create jobs for the informal economy and circulate paper to make new paper products. When you’re done reading Val de Vie, recycle us. We’d be proud to end up transformed.

Find recycling locations at thepaperstory.co.za

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF AMANDA+JAYNE/THE LOCAL EDIT; SUPPLIED. WORDS: LES AUPIAIS

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BRAAM’S CULINARY CONCERTO

It’s rare knowing what you want to do with your life when you’re 14.

When other boys might have been obsessed with football or girls, for Braam Beyers it was being a chef.

You can dream about food and plan your first restaurant but it demands fierce commitment: kitchen time, table time, food market time… Braam packed it all in while training in South Africa, volunteering to work on weekends for the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français. With this invaluable exposure to a top establishment, Braam’s next break was being chosen for an intensive training programme at the Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France. Back in South Africa and brimming with fresh ideas, he joined Chefs Warehouse under Liam Tomlin and Ivor Jones, before bringing Chefs

‘I’m inspired by the produce that each season brings us, which forces me to think outside the box and experiment with different flavours, techniques and forms of delivery’

Warehouse to Tintswalo Atlantic.

Expect imaginative, unexpected ingredient combinations that pop like miniature masterpieces for lunch and dinner. We also highly recommend booking a night for a sea-level view unrivalled by any hotel in South Africa. reservations@tintswalo.com

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PHOTOGRAPHS: CLAIRE GUNN

with subtle flavour, all presented

The Picture Of Health

BY LES AUPIAIS

PHOTOGRAPHS: DOOKPHOTO; SUPPLIED

THE 2021 TRENDS REPORT FROM THE GLOBAL WELLNESS SUMMIT IS A THICK VOLUME. A SNAPSHOT OF SOME OF THE FINDINGS MAY SPARK NOVEL BUSINESS VENTURES AND A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT YOUR HEALTH.

trends

IT’S A SMALL MENTION in a recent online marketing post

In this issue of Val de Vie magazine, we focus on two of these

but the fragment of data says it all. North American Serta Sim-

areas with the power of our wilderness to heal and boost our spirits

mons Bedding is rolling out the HeiQ-V-Block mattress, which uses

(see pg 38, 114 and 120), and how interior architecture and lighting

microsilver particles embedded in the fabric during manufacturing

(p 46) play a critical role in our wellbeing.

to inhibit viruses and bacteria. It might have been seen as gimmicky

On the media front, a browse of any online content platform such

at any other time but mid-pandemic, it makes sense. If you’re in the

as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO and Disney+ will pop up a vast

hospitality industry and almost your entire market is interrogating

menu of documentaries: food, climate, the planet, retreats, nature

your sanitation protocols before they commit to your brand, then

and mental health in various guises from investigative exposés to

you had better audit every facet of your offering.

science-based documentaries. Full-length documentaries focus on

If health and wellness in decades gone by meant chucking hand-

how your protein is ethically farmed or how we are pillaging natural

fuls of vitamins down our throats and running or working out a few

resources. They all sit comfortably alongside MasterChef and the

times a week, today it’s a multifaceted, multibillion-dollar industry

usual thriller-fest.

that doesn’t just inform what we eat and how we stay fit, but infiltrates every waking, working and sleeping moment of our lives.

Television devotes several channels to every possible wellness subject. Add the celebrity factor to the formula and you get the likes

The 2021 Wellness Trends Report gives us a glimpse of the future

of Gwyneth Paltrow leading the charge with Goop, now a multi-

of an industry that spawns opportunities. If the wellness industry

million-dollar business. Movie stars are reinventing themselves as

was buoyant before Covid-19, it has gone ballistic since 2020.

social and political Valkyries. While we may have followed Fonda

The report covers nine key categories. These include big media

and Deepak Chopra in decades gone by, sitting cross-legged on

and celebrity endorsement of the wellness wave, evidence-backed

the appointed hour on our living room floors, we now have multiple

health regimes, architecture and interiors that promote health,

streaming platforms on demand. On HBO Max, A World of Calm

breathing as a health tool, the self-care renaissance, the role of co-

introduces viewers to a new type of sleep story narrated by big Hol-

lour in wellness, how the events industry has changed, financial well-

lywood names: Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Idris Elba. It seems

ness, and – the area that may resonate most with free-spirited South

our own dreams not only lack celebrity ‘oomph’ but they’re not

Africans – the move from tourist site-hopping to mindful travel.

really entertaining enough.

Human-powered wellness is a big trend and the solo challenge forms part of a new consciousness about the health of our bodies.

OPPOSITE Xigera Safari Lodge in Botswana flies a high sustainable tourism flag. The new traveller, while enjoying the rare experience, is also attuned to the tourism benefits for communities. The lodge used 80 African designers and artists to produce their furniture and art.

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gurus-to-go, and the mantra is ‘go do’, not just ‘go watch’. And on

dream of getting away are now ready to flee. But there’s a proviso and we’re writing our own small print in the contracts.

that note, our watches have become wearable, trackable and per-

The overtourism (it’s now a word) of pre-pandemic years – the ar-

sonalised. Apple CEO Tim Cook hints in a recent Outside magazine

madas of cruise ships carrying thousands of tourists who de-gorge

article that ‘the things going on in our labs are mind-blowing.’

at the world’s most famous ports – are no longer as welcome as they

From the eye to the ear, the report touches on another stream of entertainment geared towards our wellbeing, which is ‘transforming the $50 billion global music industry’ with Spotify, Amazon and Apple, for example, jumping on the turntable.

once were. Neither are the jammed busloads of backpackers travelling on the cheap.

The global icon cities are thinking very hard about the overcrowding that is chasing permanent residents away (and with them the munici-

What is hovering on the edge of science-fiction is the inevitable

pal funding to float an expensive infrastructure) because the figures

progress of artificial intelligence. The Wellness Trend Report cites that

don’t balance. Backpackers travel on a tight budget and while the

‘the march of AI and biometric technologies has given birth to “genera-

cruise ships may provide a spike in retail and guided excursions at

tive” sound technologies, which work by capturing your biometric and

their ports of call, these floating hotels with their 24/7 food supply

situational data to create an always unfolding sound environment …’

have a negative impact in sheer numbers. According to website Re-

It’s a little unsettling, this onslaught on every sense we possess.

sponsible Travel, ‘Venice has become too expensive, too impractical

The clamour from ‘experts’, influencers, celebrities, professionals and

and just too much of a tourist theme park for most residents to be

savvy marketers mining the gaps has resulted in an opposite reaction.

able to stay. Three decades ago, more than 120 000 people called

Escape. Or even headlong flight.

Venice home. Today, there are 55 000.’

With the pandemic jamming on the global travel brakes and, at

The global report says, ‘From the manic travel of 2019 – which

its height, even locking down domestic borders, those who used to

was the ninth year of record-setting growth in travel, outpacing global

‘THE PANDEMIC HAD “REDISTRIBUTED” TRAVEL FROM A HANDFUL OF ICONIC BUCKET-LIST DESTINATIONS TO SMALL COMMUNITIES AND MORE REMOTE DESTINATIONS’

32 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

The way we consume our media has radically changed. We have

trends

economic expansion, according to the World Travel & Tourism Coun-

It has also paved the way for ‘regenerative travel’ with resorts shift-

cil – 2021 will be the year of the travel reset, going slower, nearer and

ing gears, detailing where they source food to how they generate

more mindfully.’

electricity. The lodge of the future will be scrutinised carefully for its

Travellers with means are not only looking for more unique, more

off-grid, social responsibility policies and general wellness ratings.

bespoke experiences with a handful of likeminded companions, but

The new five-star brass plaque will have to mean way more than a

are becoming more attuned to how and where their tourism spend is

conference centre and 24-hour room service.

going. Do local communities benefit, are cultures and environments

Closer to home, there’s another key movement. In South Africa, it

being sustained because of their choices, and could the outcome of

was the ‘staycation’ as luxury lodges and hotels lowered their rates

their choices ultimately leave the chosen destination better off? In

to accommodate local travellers bound to a rand spend. What was

the report, New York Times columnist Elaine Glusac interviews Brian

formerly impossible to afford became accessible to an upper middle-

Chesky, CEO and founder of Airbnb, who believes that the world will

income market. Just in time, it seems. Recent research covering

not return to the way it was and that ‘the pandemic had “redistrib-

working habits across North America, Europe and the Middle East

uted” travel from a handful of iconic bucket-list destinations to small

shows that, on average, people working from home spent almost an

communities and more remote destinations.’

hour longer per day doing so with attendant high screen time. While

Botswana’s Xigera Safari Lodge is a prime southern African exam-

there are no available South African statistics, anecdotally the pattern

ple. The report touches on the trickledown effect of sustainable tour-

seems very similar. This trend has given rise to concerns about physi-

ism that benefits communities and makes it more difficult for poaching

cal self-care and mental health.

to set up a stronghold. Xigera used 80 African designers and artists to

In this edition of Val de Vie, we run several features on local des-

produce over 90 percent of its furniture and art. That kind of strategy

tinations where nature, pristine air and menus created from locally

lands soundly with the traveller looking to support sustainability.

sourced ingredients feed into the concept of a wellness experience.

Internationally, tour company Backroads has developed a new set of trips called Dolce Tempo (or ‘sweet time’), with tours to national parks that, they say, cover less ground but explore it more deeply.

But it’s not all a stroll in the park. At Auberge Resorts’ Mauna Lani in Hawaii, guests are offered underwater rock running as a workout. No lazy fin paddling for some then. Human-powered sport is big, and the wellness challenge may include anything from climbing to kayaking. In this issue, we’ve opted for the surge in e-biking (pxx), not as a lazy cyclist’s escape-the-agony-of-hills alternative, but looking at how it takes riders further, faster and more frequently. The e-bike is likely to be as firmly on the sporting menu of a hotel or lodge as is tennis and golf.

While the hospitality industry adjusts to the new mindful traveller, closer to home, architects are facing a heightened awareness of how they design spaces for the post-pandemic client.

The built environment – whether at work or at home – has a profound impact on our wellbeing, and it includes respiratory health, stress levels, our immune systems and how we interact socially. After a year, says the report, we are seeing architecture elevate its game in all areas…

ABOVE What we attuned our ears to has also changed. Pandemic stress has given rise to wearables, such as Anicca, that generate calming vibrations attuned to your breathing.

LEFT The Endel app creates personalised, neuroscience-backed soundscapes. The German company wants to make AI-powered mindfulness accessible to all to help reduce stress and combat insomnia.

Val de Vie

33

trends

GUESTS ARE OFFERED UNDERWATER ROCK RUNNING AS A WORKOUT. NO LAZY FIN PADDLING FOR SOME THEN RIGHT No lazy paddling for guests at Auberge Resorts’ Mauna Lani in Hawaii. On the list of body-powered sports is underwater rock running. BELOW Xigera’s lounge is part-relaxation area, part-gallery. Pretoria-based artist Philippe Bousquet sculpted the chess set surrounded by three ceramic seats designed by Andile Dyalvane. BOTTOM We may never own a priceless Pierneef but we might have a close encounter with his work. The Baobab Treehouse at Xigera was inspired by a solitary baobab tree by the artist.

‘wellness’ section to store and serve nutritious food or a space to share in communal preparation. The bedroom as an office/mini-gym/bed-set space is very last decade and now morphs into a ‘sleep sanctuary’.

Most importantly, the cookie-cutter subdivided development that gives no thought to communal spaces or how a resident would interact with nature is replaced by the concept of a more thoughtfully designed community where open spaces and nature become vital to wellbeing. Communities built with the environment and an active, outdoor lifestyle in mind will become a more attractive option. Tabb speaks of spaces that have Val de Vie Estate, with its waterways, indigenous bush surrounds and

Texas A&M University, says, ‘The average homeowner uses

wildlife, talks to this consciousness about the natural environment with

someone else’s ideas of what a house should be like, rather

an understanding that it’s as vital to a community as its sporting facilities

than going through their own introspective and self-reflective

and amenities.

process.’ The deduction is that you need to decide how you

What may be a left-field and slightly unexpected trend is financial wellness

want to live rather than what you want to live in. It seems

– and it’s nothing to do with the comfort that comes with significant means.

to call for a household indaba about how the house design

In the report, Cecelia Girr, strategy director for TBWA Global, and Sky-

could make individuals more fulfilled, healthier and happier.

ler Hubler, TBWA’s cultural strategist, write about the money and mental

This may take the form of relooking at traditional, neglect-

health link. Awkwardness around discussing money – be it based on cul-

ed spaces. Right now, the norm is a bathroom consisting of

tural, religious, traditional or societal mores – is being replaced by a more

a vanity, toilet, bath and shower but the future might ask for a

candid, open approach, and it’s a part of a larger mental health awakening.

dedicated ‘bath room’ for rejuvenating bathing rituals.

‘Not talking about money is making us sick,’ they say. It’s obvious that

The kitchen will no longer simply house appliances with

debt will play on our health and may result in depression and anxiety but

ample storage and surface workspace, but might include a

it doesn’t mean, they argue, that being debt-free is the answer. ‘That’s

34 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: DOOKPHOTO; SUPPLIED

meditation benches; places to be still and experience the moment.

Dr Phillip Tabb, an architect and professor emeritus of

trends

VAL DE VIE ESTATE, WITH ITS WATERWAYS, INDIGENOUS BUSH SURROUNDS AND WILDLIFE, TALKS TO THIS CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT WITH AN UNDERSTANDING THAT IT’S AS VITAL TO A COMMUNITY AS ITS SPORTING FACILITIES AND AMENITIES

where financial wellness – not to be confused with financial health –

money fitness movement. ‘Being money fit isn’t about how much money

comes in.’ Wellness, apparently, comes to those who explore their re-

you have,’ she says, ‘it’s about how you use the money you have.’

issues that are negatively affecting that relationship.

Enter the gamification of money. ‘In Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons video game, players learn to manage long-term debt, build a

The trick, it seems, is to ‘Trojan horse’ the topic along with other

budget, and trade on the “stalk market”,’ says the report. If children learn

health offerings on a menu. UK-based Tesco is a partner of Gympass,

early enough about managing money, a century’s old taboo is game-over.

a wellness platform that offers mind and body solutions including

There is no question that we cannot return to a pre-pandemic way

mental health, tailored nutrition plans, mindfulness, meditation, sleep

of doing business. Nor should we want to. What lies ahead is a wealth

and relaxation programmes plus financial wellbeing advice. There it is,

of wellness opportunities, opportunities to change the way we live,

smuggled cleverly into all the appealing healthy options where it rubs

breathe, play, travel, what and how we consume, and how we interact

well-toned shoulders with all the usual wellness offerings.

with our fellow human beings. It’s about time. t

ZavFit, a European health-tech startup, has built the first money tool that focuses on improving the health and happiness of the individual as an outcome. Company founder and CEO Anna Freeman wants to see a

36 Val de Vie

The 2021 Wellness Trends from Global Wellness Summit is brilliantly researched and makes for captivating reading.

For more information, visit globalwellnesssummit.com

PHOTOGRAPHS: DANIEL SAAIMAN

lationship with money and, they say, are prepared to unearth deeper

On The Wings Of A Storm A 200-KILOMETRE EQUESTRIAN SAFARI ACROSS A SLICE OF THE NAMIB TURNS OUT TO BE A RELEASE FOR THE CAPTIVE URBAN SPIRIT.

BY LES AUPIAIS

38 Val de Vie 38 Val de Vie

escape

THE SEEMINGLY ENDLESS Australian deserts and Africa’s own Sahara are young and raw in the face of the Namib. This is an ancient roiling mass of a desert in southwestern Africa, a red silica tsunami that drifts into the Atlantic Ocean on a vast 2000-kilometre front.

But what a landscape it has carved: dunes 300 metres high, temperatures that soar to 45°C in summer and, in many parts, land that rarely sees more than a few millimetres of rain a year. At the coast, desert heat collides with the air over an icy Benguela current to form thick banks of fog; treacherous for ships that lose their bearings and are stripped by sun and tide to iron ribs in the sand. It is an environ pocked and blistered with ancient craters and once, 80 000 years ago – yesterday on the Earth’s violent timeline – pierced by the world’s largest known intact meteorite. There are immense swathes of the Namib’s 81 000 square kilometres that have never seen human inhabitants and never will.

Who would venture here on sand and stone, lichen and lava rock, and into this unforgiving world where only the most impeccably adapted creatures live and die? Perhaps, like our deepest and still uncharted oceans, the Namib remains one of the last places on Earth that we can call true wilderness.

Photographer Chelsea Wilson rides ahead for the perfect vantage point to capture rides in full gallop across the desert terrain. There are frequent stops and horses have time to walk at a steady pace.

Val de Vie Val de Vie 39

39

RIDERS SLEEP SWADDLED IN BEDROLLS ON STRETCHERS UNDER THE STARS. NO TENTS. NO

escape

It begins with a commitment to let go – not easy when you’re tethered to a demanding professional life but it takes only 24 hours to change perspectives.

‘I’m lying in my bedroll looking at the night sky and watching shooting stars,’ says Ryk Neethling, marketing director at Val de Vie Estate. His usually ubiquitous mobile phone is buried in his backpack. Somewhere. ‘Later on, I’m woken by a powerful white light – I think someone’s left their headlamp on. It was a full moon rise and suddenly the desert around me was so bright you could see every rock and blade of grass.’

Ryk is one of a group of 12 who flew into Walvis Bay and headed north by road to Swakopmund to meet their fellow travellers and their support team. But it was also to connect with the desert-adapted horses that would be their lifelines:

ROOM SERVICE. NO CELLPHONE ALERT TONES

full and crossed Arabs, Boerperds, Quarter Horses, Thor-

OPPOSITE, FROM TOP If you’re going to trust your life to your mount, the partnership must be solid. Ride the Wild matches horse and rider in weight, temperament and your equestrian skill; In off season, horses are left to roam and gather strength, and arrange themselves in natural herds. On a safari, horses are then selected from these herds.

Mates stick with mates and there’s calm in the ranks. THIS PAGE, FROM TOP Your steed is your responsibility for the week: you groom, feed and saddle your mount to create a special bond with your trusted companion; Tired bodies hit the stretchers for a good night’s sleep but at dawn, it’s wise to check your boots for any nocturnal visitors.

produce the stamina, sure-footedness and temperament

oughbreds and Warmbloods – combinations of breed that needed for this terrain. The horses are selected from a herd of over 100 that spend four to five months of the year free to forage and become lean and desert fit. Each horse does a 10-night safari every six weeks or so between April and late October with the group that it has formed natural social bonds with during the other half of the year.

‘When selecting the 12 to 15 horses for a safari, it makes

This is a sweet spot for Ride the Wild, an adventure travel-

a massive difference if they have a natural harmony,’ says

ler’s dream company that defines luxury not solely by Egyp-

Emma Finney, founder and director of Ride the Wild. ‘This

tian cotton bedlinen and solicitous staff at every moment

cohesiveness ensures a better experience for the rider too.’

of a day, but often by the expert commingling of the un-

While the small string of horses settles into an instinctive hier-

tamed with the ‘civilised’. They link with operators that offer

archy, there’s one more step in the selection process. ‘We get

a distinctly unique and wild experience, only partnering with

to know the riders through detailed forms and chatting about

those they’ve ridden firsthand, and bringing along the best

what they wish to get out of this once-in-a-lifetime experi-

photographers and videographers to capture these extraor-

ence, so that individual horses are expertly matched to riders

dinary moments.

for temperament and skill,’ says Emma. ‘If the rider is over

On a May 2021 custom route, it is Namibian Horse Safari

85kg, they’re given two horses for the duration of the safari.’

Company led by veteran guide Andrew Gillies that heads

At one point on the route, the path crests a high, steep

out from a base camp at St Nowhere on the Skeleton

krans that falls away to the desert floor hundreds of metres

Coast and follows a looped 200-kilometre route that passes

below. Ryk wryly admits that he softened the hold on his

through the basin of the Messum Crater, and ends at Hen-

reins, tilted his head away and let the horse lead, picking its

ties Bay. Riders sleep swaddled in bedrolls on stretchers

way, hoof for hoof, like a softly padding leopard. ‘It’s an in-

under the stars. No tents. No room service. No cellphone

credible experience,’ he says, ‘because you have to put your

alert tones. Seven days of frontier life in the 1800s.

full trust in your mount and let it take the lead.’

Val de Vie

41

escape

42 Val de Vie

NO ONE MANAGES TO STAY AWAKE MUCH BEYOND 9PM AS THE DAYS DEMAND STAMINA FOR SIX TO SEVEN HOURS IN THE SADDLE TO MEET A 25- TO 40KM DAILY TARGET.

Val de Vie

43

ABOVE The routes change frequently and traverse areas of the desert that have never seen human inhabitants. This is true wilderness.

BELOW LEFT A few sturdy vehicles carry food, water and essential sustenance for the horses. There’s no cellphone coverage in the desert but there is a satellite phone on board for emergencies only.

While there are stony tracts that demand a slower gait, there are

Chelsea has serious equestrian credentials but on this trip, the group

many chances for long canters and gallops – and for professional pho-

is mixed in age and skill: two athletic young North Americans who’d es-

tographer Chelsea Wilson, the opportunity to capture the horses and

sentially never ridden before, a woman in her 40s looking for respite after

riders in action against the rugged terrain. One set of photographs

a recent family loss, three practiced eventing riders from Jo’burg, and a

shows the riders racing in a zig-zag dash, dust rising and swept hori-

woman who rode every day but never at this speed or on this terrain…

zontally from the desert floor. Frame after frame shows the riders begin

Everyone’s keen, amped for adventure, but unsure what to expect.

to spread out with stronger horses taking the lead, flanked by the free,

One of the young guys asks about rain. They’re filming and carrying

unmounted ‘spares’ playing to their naturally wild hearts. One is a grey

expensive gear. Gillies smiles. ‘We’re in the Namib. It doesn’t rain here.’

and he is a flash of white coat against ochre sand and sky. Another is

A guest’s backstory on a trip may remain private, although riding

a burnished bronze bay with the delicate lines of an Arab. It is through

alongside a fellow traveller seems to loosen up any natural restraints.

Chelsea’s lens that we begin to grasp the proportion of land to sky,

But everyone has one thing in common – the rhythm of the day and that

rider to mount, colours bleached out to monochrome in the sun.

your horse’s wellbeing and care remain your responsibility.

44 Val de Vie

escape

You rise at dawn and from scattered positions radiating outwards from the two camp vehicles, check your boots for scor-

serve anywhere from the Sabi Sands to the Serengeti may offer powerful encounters with wildlife but this isn’t wilderness…

pions, then make your way to the fire for coffee and breakfast.

And wilderness has a way of being unpredictable. On the

Once in your riding gear, you grab your horse off the line (he’s

second to last night, in the desert where it never rains, a

been heartily fed and groomed already), take him for a drink

small miracle happens. An anvil of high clouds builds, the

and then head to the custom-made truck lined with saddle

night is split by thunder and lightning, and the heavens dump

racks, where you’ll find what you need to tack up for the day

sheets and sheets of rain onto a desert that drinks it greed-

ahead. At the end of the day, you remove the tack, let the

ily. In an hour, it’s all over. It will be a week before the first

horse roll its sweat-streaked flanks in the sand, feed it, water it

seeds burst into life and turn the sand into a carpet of green.

and then tether it to the line next to its mate, where a substan-

They’ve waited 10 years for the signal.

tial stash of hay awaits. Even horses have their preferences.

‘After all the lockdown restrictions, anxiety and uncertainty

Only then do you meet for a sundowner and supper cooked

driven by the pandemic, this was pure escape for me,’ says

over the fire.

Ryk. He’s already keen to book the next equestrian experi-

The in-camp chef, however, is no leather-chapped cowboy

ence. ‘More Namib, perhaps a different route, and in Septem-

serving beans in a pan. Rayne Brehem is an award-winning

ber, maybe Botswana or Kenya.’ There’s longing in his voice

chef who earned her stripes interning under Margot Janse

and a distance in his eyes… The freedom is addictive.

from Le Quartier Français. There’s no gas hob and gadgetry

On the last night, the group checks into a 12-bedroomed

here though; just the campfire and several dutch ovens and

villa overlooking the ocean at Henties Bay. There were hot

pots. She creates a delicious variety of dishes including chick-

bucket showers in the desert but here, after the first real sluice

en or game-rich potjies paired with fresh vegetables and sal-

in more traditional luxury, the last vestiges of ochre sand wash

ads, with no dish repeated. No one manages to stay awake

away and the group sheds the wild like a second skin.

much beyond 9pm as the days demand stamina for six to

There’s exuberance at making it across the desert. There’s

seven hours in the saddle to meet a 25- to 40km daily target.

wonder at what you’ve seen and experienced. There’s regret

There it is then, the rhythm of a desert safari day. No webi-

that it’s ended. There’s a final stroke for a horse that you’ve

nars or meetings, no Zoom calls and chatter. The corporate

entrusted with your life and who’s carried you safely for

world ceases to exist and social life goes on without your post.

200km, a sure-footed, agile beast as fleet as a desert wind.

‘I barely saw another vehicle or person other than our group for most of the safari,’ says Ryk. A luxury safari on a private re-

Something shifts in the way you see nature, life… perhaps even in the way you see yourself. t

inspiration

The Real Illuminati PIONEERING LIGHTING CREATIVES HAVE SET NEW FRONTIERS AS DESIGN AND INSTALLATIONS HEAL, CLEANSE, SOOTHE – AND COCOON US FROM TECHNOLOGY. B Y MA RT I N JA C O B S

New Yorkers Eric Forman and Ben Luzzatto’s Dis/Connect chandelier is a contemporary take on traditional chandeliers. Its design ingeniously furthers wellness in the home by blocking digital connectivity within a limited radius.

OPPOSITE Inspired by scientific light research, Studio Roosegaarde’s GROW is a light-based installation that harnesses the healing properties of blue, red and ultraviolet light to bolster agricultural crop growth and resilience.

IT HAS BEEN almost two decades since visitors to London’s

endeavours to interrogate the relationships between people,

Tate Modern lay on the floor of its Turbine Hall, basking in the ar-

space and technology. Having won the LIT Lighting Design-

tificial sunlight of Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project (2003).

er of the Year Award in 2017 and their Visitor Experience &

A seminal work in the art world insofar as light-based instal-

Museum Exhibition category award in 2019, it’s safe to say

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF DAAN ROOSEGAARDE ; SUPPLIED

lations go, the images from the exhibit became iconic, remain-

that lighting is Roosegaarde’s means of doing so.

ing instantly identifiable. Eliasson’s ‘sun’, in reality a semicir-

One such award-winning project, GROW, reveals the same

cular form reflected on the bespoke mirrored ceiling above,

preoccupations with the wavelengths and healing properties

comprised hundreds of monofrequency lamps. Most common-

of light that Urban Sun does. Informed by consultations with

ly used in street lighting, the lamps emit light at a frequency

experts at Wageningen University & Research as well as the

so narrow that colours other than yellow and black become

World Economic Forum in Davos, GROW is a 20 000-square-

invisible, rendering the surrounding visual field a duotone land-

metre artwork. At its core, the project is inspired by photo-

scape. For many – particularly natives to the city known for its

biology light science technologies – research into which has

inclement weather – of greater appeal than this was the oppor-

revealed that certain wavelengths of blue and red light can

tunity to bask in the warmth (even if imagined) of a sun.

enhance a plant’s growth while ultraviolet light can bolster

With only the slightest suspension of belief, visitors could

its immunity. Across farmland planted with leeks, solar-pow-

feel that the light from The Weather Project’s sun was as heal-

ered LED lights dance vertically along the vegetables’ leaves,

ing as that of the sun itself. That man himself, in the form of

stimulating their growth while offering a more long-term and

a then 30-something Danish-Icelandic artist, could recreate

future-focused solution to that of conventional growth aids.

the weather using lightbulbs was to serve as inspiration to a

The artwork asks how cutting-edge lighting design can help

wealth of experimental artists and lighting designers to come.

agricultural crops to grow more sustainably and with reduced

The sky had truly become the limit. So perhaps it is little

use of pesticides.

wonder that 18 years and one pandemic later, a manmade sun

Such progressive thinking encouraged collaborators to

of a very different sort, Studio Roosegaarde’s Urban Sun, lays

work with Studio Roosegaarde on Urban Sun, a light installa-

claim to sanitise public spaces of coronavirus.

tion that creates a coronavirus-free ‘clean’ zone in which hu-

The mastermind behind this claim is Dutch creative thinker

man interaction and touch are once again normalised.

Daan Roosegaarde. While his boyish face says little of his 42

‘Suddenly our world is filled with plastic barriers and dis-

years, the mind of Studio Roosegaarde’s founder seeks to

tance stickers, our family reduced to pixels on a computer

make tomorrow’s future today’s.

screen. Let’s be the architects of our new normal and cre-

His boyhood fascination with the luminosity of fireflies and jellyfish paved the way for his Rotterdam-based studio that

ate better places to meet,’ says Roosegaarde of the project, which has garnered global attention.

Val de Vie

47

VISITORS WERE ENCOURAGED TO BREATHE IN TIME TO

Planned before COVID-19, the pandemic’s sudden arrival had Roosegaarde challenging his team to hasten their research into the ways in which the power of light can combat viruses and, subsequently, enhance human wellbeing.

To the sceptics who may doubt this assertion, Urban Sun is backed by peer-reviewed scientific research from Columbia and Hiroshima universities: specific ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 222 nanometres (far-UVC) can reduce the presence of viruses, including various strains of coronavirus and influenza, by up to 99,9 percent. While traditional 254nm UV light is harmful, this specific light is considered safe for both people and animals.

It’s easy to recognise that the hope that such a project can inspire is akin to the feel-good warmth of Eliasson’s sun. Scaled up, an Urban Sun installation has the potential to combat the negative impact of social isolation by adding an additional layer of ings like sporting and cultural events as well as those in schoolyards and markets.

At much the same time as Urban Sun’s 2021 launch, across the world in the heart of Brooklyn’s cultural district, artist Ekene Ijeoma unveiled his light-based installation Breathing Pavilion.

An assistant professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, Ijeoma’s circular pavilion comprised 20 three-metre-tall illuminated FROM TOP Ekene Ijeoma’s Breathing Pavilion comprises a ring of vertical lights that modulate in brightness. Their undulations in intensity encourage visitors to regulate – and thereby calm – their breathing; Known for their projects that connect audiences to nature, Studio DRIFT’s Franchise Freedom is a drone-based installation that mimics the flight patterns of starlings.

Here it is ‘performed’ above a Burning Man festival; The images of Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project remain iconic almost 20 years after the artwork drew many thousands of visitors – eager to bask in the glow of an artificial sun – to Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

columns that slowly modulate in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. While the quality of light was not chosen for its scientific properties, Ijeoma regards his light to be healing.

‘Between the ongoing struggles in the racial and political movements in the Unites States and the Covid-19 pandemic, it can be difficult to find the time and space to breathe deeply and rest well,’ he says. ‘I held my breath for most of last year, waiting to exhale into a new administration and new vaccines.’

Visitors to the pavilion, while maintaining social distancing, were encouraged to breathe in time to the changes in light, attuning themselves to a shared rhythm of respite.

A similar need for calm was the driving force behind New Yorkbased Eric Forman and Ben Luzzatto’s Dis/Connect chandelier.

Working with engineer Dan Gross, the industrial desi gners created a talking piece that blocks wireless signals, making it impossible to make calls or browse online within a 1,5-metre radius.

‘It’s not that we can’t turn our phones off, it’s that we don’t – they are too addictive,’ says Forman of the project. ‘To be wholly present with ourselves and each other, we must design new tools to create spaces of digital quiet in our homes.’ Upending classic chandelier

PHOTOGRAPHS: KRIS GRAVES (BREATHING PAVILION); RAHI REZVANI (FRANCHISE FREEDOM); OLAFUR ELIASSON, neugerriemschneider, BERLIN; TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (THE WEATHER PROJECT).

protection to government protocols. It can improve social gather-

inspiration

THE CHANGES IN LIGHT, ATTUNING THEMSELVES TO A SHARED RHYTHM OF RESPITE

design, Dis/Connect includes antennae where the candles

mimic the density of starling flocking behaviour. With no two

would conventionally sit and acrylic arms that illuminate. Wires

‘performances’ the same, it’s a mesmeric experience watch-

that transmit signals to the antennae hang in curves that refer-

ing the installation – one that the studio hopes encourages

ence traditional chandelier design. With signal jamming illegal

audiences to look afresh at, and learn from, nature’s patterns

in most countries, Dis/Connect was conceived as an artwork

and survival mechanisms.

intended to stimulate debate rather than as a product with com-

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF DAAN ROOSEGAARDE

mercial viability.

The start of this decade, marked by Covid-19, has amplified growth within the global wellness industry. Lockdowns

Equally encouraging though, through a focus on light’s po-

have forced us to reflect on this existential crisis, to shelter

tential to soothe and to reconnect man with the natural world,

and cocoon within our homes, and to seek out accessible and

is Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta’s 2017 in-

novel ways to quell our anxieties and ensure our wellbeing

stallation Franchise Freedom. The founders of Studio DRIFT

during such trying times. As technology evolves and industry

spent years studying the flight patterns of starlings, translat-

endeavours to meet our domestic needs, the forward-thinking

ing them into bespoke software embedded in drones. Once

work of such visionary artists and designers will be interpret-

activated, the hundreds of drones’ light sources change in

ed, adapted and commercialised. It will filter into our homes.

intensity and colour as their flight patterns in the night sky

Their light will illuminate our future. t

Urban Sun, by Studio Roosegaarde, was conceptualised to form pools of far-UVC light (proved to greatly reduce the presence of respiratory viruses). Within these ‘clean’ zones, human touch is once again normalised during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Val de Vie

49

Orchestrations

TAKE INSPIRATION FROM LIGHTING DESIGNERS, BOTH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL, WHOSE WORK IS NOT JUST VISUALLY ARRESTING BUT TRENDSETTING TOO. B Y MA RT I N JA C O B S

PHOTOGRAPHS: SHAY BEN EFRAYIM; COURTESY OF CAMERON DESIGN HOUSE

Electric Light

inspiration

The stylish hand-blown ‘pearls’ in Ian Cameron’s Helmi chandeliers hang as if caught in gold-plated nets and were inspired by a fishing trip the Finnish designer took. OPPOSITE Nir Meiri’s Veggie Light beams a focused ray onto the underside of a preserved cabbage leaf, accentuating the patterns and artistry within the natural world.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Schneid Studio’s customisable Junit pendants, Johannesburg studio TheUrbanative’s Mudziira chandelier and Utu Soulful Lighting’s Pyppe sconce all pair orb-shaped bulbs with geometric forms that subtly reference Bauhaus design; Local designer Thabisa Mjo, of Mash T Design Studio, champions the geometries of telewire plates in her newest collection.

RETRO GEOMETRIES A renewed interest in two 20th-century game-changing design movements continues to see an array of creatives interpreting the geometric patterns these movements advanced. In 2019, the design world marked the centenary of the Bauhaus School, known for favouring linear forms at the expense of the floral motifs of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles.

Of equal interest, more so to the millennial generation for its nostalgic value, is the 1980s’ Memphis movement. Characterised by polka dots, circles, triangles and squiggly lines in both bright and pastel colours, the visual appeal of Memphis is its youthful combination of colour and form. The resurgence of this playful approach to design is an antidote to the severity of the current state of the world.

It’s apparent in Pyppe, a collection of suspension, standing and wall lamps from Portuguese designers Claudia Melo and Ana Ladeiro, both of Utu Soulful Lighting. The collection is fabricated from lacquered metal and travertine, and is a sculptural take on balancing masses.

A similar playfulness informs the designs of the Mudziira lights that form part of local brand TheUrbanative’s Homecoming collection. Winner of the 2019 Designer of the Year at 100% Design SA, Mpho Vackier’s Mudziira lights effortlessly pair Memphis design principles with an African aesthetic, including a culturally appropriate interpretation of patterned line work.

While the forms of Thabisa Mjo’s Alfred range (created in collaboration with telewire weaver Alfred Ntuli) are dictated by the shapes of traditional telewire plates, the primary colours that make up each lamp’s geometries can be seen to reference Bauhaus teachings. So too with German design duo Schneid Studio’s Junit collection, which comprises eight different elements that can be customised to suit any home. ‘The geometric shapes and intense colour palette of the Junit lights draw inspiration from the Bauhaus movement,’ says designer Julia Jessen.

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PHOTOGRAPHS: AART VERRIPS (THEURBANATIVE); SARA DE PINA (THABISA MJO); COURTESY OF SCHNEID STUDIO AND UTU

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Capetonian Laurie Wiid van Heerden’s passion for cork sees him repeatedly creating homeware from the natural material; bioresin created from agricultural byproducts forms the primary material in Estabished & Sons’ Aura pendants; Danish design graduate Stine Mikkelsen’s interest in organic and upcycled materials led her to design two ranges of amorphous-shaped lamps.

The Covid-19 pandemic heightened an existing global awareness of, and movement towards, wellness in our homes. Collectively, we’re now much more attuned to the provenance and choice of materials that make up the hard and soft finishes as well as the furnishings that kit out our living spaces.

Design institutions including Central Saint Martins and Design Academy Eindhoven offer courses in material design and encourage interest in bioplastics. A graduate of the latter, Rotterdam-based Sabine Marcelis has created the Aura range for Established & Sons. Her cylindrical tubes, in pastel hues, are manufactured from a bioepoxy resin produced from byproducts of the agricultural industry.

Israeli-born Nir Meiri’s approach to eco design is more obviously visible. His Veggie Lights are an ode to cabbages, the lamps’ coloured translucency and refined form offering a contemporary take on Art Nouveau lighting. Soaked in water-based adhesives, the leaves are treated to be antifungal. ‘As with any natural material, they will “age” over time,’ Meiri says. ‘They can be returned to the earth as compost and easily replaced with a new shade, using the same base.’

‘DEPENDING ON THE MIXTURE, I AM ABLE TO CRUMBLE OR SIMPLY APPLY THE MATERIAL TO THE STRUCTURE AND SAND IT FOR VARIOUS TEXTURES’

Danish designer Stine Mikkelsen also designs with recycling in mind. The organic forms of her Luminous Shapes range are handmade from a composite of crushed granite and fish glue. ‘Depending on the mixture, I am able to crumble or simply apply the material to the structure and sand it for various textures,’ she says. Similarly, she forms her Guilt.Less range by hand by sculpting shredded recycled clothing.

On home ground, Laurie Wiid van Heerden of Wiid Design is known for his innovative and pioneering use of cork, an entirely natural material that biodegrades without producing toxic residues. His African Cork Pendants, with their colourful geometric forms (equally a nod to the geometric trend), are produced in Cape Town from organic, recycled cork particles.

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PHOTOGRAPHS: PIMTOP STUDIO (ESTABLISHED & SONS); COURTESY OF WIID DESIGN AND STINE MIKKELSEN

NATURALLY BRIGHT

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TRANSPARENCY One need only look at Cameron Design House’s Helmi chandeliers to understand the statement-making impact that illuminated hand-blown glass can have. Long recognised as a convergence of art and craftsmanship, hand-blown glass (along with the translucencies of resin) is enjoying a resurgence in design. Be it opaque, transparent or coloured, the ambience that lit glass affords a room is one way to introduce artisanship into a home. Raised in Finland, Ian Cameron’s Helmi (‘pearl’ in Finnish) chandelier was conceptualised during a fishing trip, each chandelier a ‘catch’ of glass pearls and gold-plated nets.

More tailored to the constraints of residential interiors, the Shembi Chandelier, designed by Greg and Roche Dry of Durban’s Egg Designs, offers an equally impressive play of metallic and glass. The concentric rings of recycled glass in shades of amber and green have an understated and retro elegance.

Colour and a nod to the past are also the defining elements in the creations of Los Angeles-based Lulu LaFortune. Having previously worked with celebrity designer Kelly Wearstler, PHOTOGRAPHS: ANGIE STONG (LULU LAFORTUNE); COURTESY OF ADRIÁN CRUZ AND EGG DESIGN

LaFortune describes her own studio as ‘a brand dedicated to designing your next heirloom’. She’d like to see ‘fast homeware’ eschewed in the same way fast fashion is increasingly being shunned, and proposes her limited-edition Watts Table Lamp as one possible solution. Its stained-glass lampshade and trellis-inspired base are an entirely modern interpretation of lamps familiar from bygone times.

Belgium-based Mexican architect Adrián Cruz’s Elements lamps reference his own past. They marry his architectural sensibilities with the resin objects his grandfather once made.

‘When I was a child, I used to play with these objects, fascinated by the translucency and the three-dimensional illusion that light creates through resin,’ he says. Cruz pairs coloured crystal resin with onyx, the latter having a history of use in religious adornment in pre-Hispanic Mexico.

By illuminating coloured glass in their designs, Durban-based Egg Designs’ Shembi Chandelier (top) and Lulu LaFortune’s Watts Table Lamp (above) both offer an ambient and atmospheric glow. BELOW Mexican architect-turneddesigner Adrián Cruz loves resin’s translucent properties and combines the material with onyx in a collection of statement-making table lamps.

PHOTOGRAPHS: YUKO NISHIKAWA (NICO AND HIS COUSINS, YUKO NISHIKAWA); CARY WHITTIER (YOU SEE A SHEEP, YUKO NISHIKAWA); WOODIE WILLIAMS (CROSLAND + EMMONS); COURTESY OF ZHEKAI ZHANG AND DOKTER AND MISSES

inspiration

CERAMIC IMPERFECTIONS Our collective interest in the handmade shows no sign of abatement. While designers will always push the boundaries of technological advancement to further new forms of creativity within their work, others increasingly embrace the principles of wabi sabi by championing irregularity. Deliberate imperfection speaks to the past rather than the future. This nostalgia has obvious appeal at a time when global perceptions of the future are fraught with uncertainty. In a post-pandemic society in which we reevaluate social interaction, introducing the human touch into our homes is comforting and enhances our sense of wellness.

It is this that the handmade works of Dana Castle and Michele DeHaven of Crosland + Emmons pay homage to. ‘We want our lights to feel slightly uncomfortable, as if they were unbalanced,’ says Castle of the duo’s white porcelain and stoneware lamps – part sculptural objects, part mood lighting. There’s a visual fragility to their work, with forms reminiscent of weatherworn bones and shells.

London-based Zhekai Zhang also works with white porcelain. He collects used coffee grounds (otherwise destined for landfills) from local roasteries. Using these as a glaze on his Coffire lamps, Zhang celebrates the randomness and irregularity of the patterns that result from his modern take on ancient Chinese pit-firing techniques.

Kiln-fired bricks – the sort widely used in the building industry – are the basis of Katy Taplin and Adriaan Hugo’s Brick lamps. The founders of the internationally acclaimed Johannesburg-based Dokter And Misses, the conceptual-minded duo wryly comment on mass production with four etched designs that together spell ‘love’.

There’s whimsicality to the works of New York ceramicist Yuko Nishikawa too.

Having previously crafted collections for Anthropologie and Calvin Klein Home, from her Brooklyn studio she now sculpts lamps like those of her You See A Sheep and Nico And His Cousins collections, both playful celebrations of the uniqueness of handmade lighting. t

OPPOSITE AND TOP New Yorker Yuko Nishikawa adds an additional layer of personality to her already quirky lamps, You See A Sheep and Nico And His Cousins, by hand-shaping them. MIDDLE Similarly, the Crosland + Emmons design duo love the imbalance in their Lilly Stack Multilight that results from hand sculpting.

BOTTOM Sophisticated in form, Zhekai Zhang’s porcelain pendants are decorated with a randomly applied coffee-grounds glaze. ABOVE Locals Adriaan Hugo and Katy Taplin elevate the humble building brick in their Brick tabletop lamps.

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legacy

Living to your 80s and beyond used to be reverently called ‘a right old age’ but for some octogenarians, they’re just hitting their stride. What do they know, how have they given back to the world and what is their secret to a ‘life worth living’?

A daily part of his health routine, walks on the farm with my mother, my son and sometimes the dogs give my father clarity and peace that would be hard to duplicate in the city.

HOLDING WHAT APPEARS TO BE two pieces of charred tree stump, my father asks, ‘Can you help me get these framed? I want to hang them on the wall.’

Perplexed, I ask, ‘Why would you want to hang tree stumps on the wall, Dad?’ Turns out, they are what remains of the altar of his grandfather’s kraal – a sacred tree in the centre of the enclosure stood upon when talking to the ancestors – rescued from a fire that ravaged his farm in 1945.

At 84 years old, and with a memory as sharp as an elephant, my father, Ray Mali, is a treasure trove of knowledge and hilarious anecdotes, remembering specifics with the recollection of an Outlook calendar. He often recounts the tale of how he ended his relationship with alcohol. After overindulging on a bottle of wine called Mooi Meisie and waking up with no memory of the night before, my father decided that was it. That was 30 June 1960. A humble and simple man who spends his days tending to the livestock on his farm and taking long walks with his cane and my three-year-old son or his dogs by his side, I’m in awe of how his life has come full circle. From being an orphaned herdboy to reaching the pinnacle of world cricket as president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), he’s returned to his first love: farming.

Growing up in the townships of Port Elizabeth (or Gqeberha nowadays) in the 1940s and ’50s, my father followed one of the handful of professions a black man could pursue and became a teacher, studying at Alice’s Lovedale College and then the University of Fort Hare, the institutions of luminaries like Steve Biko, Govan Mbeki, Chris Hani, Kenneth Kaunda and Nelson Mandela, to name a few.

A promising rugby career as a young man ended abruptly with a shoulder injury. He was passionate about sport and although he could no longer participate as a player, he would stay involved in the administration. His lifelong love affair with cricket began in the 1960s, facilitating tournaments for black regional sides. By the time South Africa was readmitted to international cricket in the 1990s, my father had forged a reputation as a skilled administrator and served on the boards of Eastern Province Cricket.

As a child, I remember him travelling to places like Barbados and the West Indies for tournaments; places that seemed magical judging by the postcards he would send while he was away.

He became president of Border Cricket and then the first black president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (now known as Cricket South Africa) in the early 2000s. According to ESPNcricinfo, my father was a moderniser of South African cricket: ‘He shook up the old provincial structure, was a leading advocate of Twenty20 cricket, and broke down old barriers and ensured there were equal opportunities in the game.’

Praise Song SHARING A SLIVER OF THE LIFE OF HER FATHER, RAY MALI, LINDA MZAMANE LEARNS MUCH ABOUT LEADERSHIP, HUMILITY AND RESILIENCE.

Family holidays now revolved around cricket tournaments. Cricket commentary and ‘Howzat!’ on television became the soundtrack of our lives at home.

The sudden death of ICC president Percy Sonn created a vacancy that my father was unanimously appointed to fill by the international cricket fraternity in 2007. ‘I never imagined I would lead international cricket. I always considered myself as someone who loves the game and is there to assist, but to be elevated unopposed by world leaders from over 100 countries was something special,’ he muses. Of his leadership style, respected cricket journo Telford Vice once described my dad as ‘a unifying influence, a soother of savaged breasts’. ‘Try as they might,’ he said, ‘fires fail to ignite in his calming presence.’ At work and at home, this is my father’s nature to a tee.

Now the oldest living patriarch, my father is the head of the Mali family as well as the Sukwini clan in our region; a role he carries with pride. Ever the peacemaker, my father has always been a consultative leader both within our family and beyond, which didn’t always go down well with his critics, some who labelled him ‘indecisive’. ‘I don’t believe in autocracy and always consult with my team about the paths we are going to take. Even with you, here at home, we talk about issues until we reach consensus. That’s how I led, and I still believe in that today.’

Net1 Southern Africa CEO Lincoln Mali says, ‘My uncle has been a sports administrator and leader for more than 50 years across different sporting codes without expecting compensation or gratification. He led for the love of the game, not personal gain. He has the deepest cultural roots, yet had the most global reach. He’s grounded in his Xhosa culture and comes alive talking about family history, yet is much travelled and a global citizen with friends the world over.’ Seven years ago, in his honour,

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how it’s always been done’ no longer suffices for this generation and my father understands this, which is why he does his best to answer our questions about why we do certain rituals in our home.

But many don’t believe that culture and religion mix, so how does he reconcile this? ‘I believe the ancestors (family members that have passed on) are closer to God. They’re the ones representing us to God, passing on messages on our behalf. The distinction is that you talk to ancestors, but pray to God. There’s no ancestral worship, which is often a misconception people have.’

The eldest of 10 siblings, my father always wanted a large family of his own. Tuberculosis (incurable in those days) was rampant in their area and my father lost his parents to the disease when he was about eight, his father succumbing to it in 1945, followed by his mother a year later. His idea of fatherhood was then modelled by his grandfather as well as his uncle Aaron who raised him.

‘Fatherhood requires you to go to the level of your children. Play and give them that quality time. Be interested in whatever they are doing and listen to what they share.’ With seven children of his own spread around the country and in North America, the greatest lesson he hopes to have passed on to us is in humility: ‘If you remain humble and approachable, you are able to assist people.

To be of service is the greatest gift of all.’

Now, with 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, he credits his youthful nature to mixing with them at every opportunity. ‘To be able to play with my grandchildren and teach them about farm life, which my grandfather did for me, is a joy.’

My mother, Peggy, a firecracker of a woman, has also played a significant role in keeping him sharp-minded. One would expect a man of my father’s era to harbour some patriarchal tendencies but they’ve always considered each other equals. The secret to their 38-year marriage lies in reciprocity and mutual support. ‘Each partner should understand the other’s passion and be part of that activity. Peggy has assisted me throughout my cricket career, making sure I succeed. She enjoys playing tennis. I’m not a good FROM TOP Dancing with my father on my special day five years ago; My mother Peggy has been the wind beneath his wings for 38 years.

tennis player but I used to play with her. I think that’s the secret.’

A deep sense of identity, helping your fellow man and leading with integrity are values my father holds dear. Surviving the residual

Lincoln founded the Ray Mali T20 Challenge, a tournament for

the oppression of apartheid, economic hardship and now a global

cricket development in rural villages. It remains a highlight in the

pandemic, my father has learnt a great deal about resilience in

region’s sporting calendar.

hard times. Our country is in a state of flux with a nation filled with

A staunchly traditional man, my father is unapologetic about

anxious citizens worried about the future but he remains optimis-

his beliefs, which have been a compass throughout his life. We

tic. ‘I firmly believe we’ll get through our current struggles and find

grew up in the duality of culture and religion. We’d slaughter a

one another. In cricket, the batsman needs to stay focused and

goat during a traditional ceremony on Saturday, and then go to

stay put in his position, no matter if the ball hits you on your chest

church on Sunday. So much cultural knowledge and understand-

or helmet. We just need to stand firm and teach the world ubuntu.’

ing is lost because those before us don’t take the time to answer

My father, like a giant tree with roots that transcend generations,

the questions asked by ever-curious millennials and Gen Zs who

is a beacon, guide and example of an imperfect life lived perfectly.

are driven by the need to understand before participating. ‘This is

Ahh, Sukwini, Lawu, Sandla Langca, Dibashe! Long may you live. t

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PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

effects of World War II, losing his parents as a boy, living through

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Graduating from the University of Pretoria in 1959.

The practical phase of the profession lay ahead in his year as a houseman.

A Dedicated Man AT 87, DR STEYN VAN RIET IS STILL AN ACTIVE GP. HE MIGHT CONSIDER RETIRING IN THE NEAR FUTURE, IF HIS PATIENTS WOULD ALLOW IT.

BY LES AUPIAIS

THE LITTLE GIRL’S FATHER gently takes her hands, opens her arms and points first to an inflamed, raw area behind her elbows and then her knees. She is five, in her first year of school and cannot concentrate; the burning and itching are unbearable. The doctor quietly asks a few questions in isiXhosa and explains what her father must do, what medication she should take and what she shouldn’t eat. Two weeks later, after a three-year battle, her skin is clear.

Dr Steyn van Riet listens, observes and asks a series of quite simple questions, extracting a story, a way of life, a pattern of living. ‘When the little ones start to crawl,’ he says, ‘they end up getting worms and, unchecked, this can have a serious effect on their immune systems. One manifestation is eczema. I asked the girl’s father to check that she was dewormed, prescribed the right ointment and also cautioned him against feeding her any snacks with tartrazine and other additives – the worst thing for a skin condition like that.’ The medication was affordable and, of course, he waived his fee. She was clear within a few weeks after years of ineffective treatment.

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Newly qualified, Steyn meets Laura, who had retuned from the 1960 Olympics; It was at Nongoma Benedictine Hospital in the then Zululand where Steyn was plunged into the hands-on side of medicine in the field, supported by experienced Benedictine sisters; Steyn’s other passion is golf and he won the trophy at the Worcester Golf Championships for 13 years; Steyn was invited to play in an exhibition match with Gary Player and in the Bobby Locke Invational on two occasions.

Steyn played golf for 30 years off a three handicap and for Boland interprovincial for 15 years.

lands a punchline like a pro comedian. He’d balk at the description but

His life is a hefty Grey’s Anatomy of stories and experiences.

looking at photographs of him in his younger days, there’s a something

Steyn grew up on a small farm in the then Orange Free State, sur-

of a young Chris Barnard to his features. Better looking, though. Kinder.

rounded by elders in the legal profession – one grandfather who was

He runs a busy town practice in Onrus, and his surgery is open every

an attorney general, and the other, brother to the president at the time.

day. In holiday season at the seaside town, there’s a stream of walk-in

Steyn’s father was an attorney and his aunt the first woman in the coun-

patients with anything from a fishhook in the foot to an angina attack.

try to get her pilot’s license. ‘No doctors,’ he grins. ‘The whole lot in law.’

He carries a traditional leather doctor’s bag with him everywhere and makes house calls.

His week has a rhythm: every day, he drives home from his surgery

It’s impossible to talk to Steyn about his path to medicine without disappearing into a myriad of vivid narratives and a deep dive into a family that is spirited, smart and forward-thinking.

for lunch with his wife, Laura, a former Olympic swimmer and an ac-

There’s the one about Steyn’s grandfather who shot an Englishman

complished artist. It’s a full schedule – running his practice, bridge with

in the Boer War only to meet him years later, bring him home for a meal

his mates, braais at home, reading, keeping pace with new discoveries

in a gesture of reconciliation, introduce him to his sister... and ultimate-

in medicine and connecting with his children and grandchildren scat-

ly attend their wedding. There’s also the one about how Cecil John

tered from Cape Town to Australia. He plays golf on a Wednesday and

Rhodes gifted his grandfather with a planter’s chair, which is still in the

while it might be more social these days, it comes with serious clout.

family today, or how his father volunteered for the air force and wore a

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Steyn is a GP and has been all his professional life. He’s tall, lean, fit, outspoken about his profession, knows how to tell a great story and

legacy

red band on his arm to show he was ready to fight against Germany in

in some of the medicines that I sent away for analysis that could not

the war – and was thrown out by the NGK dominee one Sunday as a

be identified.’

‘traitor’ along with 12 other families who got up and walked out.

Steyn vividly sketches out the scenes – who said what, where and the outcome and, at 87, can recount them all in filmic detail.

These years taught Steyn almost uncanny diagnostic skills – to the outsider anyway. To Steyn, it’s no magic formula. ‘I think it’s just observing,’ he says. ‘And listening. Listening to someone’s story, where they

From farm school, a young Steyn attended St Andrew’s School in

come from, how they grew up, the problem that brought them to me.

Bloemfontein with a post-matric in philosophy. ‘It was a wonderful way

Sometimes they can be treated with medicine. And sometimes it’s not

of thinking,’ he says, ‘a way of not having to go down this one narrow

about pills,’ he says. It’s this empathetic ear from someone who is nei-

line.’ And the dream of becoming a doctor?

ther family nor a friend but a good and trusted GP that sets Steyn apart.

‘Medicine came to me when I stopped wanting to be a train driver,’

Much later in his career, now in private practice in Worcester in the

he laughs and plunges into further tales of becoming the first Afrikaans-

Western Cape, a woman came to him complaining of severe sinusitis

speaking head boy in the school’s history. ‘I was also on every first

after failed attempts to get the right treatment at two major hospitals.

team sport, but did just enough to pass exams.’ He deftly underplays

‘I asked her to take off her blouse, so I could examine her,’ says Steyn.

what he has achieved but it is there in every thread of his life story.

His patient was confused and a little reluctant, but finally agreed. It took

He chose Pretoria University over UCT, Edinburgh, Wits and Bloem-

a moment for Steyn to find the characteristic black spot on her back

fontein – all of which had accepted him for his medical degree – but

and to confirm that she had leprosy. He had immediately recognised

in those days, the money was in the capital, and that meant the best

the telltale leonine facial structure that indicated that she suffered from

teachers, he says, and it was hands-on from third year.

the disease. ‘It’s simply treated with the right drugs today,’ he says. ‘No

‘When I qualified, I learnt that you don’t learn medicine at univer-

need to be sent into isolation in a distant clinic.’

sity,’ he says, but even this realisation that he had a long way to go

One of his habits in his early years in private practice was to spend a

to log the necessary experience hardly prepared Steyn for his posting

day a week with a specialist – an ENT specialist, a pulmonologist, plas-

in what was then the middle of Zululand. It was two days after

tic surgeon – watching, asking questions, trying to understand what a

Christmas in 1959 that his position as a houseman took him to a

patient might experience. He logged it all and in consultations as a GP,

mission hospital in the heart of the country with 300 beds, four other

passed on that invaluable knowledge to his patients. He was to become

doctors and, mercifully, several sisters who were Benedictine nuns.

the chairman and later president of the Western Province Medical Asso-

‘The day I arrived, Sister Masheane had just done her 10 000th confinement,’ he says shaking his head. And although the hospital superintendent put him ‘in charge’, it was this sister and others who taught him how to deliver babies and diagnose any potential trouble with the birth. Once a week, the ambulance would take him deep into the rural reaches, past solitary trees where they would stop and treat the sick – lance a boil, dispense medicine for pneumonia – and then continue to a hut, which would be the remote clinic for the day. No one was expected

ciation and serve on the South African Medical

CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT THE TRADITIONAL HEALERS WERE USING FOR MEDICINE, AND WITH ANY OVERT INTERACTION WITH THEM FROWNED ON, STEYN WOULD SEE THEM IN HIS HUT AT NIGHT WHERE THEY WOULD SWOP MEDICINES AND TALK

to walk to a medical facility and queue for hours.

and with any overt interaction with them frowned on, Steyn would see them in his hut at night where they would swop medicines and talk.

‘Some of the traditional plants they used were magnificent,’ Steyn says. ‘There was a natural painkiller better than morphine, a plant that contracted a uterus better than the drugs we used. There were proteins

It was while running his practice in Worcester that Christiaan Barnard made medical history.

‘Strangely, he was not the best cardiac surgeon at the time,’ says Steyn, ‘but he was the bravest. He was prepared to do it. He had a black doctor called Hamilton Naki assisting him who did much of the groundwork, but wasn’t acknowledged for many years.’ The successful transplant made explosive news at the time and not only catapulted Barnard onto a world stage, but South Africa and the medical profession.

The medicine and the doctor came to them.

Curious about what the traditional healers were using for medicine,

Association National Council for 20 years.

Fame and a hospital named after you to celebrate your work is one thing but there’s also the doctor who’s dedicated his life to his patients, a man for whom general practice was enough.

‘Why do you still do this when other people are retired and relaxing?’

I ask.

‘What could be nicer than spending your day helping people?’ he says. There’s no textbook answer to that either. t

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In The Wings ACTRESS ANNABEL LINDER IS STILL CRAVING HER NEXT ROLE AFTER 60 YEARS IN SHOWBIZ. HER FINAL CURTAIN CAN WAIT – SHE’S FAR TOO BUSY LIVING.

BY LESLEY STONES

ASKING ANNABEL LINDER if she’s afraid of death feels awfully inappropriate. Not because it’s unkind to remind an 81-year-old of the inevitable, but because she’s such a sparky little thing that she looks set to stick around for decades.

She’s a tiny force of just over five-feet-tall, still looking for work, devastated that opportunities and audiences have vanished because of Covid-19, and talking with excitement about a new project she’s hatching with her son, Gary, a TV producer. When she shows me a photo of Gary, I’m taken

PHOTOGRAPH: BRETT RUBIN

aback to see a balding 50-something-year-old. I realise I’d pictured someone in his 30s because Durban-born Annabel Linder is a South African entertainment icon with a career that has spanned 60 years since her professional theatrical debut at age 21.

The decades have brought with them numerous accolades, including a Vita award for her gut-wrenching portrayal of an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor in the two-hour one-woman play Rose.

I’ve forgotten how old Annabel is.

I say that our interview will hopefully produce an article full of vision, experience, observation and philosophy. No pressure, I laugh, but hit me with your wisdom!

Naturally, there’s a lot of reminiscing too, tinged with an uncharacteristic touch of sadness. ‘I’ve never been depressed in my life – I don’t have that kind of personality – but for the first time since this pandemic, I’m affected by the misery around us because I’m not working, which depresses me.

If someone asked me what advice I’d give to young people who want to go into this business, I’d tell them to become a lawyer. Which is a terrible thing to say but it’s what I feel.’

Being an octogenarian doesn’t stop her from wanting to work, and she cites Dame Judy Dench and Sir Ian McKellen as old troupers she’d love to emulate.

This is almost the first quiet period in her career, as her all-round talent as a singer, dancer, actor, comedian and mimicker of accents kept her busy on the corporate cabaret circuit as well as in plays, films, TV series and on the radio.

Now, to keep herself entertained, she’s started rereading the journal she’s kept over the years.

‘I don’t want to have it published because I name names,’ she says. ‘It’s just for my kids. But my daughter doesn’t want to read it – I don’t think she wants to see what I did!’

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She’s certainly done a lot, including clocking up four husbands. ‘I kept

Raphael for healing; Gabriel, who she asks for

trying until I got it right,’ she laughs, and her husband of 27 years, com-

patience and calm; and Uriel. ‘He’s just the most

poser and clarinettist Sam Sklair, now 94, raises his arms in a victory sign.

beautiful angel, they all are, but Archangel Michael

As a natural raconteur, Linder tells a lovely story about how they

is the one I depend on for protection,’ she says. It

reconnected in church at a memorial service, despite both being Jew-

all sounds a little weird, and I suspect she’s teasing

ish. Sklair had asked if she was married to anyone at the moment. She

me, since she seems quite capable of making her

said she wasn’t, and asked him the same. ‘He said, “No, I’m available,”

own way in life without angelic backup. But she ab-

and two months later we were married. We figured that we can’t waste

solutely believes in them. ‘They have come through

much time, he’s 68 and I’m 55, so let’s get on with it!’

for me. I do make my own way but I like to know

Sklair has outlasted and outclassed his predecessors. Linder’s first

they are around me. I feel very comforted by them.’

marriage to an actor lasted for three years, and gave them her daugh-

Right now, she’s asking her angels to make sure

ter, Kathy-Jo. She spent 12 years with her next husband, a Transvaal

the project she’s working on with her son comes

cricketer and male model who fathered Gary. Her third marriage, to an

through. It began when she asked Gary to write

alcoholic, lasted eight months and was ‘a hideous mistake’.

her a one-woman show, and he came up with a

She’s tried to guide her kids away from the same errors, of course.

play called My Mother’s Son.

‘As a bit of an obsessive mother, I worry about my two children and my

‘I used to take him with me to all my gigs, and

two grandchildren endlessly,’ she says. ‘I feel they should learn from the

he remembers sitting at the back of a nightclub

mistakes I’ve made in my life and not commit the same ones. I believe

with a Coca-Cola. Then all of a sudden, this vision

I am wise, so when I give them advice, I say, “I know what I’m saying.”’

arrived on stage in black sequins, and he thought,

Despite not following any organised religion herself, she raised her kids as Jewish, then encouraged them to make their own choices.

While Kathy-Jo remained religious, Gary became a shaman healer and lives on a retreat in the United Kingdom. Now their roles are reversed and Linder is learning from her son. ‘He’s my guru. He’s taught me to be spiritual and I can’t go to sleep until I’ve spoken to my four angels,’ she says.

I’m fascinated by the idea of chatting to angels, so she talks me through them. There’s archangel Michael, her protector; archangel

“That’s my mum!”’

Linder pictured with her children, Kathy-Jo and Gary.

Now all grown up, Linder admits that, ever the obsessive mom, she worries about them endlessly, and while she hopes they learn from her mistakes, she still has things to learn from them too.

When Linder read the play through, she realised there was no way she wanted to perform it on stage. ‘I’m not going to stand there naked in front of the world. I’m not talking about physically naked – I mean I don’t want to be too honest,’ she says. Gary is reworking the script as a potential TV series, and Linder would love to play herself in her older incarnation.

That would be a whole lifetime of experience away from her professional debut at 21 in a musical called The Platonic Nymph, playing the nymph.

‘It was the most desperate musical that’s ever been written,’ she laughs. ‘It was ghastly but I never thought for one minute it was my fault because I was full of confidence, which you are when you’re 21. Or you should be.’

I tell her that when I interview young women today, a recurring theme is how they often have to work on their self-belief because they just don’t have self-confidence. We ponder on that and conclude that having two supportive and present parents gave Linder an excellent grounding that so That’s something she tried hard to pass on to her children too, raising them to be resilient.

Decades later, it’s taken the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis to knock her usually spunky attitude.

But as soon as some work arrives, her star quality will shine again. t

70 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED

many kids today just haven’t got.

business

pose, based on a need she identified, and all ultimately successful ventures – the Mutendi ‘Midas’ touch. But of her myriad irons in various business fires, there’s one in which she is a pioneer.

The launch of African Family Firms (AFF) was sparked by personal experience. Tsitsi’s maternal grandparents divorced, which resulted in the disintegration of the family business. Her uncle laid claim to her paternal grandfather’s wealth because of his status as eldest son and eventually ran the business into the ground. Her parents also had to disentangle a successful medical consultancy practice when they divorced, and that, Tsitsi says,

When It’s All In The Family

didn’t go down too well.

TSITSI MUTENDI HAS IRONS IN MANY BUSINESS FIRES. THE ONE SHE’S MOST PASSIONATE ABOUT DOESN’T BUILD HER PERSONAL WEALTH, BUT COULD BE MAKE-OR-BREAK FOR FAMILY-OWNED ENTERPRISE IN AFRICA.

that could be transgenerational but then what? I didn’t

She began to think seriously about the nature of legacy.

‘I realised that I’d built up these very strong businesses have a succession plan. In Africa, we tend to build well, but have no plan to build past that.’ The epiphany first led to Nhaka Legacy Planning. And if she needed help, there would be others wanting guidance in family governance and legacy planning too. And then she cofounded African

B Y D E BBIE HATHWAY

Family Firms (AFF), a non-profit that helps people ensure

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WHEN 38-YEAR-OLD Tsitsi Mutendi sees an oppor-

The company offers membership to family businesses

tunity, she propels herself at it, a dynamo of energy and

and makes space for families, managers, relevant experts

momentum. She might have become the CEO of a single

and organisations to come together as a community. ‘As

global business and revelled in its success but she’s a

much as we are advisors – I focus on family governance

restless spirit, a disruptor. Just as well.

and my cofounder and partner, Nike Anani, on succes-

Tsitsi launched Mutendi Montessori to address the

sion planning and next-generation (next gen) develop-

need for innovative, forward-thinking preprimary and pri-

ment – we see a gap for an African family business asso-

mary school education in Harare, Zimbabwe. The impe-

ciation centred on everything we need as African family

tus? ‘African schools are training children in archaic cur-

businesses right now. That is community and networking,

riculum, which is not going to help the 21st-century child.

which we’re trying to build by setting up chapters in dif-

How will they be solution givers when they are not taught

ferent countries,’ says Tsitsi.

to think on their own?’ she asks. ‘We need to develop

In the pandemic, family business owners are looking

leaders who can be innovative in a global situation.’ Her

after their employees and supporting their local com-

strategy resonated with investors, leading to a network

munities first. ‘Family businesses are the only ones on

of further schools.

the planet that have shown resilience. They can make

She has launched a publishing company, a fashion

it through anything by working together. There’s the hu-

brand, and a doll manufacturing company, all with pur-

manity factor, and communities surround them. In Africa,

PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED

business continuity across generations.

we’ll support a family business, even if we don’t know the owners personally.’

Defining how control will pass, to whom, and how the ‘next gen’ will make decisions has been reprioritised.

Polygamy, she says, is one of the biggest problems for black families with multiple children outside the marriage and other wives. Sibling rivalry can also cause the collapse of billion-dollar businesses and legacy planning manages that. ‘Our role is to identify where the pain points are. Sometimes we have to bring in other experts – experts in conflict, substance abuse – a knowledgeable team that you can trust.’

It’s a highly nuanced and painstaking process. ‘We explore the family history, sometimes using genograms where we map a family for three generations and track recurrent issues: behavioural, health and relationship.

Then we may look at how family can deal with various issues on an individual level.’

Tsitsi’s own genogram shows that divorce is rampant and indeed caused a break in the family business. ‘The question becomes what other significant events can trigger what? Do I have a plan? It’s about risk management.

‘There is also very little research on the demographic of African family business on the continent. The big companies that grow into African family offices become extremely wealthy, and close ranks against other organisations so people cannot get access to information on how they got there.’ This is critical information if other family businesses are to learn from their success or failure: what industries did they go into and what was the strategy?

‘That’s why I’m pushing for more formalised academic training,’ she says.

The changing landscape in all her business fields fuels Tsitsi’s passion for her work and resonates with one of

Tsitsi Mutendi has tenacity, grit and unyielding belief in building businesses that will outlive her lifetime. She thrives on mentoring others with similar vision.

her favourite quotes by author Og Mandino: ‘I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain and not shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth I will apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.’ t nhakalegacy.com Val de Vie

73

design

Checking In With Mr Strauss AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR BEHIND SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST STRIKING HOTELS, JACU STRAUSS’S MOVE FROM THE NORTHERN CAPE TO THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE MEANT NOT JUST A GEOGRAPHICAL SHIFT BUT ONE IN DESIGN THINKING TOO. B Y M ART IN JAC OB S

Doubling as the hotel’s reception, the copper-clad entrance of Sea Containers was designed to resemble the hull of a large ship, and draws inspiration from the hotel’s thematic exploration of transatlantic voyages.

OPPOSITE South African architect turned creative director Jacu Strauss in front of a bespoke wallpaper he commissioned for suites in Riggs Washington DC. Adding a sense of movement to the rooms, the billowing fabric motif was inspired by robes in Baroque paintings.

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ABOVE Strauss references 25th First Lady Ida McKinley in his design of this Riggs Washington DC suite. The rose palette and floral wallpaper allude to McKinley’s love of flowers. Inspired by the building’s history, the minibar resembles a bank safe. OPPOSITE TOP Strauss retained many of the architectural features of the former bank’s boardroom, including an oversized fireplace, arched windows and ornate plasterwork. OPPOSITE MIDDLE ‘While the coffered ceilings and Corinthian columns are original, I designed the reception desk that nods to bank teller counters from the golden age of banking, the chandeliers and the silver leaf-backed mirrors,’ explains Strauss of the hotel’s lobby.

HIS IS THE SMALL-TOWN success story we South Africans are

of his childhood. ‘At the age of 15, I moved into my own apartment next

particularly proud to recount. Boy meets world. World loves boy. Boy

door to my parents’ home. I decorated it in a very unique way: a bright

conquers world – and makes meeting the demands of a life lived across

purple bathroom and a sponge-paint technique in the main room!’ With

three major cities appear effortless. In this story, the small town is rural

hindsight, Strauss reflects on his earliest decorating choices with criti-

Warrenton in the Northern Cape, and the boy is Jacu Strauss – architect

cism and a chuckle. ‘I would never do it that way now. My tastes back

turned designer turned creative director of London-based Lore Group,

then were part of a journey I had to take to learn, because I didn’t have

an international hospitality company that designs and manages a collec-

any creative support at the time.’ Critical as he may be of his teenage

tion of hotels in Europe and North America. Strauss’s accomplishments

decisions, Strauss’s approach to design can be regarded as a sophis-

include the design of showstopper hotels lauded by esteemed publica-

ticated evolution of these, with a notable use of colour and art being

tions such as Monocle, National Geographic and Condé Nast Traveller.

standout characteristics of some of his more recent projects.

His work is audacious, rich in colour and art (much of it created him-

‘I had a great upbringing in the rural outdoors, but always knew that

self), and sensitive to its surroundings. ‘I wish I could remember the ex-

I would end up living in a big cosmopolitan city.’ It was to London that

act moment I first became interested in art, architecture and design, but

Strauss moved when he turned 18, and to London that he returned after

I can’t,’ says Strauss. ‘So that makes me think I was always creative;

completing his first degree in architecture at the University of Auckland,

whether it was creating cities and roads in the dirt for my matchbox

New Zealand. ‘I was initially afraid to commit to seven years of architec-

cars, or using old parquet flooring to create towers.’ Decades later, the

tural training. However, by the end of the first year, I realised that I was

imaginary metropolises Strauss etched into the earth as a child have

destined to go all the way and took that leap of faith. It was my best

been replaced by the design of communities of another sort: hotels.

decision.’ Back on British soil, Strauss completed the second half of

‘I find myself reflecting on the outdoor adventures and wildlife that

his architectural studies at University College London’s Bartlett Faculty

I may not have appreciated then quite as much as I do now,’ says Strauss

of the Built Environment, and qualified to become a licensed architect

76 Val de Vie

design

at Westminster University. At the time, the global financial crisis was all encompassing and finding work as an architect proved challenging.

‘I looked for work opportunities that didn’t necessarily involve pure architecture,’ he says of the path that led him to Design Research Studio, headquarters of famed multidisciplinary designer Tom Dixon. Working for Dixon and his team for a period of four years – designing projects including a Jamie Oliver restaurant and the New York headquarters of McCann Erickson – broadened Strauss’s understanding of design. ‘The studio was a creative hub that was all about experimentation – some things may work and others may flop but that wasn’t the point. Tom taught me the importance of storytelling, and how to keep one eye on detail and the other on the bigger picture.’ It was when the studio secured its first hotel project, Sea Containers London on the River Thames, that Strauss’s shift into hospitality design began. Lore Group commissioned Sea Containers and was so pleased with Strauss’s work that he was offered the position of creative director within the company.

It’s at Lore Group that Strauss has honed his skills at hotel design, having conceptualised the Pulitzer Amsterdam and, more recently, the Riggs and Lyle hotels, both in Washington DC. ‘Hotels can be real cornerstones in a community and neighbourhood, and that excites me,’ he explains. ‘But that also puts extra pressure on my being mindful and doing what is right.’

BELOW Strauss sourced almost all of the antiques in the living room of the Pulitzer’s Antique Collector’s Suite in and around Amsterdam.

‘The mirror is from one of my favourite places – Anouk Beerents – a few doors down from the hotel,’ he says.

Tapping into the history of a building and the culture of its neighbourhood is often the starting point for Strauss. To this end, the creative director opts to live in each hotel’s respective city during the conceptual and planning stages. ‘You learn most about a city by seeing how people live; if you live and breathe a city, you gradually feel and think like a local. London is diverse and cosmopolitan, whereas Amsterdam is a major city with a village feel. Washington is a transient city, with a constant wave of new residents coming to live and work.’

His itinerant lifestyle demands a measure of routine and structure in his daily life, and this regularly manifests in Strauss’s leisure activities.

Shopping for fresh flowers and produce from local markets – like that of Portobello Road, not far from his London apartment – as well as home cooking provide consistency. Perhaps to his own amusement, BBC Radio has also become a lifeline to home. ‘Because it’s available wherever I go, I always tune in to feel at home. There is comfort in listening to the London traffic report, whether I’m in Washington DC, Amsterdam or New York.’

Longevity is critical to all kinds of design and architecture, especially in a world where we need to be mindful of sustainability, he says. A respect for context, then, is what gives weight and credibility to the design of both the Pulitzer Amsterdam and Riggs Washington DC. The former is a luxury hotel set within 25 restored 17th- and 18th-century canal houses, their prior restorations and upgrades stripped back by Strauss in 2015 to honour the integrity of the original structures. On finding the magic within such buildings, Strauss believes that you have

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77

design

TOP LEFT Cork panelling, a grouping of lanterns and abstract paintings in red and black (painted by Strauss during 2020’s hard lockdown) add to the Eastern aesthetic of Lyle Washington DC’s hotel restaurant. BOTTOM LEFT By decorating with both vintage and bespoke furniture as well as an array of art and collectables, Strauss ensures the design of the Lyle Suite in Lyle Washington DC is comfortably indulgent. ABOVE RIGHT Conceptualised in part by Design Research Studio where Strauss was first introduced to hotel design, the focal feature of Sea Containers’ spa is a copperleaf-clad teardrop and water feature. to dig and dig until you find something, then embellish that something and

For almost a decade now, Strauss has lived across multiple

create a narrative. ‘Sometimes, you need to add that magic,’ he says, ‘in

cities, observing as he goes. ‘When it comes to work, I’m always

which case a reflection of the context and the community or, often, art is

travelling. This doesn’t stop me from collecting things along the

the best way to do it.’ His interiors for Pulitzer Amsterdam do just this,

way. Over the years, my London apartment has become something

pairing historical elements – rich in the narratives of trade merchants and

you would expect in the basement of a museum: a really eclectic

Dutch aristocracy – with contemporary design.

collection of things. I love it all. I definitely am a collector, but with dreams of being a minimalist.’

Of his design sensibility, Strauss is clear – avoid gimmicks and

home of Riggs National Bank, bank of choice for 23 American presidents.

trends. ‘It’s important to be aware of what others are doing. But to

For Strauss, acknowledging this backstory and encouraging an apprecia-

have a better chance of creating something timeless and authentic,

tion of the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival-style architecture were

you need to look away and come up with the right unique solution

critical to conceptualising a hotel that would engage with its surrounding

for the task at hand. It’s harder and takes longer but it’s so much

community. Much of the building’s original features – the bank vault, over-

more rewarding in the end.’

sized chandeliers, brass detailing, pillars and coffered ceilings – have been

It’s from designing with such longevity in mind and from the re-

preserved. Strauss’s interiors allude to the ‘bank of presidents’ heritage,

sponses he receives to his work that Strauss draws reward. ‘For

particularly in four First Lady suites. Having been granted visits to the White

me, the sign of a successful project is when guests connect with

House by the White House Historical Association, he took inspiration from,

something I’ve designed. I don’t believe in dictating what the

among others, First Lady Louisa Adams’ passion for music and First Lady

connection is – it’s far more special for someone to discover it for

Caroline Harrison’s collection of porcelain.

him- or herself.’ t

‘I have always experimented and created,’ says Strauss, who spent much of 2020’s hard lockdown painting over 50 artworks for the suites of the newly opened Lyle Washington DC. ‘That aspect of my life, especially with regards to design, has not changed. I’m told I was always an observer and I think that this is still part of my character today – being sensitive to, and aware of, my surroundings.’

78 Val de Vie

Jacu’s work has been shortlisted in The Americas 2021 Shortlist for the Restaurant And Bar Design Awards (RBDA). The winners are to be announced on 15 October 2021. Categories include: • Americas Standalone: Café Riggs • Americas Luxury: Café Riggs • Americas Hotel: Lyle’s and Café Riggs For more information, visit restaurantandbardesignawards.com

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

The grand building that houses Riggs Washington DC has a history that begged to be retold. Built in 1891, the landmarked property was once the

profile

‘I really care about fighting bigotry and inequality in many areas,’ she says, ‘so these issues obviously come through in the writing and in the characters.’

She says you can trace evidence of how motherhood has impacted her writing from her second novel, Zoo City, in which one of her characters has a sloth on her back. ‘She can’t get rid of it, she’ll die without it, and she needs to look after it,’ she explains. ‘I had a three-month-old baby at the time, so you can draw a pretty obvious parallel. Becoming a mother has also been foundational. I think it’s that ferocity of motherhood – the sudden connection to someone you are

The Futurist

now responsible for.’

Published in 2010, Zoo City was the book that paved the

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR LAUREN BEUKES MAY BE GROUNDED FOR NOW, CUT OFF FROM GLOBAL TRAVEL FOR CRITICAL RESEARCH, BUT THERE ARE NO BOUNDARIES TO IMAGINATION.

way into the literary stratosphere for Beukes. It earned her the Arthur C. Clarke Award, one of science-fiction’s biggest writing prizes, and – apart from bringing on Gwyneth Paltrow-level emotions (sans blubbing) during her acceptance speech – also supplied the jet-fuel she needed to write 2013’s The Shining Girls. That book certainly gripped imaginations,

B Y KEITH BAIN

notably that of Leonardo DiCaprio who immediately optioned the screen rights.

Beukes says as much as she’s often categorised as a sci-

A D E E P LY P E R S O N A L S T R A N D runs through

fi writer, she’s really more cross-genre, although – as with

Afterland, the fifth novel by Cape Town author Lauren Beukes.

the time-travelling serial-killer hook in The Shining Girls – her

It’s that of a mother’s unrelenting efforts to protect her son

novels are all high-concept; they each hinge on a big, com-

from insidious danger on all fronts. Even with everything else

pelling idea that gives rise to epic speculation, either about

going on in the book – the dystopian landscape, the brutal

the future or an alternative reality. And so, while it’s a mother’s

violence, the hard-boiled chase – it’s the immutability of her

connection to her son that drives Afterland’s emotional core,

love for him, the invisible force of her emotional connection,

it’s the book’s post-pandemic, just-around-the-corner future

that pulses through the pages and captures your heart.

setting that’ll make you sit up and pay attention.

It might be because the high stakes of their relationship are

In it, Beukes imagines a world in which almost all males

gleaned from a very real emotional place. ‘Their relationship

have been killed by a viral contagion whose flu-like symptoms

is very similar to my relationship with my daughter,’ Beukes

rapidly mutate to aggressive prostate cancer. That’s spook-

says. ‘She is impossibly bolshie and full of nonsense and

ily prescient, especially since the book was released just a

an absolute delight and so smart and compassionate – and

couple of months into last year’s global shutdown.

I worry about all the ways the world is going to hurt her because she is those things.’

There’s a sense of caring very deeply for others – worrying, perhaps, the way moms do – that underscores her writing. If you trace a line through her career, from her days as a journalist, you’ll notice her deep compassion for people at the margins, empathy for the downtrodden and dispossessed.

Author Lauren Beukes pictured with a few of her lockdown companions: shelves crammed with all manner of books, and Ivy, the cat.

While the overlap between the book’s viral pandemic and our own was pure coincidence, Beukes says her epidemiological research had armed her with a very real sense of the trajectory humanity was facing – and how the pandemic might play out. ‘I knew, for example, that there was no way we were only in for a three-week lockdown,’ she says. ‘I had already cancelled my US book tour in February last year.’

Her heart was forged in the fires of apartheid South Africa,

Yet, while she was clued-up on the science and was

and she says that growing up in ‘what was effectively Utopia

double-masking and exercising extreme caution from the

for white people at a terrible cost to everyone else’ has made

pandemic’s get-go, nothing prepared her for the isolation,

her incredibly socially conscious.

from being cut off from her people. ‘For the first few months,

It’s why there’s invariably a social justice element to her work,

I was entirely alone in a house. That loss of human connection

whether she’s highlighting the horrors of a high-tech future or

was incredibly tough – devastating.’ She says that initially she

humanising sex workers.

could barely read, let alone write.

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PHOTOGRAPH: NAZREEN ESSACK

profile

the Century, for which she collaborated with a group of climate scientists), and when she thinks back to a time when – perhaps in a bar, or at the end of a signing – strangers would come up and talk to her about her books. ‘They’d say things like, “That echoed my experience, thank you for writing that.” I think that’s where writing becomes exciting, where you really do connect with readers.’

Connecting with people is the backbone of her research too, and – given the long, lonely hours and backbreaking toil of writing – it’s the research that’s her favourite part of embarking on a novel; it’s when she gets to listen to people’s stories, hear their ideas and get into conversations that give rise to diverse opinions. ‘Talking to people and finding out

currently filming in Chicago and I haven’t been able to go...

With Afterland, not only would we normally do a book tour but I would go to all the festivals – and that stuff was actually really important to boost the profile of the book, to try and get booksellers on board, to reach the reading public – and I haven’t been able to do that. So, I felt very cut off, very isolated, especially in South Africa with our travel bans.’

about their experiences allows me to create more compelling characters, and more points of view,’ she says.

‘Normally, I do a deep dive into one city, like Chicago [for The Shining Girls], or Detroit [for Broken Monsters], but for Afterland, it was more complex because it involved a crosscountry road trip interspersed with time in key cities,’ she says. From touring Salt Lake City with an ex-Mormon to exploring Miami’s art scene to visiting a retired strippers’ club in Atlanta, she says she relishes that sense of being on an adventure. And while the research is always an excuse to have fun, she says, it’s also there to give texture and authenticity to the work. ‘Whether it’s location scouting or paying

Despite these laments, Beukes says she’s very fortunate

close attention to the scenery in order to be able to accu-

to have film deals and book contracts at a time when many

rately describe the dawn light reflecting off the salt as you’re

artists are struggling for survival. When I speak to her, she’s

driving through Utah, I do think it makes my writing richer.’

on a massive deadline; her impatience to get back to work

It’s the inability to indulge her fascination with and curi-

translates into a detectable edge in her voice. She prick-

osity about the world and being able to connect with the

les at dumb questions about feminism (‘Don’t worry, boys,

people in it that has dampened her spirits over the last

I don’t hate you,’ she quips as she repeats the point she’d

18 months. She says that her friend circle mostly shares

driven home in Afterland, that feminism is about equality, not

her cautiousness and her commitment to following good

gender superiority); and she bubbles over into anger when

science-based coverage of the pandemic. ‘It’s meant that

talking about ‘bastard’ oligarchs and billionaires, like Jeff

we only really meet outside, and – on the upside – I’ve done

Bezos (‘who doesn’t pay taxes but still asked for govern-

many more walks and mini-hikes than I’ve ever done be-

ment funding for his space mission’) and Musk (‘who could

fore.’ She’s also bought herself a mountain bike, spawning

pay for South Africa’s entire vaccination programme without

a new way of clearing her head, whether between writing

noticing a dent in his pocket’), not to mention the autocrats

stints or while thinking about whatever issue beckons. The

who are running the world and destroying it.

trouble, she jokes, is that she’s situated in the hilliest part of

There’s a mournfulness, too; people have collectively

Cape Town, which adds a degree of suffering.

gone down in her estimation. If so many are unable to do

Then again, if the trials and tribulations of being a parent

their bit to help end the pandemic – whether by wearing

could help birth such tangible expressions of human con-

masks or getting vaccinated – how, she wonders, will we be

nection in Afterland, perhaps the loneliness of lockdown

able to prevent the slow burn of climate change?

and saddle-sore suffering of uphill cycling will percolate into

She softens, though, when talking about positive projects she’s been involved in (like an online game called Survive

82 Val de Vie

something profound. Perhaps even a story we’re soon able to discuss in a crowded bar. t

PHOTOGRAPH: TABITHA GUY

‘In terms of my career, it’s been awful. The Shining Girls is

Long before Covid-19 had become part of our daily lives, Lauren Beukes was imagining a world transformed by a pandemic in her latest novel, Afterland – a strange and speculative future now made eerily real.

focus

Rev-olution WHILE CHANGE MAY OFTEN BE CAUSE FOR CONCERN OR UNCERTAINTY, IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY, CHANGE MAY ALSO MEAN OPPORTUNITY AND, FOR MOTORISTS, AN UNFORESEEN BOON.

THE DELOITTE REPORT appears gloomy at first glance.

The real impact may only be felt in 14 years’ time, but forward-

The study headlined ‘The Future of Automotive Sales and Af-

thinking OEMs are already looking sharply at competitive ways

tersales: Impact of Current Industry Trends on OEM Revenues

to close deals. And while these offers are undoubtedly driven

and Profits Until 2035’ predicts a struggle to remain profitable

by desire to bolster turnover and profitability, there is a rather

unless there is significant transformation.

appealing consequence for motorists: they’re accessing un-

According to Dr Thomas Schiller, managing partner clients and industries at Deloitte, the global automotive industry is on the cusp of a monumental transformation.

precedentedly good deals.

Just one example is a current campaign at Volvo Car South Africa, whereby the company is currently offering 0% balloon,

‘Besides technological trends in the area of connected cars,

0% deposit, and a lending offer of prime minus two. This means

e-mobility and autonomous driving,’ he says, ‘we can observe

that an XC40 works out to R10 300 per month and an XC60 to

significantly changing customer preferences in terms of mobil-

R13 100 per month. These are all extremely safe and luxurious

ity usage and buying preferences.’

cars that, before the introduction of these offers, were priced

The e-mobility trend is especially significant; the report ex-

out of range for many South Africans.

plains that the move to electrification will consequently impact

This strategy dovetails neatly with the recommendations

negatively the OEM’s highly profitable aftersales business. The

contained in the Deloitte study: ‘OEMs have to significantly

decline will be as much as 10 percent, despite the car parc

transform their current sales and aftersales network regardless

growing by more than 50 percent.

of the future-state scenario.’

Couple this potentially perilous future with sluggish local new

On a practical level, Deloitte says that this must involve in-

car sales impacted no doubt by price increases (in South Af-

troducing new digital experiences, developing a truly seamless

rica, new and used vehicle prices contributed 11,2 and 10,5

digital customer experience and optimising the total cost of

percent respectively to inflation in the past year) and it paints a

ownership (TCO) for vehicle owners.

bleak picture for the OEMs. But not necessarily.

Deloitte says car companies can prosper but the transformation of current products and processes must be a priority.

The future may hold uncertainty for some but for motorists committing to owning a top tier vehicle, a decidedly appealing financial future is just around the corner. t

Can you recall what your first Volvo was? Perhaps

Q&A

WITH RYK NEETHLING VAL DE VIE ESTATE MARKETING DIRECTOR

you had one in the family when you were a child?

This is the first time that I am driving a Volvo but my swim coach drove a Volvo 264.

It was as dependable and steady as him.

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

Volvo has been

You’ve driven all the

Do you have a

What has been

When you talk to

known for safety for

cars but what’s your

favourite feature

your experience of

family and friends

decades – what do

favourite nameplate

for the other two,

using the Volvo On

about the Volvos that

you love about the

(XC40, XC60 or

the XC40 and XC90?

Call facility?

you drive, what is

Volvo brand today?

XC90) and why?

The 360-degree sur-

Comes in handy when

your top boast point?

Safety, for sure,

I enjoy the XC60:

round view cameras!

you lock your keys in

It’s everything I want

combined with sleek

economical, safe and

the car, that’s for sure!

and need in a car. Once

Scandinavian design.

perfect for my lifestyle.

people drive and experience it, they agree.

Young Blood ENERGY, PASSION, SKILL AND SACRIFICE ARE ONLY SOME OF THE FACTORS IN PLAY WHEN A YOUNG SOUTH AFRICAN GOLFER REACHES FOR TOP RANKING ON THE GLOBAL CIRCUIT. AND THEN THERE’S THE X-FACTOR… B Y S T U A RT MC L E A N

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN is an Open champion and South Africa’s top-

And it’s not just boys. Girls with high-powered swings have been

ranked golfer for the last decade. His PGA Tour profile shows career

emerging with similar hopes, inspired by women professionals Lee-Anne

earnings in excess of $28 million, life changing in that it has allowed

Pace and Ashleigh Buhai, who have taken their careers to the heights of

him and his family the luxury to shift residence from this country to the

the LPGA Tour in America. Caitlyn Macnab, 19, is our promising female

United States to pursue his dream.

equivalent of Jarvis. At Serengeti Golf Estate, she played in the men’s

Such a lifestyle makes professional golf appear a highly desirable, lu-

club championships off the back tees and beat all the male contenders.

crative career path for talented young golfers in this country (and a tempt-

Parents and mentors have a significant influence and impact on the

ing one too for parents whose children show an aptitude for breaking par).

golfing development of a child dreaming of a career playing golf. It’s an

It’s why hundreds of teenagers are currently displaying an immense

addictive game, filled with emotional highs and lows. Youngsters need

competitive talent for the game in South Africa. Junior tournaments

motivation and support, and a large financial investment to pay for the

today are a stepping stone to becoming a professional. Some, like

best equipment, coaching and travel costs to compete in the busy

up-and-coming 18-year-old prodigy Casey Jarvis, who was shooting

amateur circuit around the country.

scores in the 60s in tournaments at age 13, look preordained for stardom, yet others of varying ability are chasing the same dream.

Parents, on the other hand, need a healthy dose of reality in assessing their children’s potential. Are they skilful and mature enough to

sa talent

embrace an environment as competitive as pro golf? Parents who don’t

Those who turn professional soon discover the layers that lie be-

face up to how challenging it is – and the astronomical odds weighing

tween them and reaching the top echelon. There is a hierarchy in pro-

against their offspring – can cause harm. An 18-year-old fresh out of

fessional golf. For South Africans, it begins with gaining experience

school might appear to have the perfect game, yet not possess the in-

on the developmental Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour in Gauteng among

ner strength for what lies ahead.

others of similar ability. From there, they can progress to the Sunshine

Anton Haig was a youngster who seemingly broke the mould. SA

Tour, with its more substantial prize money. A good living and experi-

Amateur champion at 16, he turned pro at 18 and went overseas to

ence can be enjoyed, yet those who do well at this level are often

campaign as a professional on the minor tours. He didn’t enjoy the life,

content with what they have. They have likely tried the European Chal-

missing his family and friends, but persevered. Two years later, in 2007,

lenge Tour, and found the competition, travel and the huge expense too

he struck gold by winning one of the biggest European Tour events, the

demanding for their liking.

Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand. Overnight, he was a multimillionaire and in the top 100 of the world ranking.

Bridging the gap from the top level of amateur golf to a mainstream professional tour is not straightforward. The biggest drawback for any

‘I suddenly had plenty of money to behave badly,’ he revealed in an

rookie is that the pro fields for tournaments are studded with quality

interview with Golf Digest magazine. ‘I invited 90 people to a game

performers in depth. Everyone is that much better, more consistent

reserve for my 21st birthday party. I had endorsement deals, including

and experienced. The pressure is intense, starting with the spectre of

one with a luxury watchmaker, and was exempt into World Golf Cham-

the 36-hole cut to play the final two rounds and earn prize money.

pionship events with guaranteed prize money. Unfortunately, I didn’t

Missing the cut can be a depressing experience for any new young

have an off switch when it came to enjoying myself. My golf career

professional, and the quality of the golf usually means that the cut is an

started going south and I didn’t know what to do without it. Golf was

under-par figure. It’s one of the issues rookies quickly have to learn to

my life – it was all I knew.’

handle, and bounce back at the following event.

Haig hit rock bottom, financially bankrupt before he was 30 and in re-

Spotting our next likely major champion, or even a multimillion dollar

habilitation for a year at a recovery centre on the KwaZulu-Natal South

performer and regular tour winner, has been an ongoing pursuit for our

Coast. Today, at 35, he is back playing golf, but nowhere near the level

sporting public ever since the 1960s when Gary Player was showing

he had reached at 20. ‘In retrospect, playing golf and turning pro as a

the world that someone from a tiny golfing nation could overcome the

teenager was damaging in that I missed group activities. I was a social

American giants. What is considered a niche sport in South Africa –

person but I was in a lonely profession,’ he admitted.

where the total number of golf courses is just two percent of that of the

Junior golfers have another newish encumbrance. They are in-

United States – has, despite this disparity, resulted in phenomenally tal-

creasingly introduced by golf-playing parents to swinging a club when

ented golfers buoyed by our naturally competitive nature and passion

toddlers, and could be playing competitively from as young as five while

for the game. But grit and drive can take you only so far.

the majority of their peers are developing essential life skills in ordinary

Of the hundreds of promising golfing contenders over the last

play. The early discipline only works with some. Several burn out in

60 years, only a handful can today call themselves major champions

their teens as enthusiasm and confidence wane. The mental strength

in Player’s footsteps. Well, five to be exact: Ernie Els, Retief Goosen,

and overwhelming confidence needed to succeed at golf is a sizeable

Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. They belong

factor. Without that, positive outcomes are not likely to happen on the

to an exclusive club that must, in part, drive all young golfers to dream.

golf course.

They won all their majors in an 18-year window between 1994 and 2012, coincidentally the first 18 years of a new South Africa. It was a hugely exciting time for South African golf with nine major wins in nine

At 18 years old, up-and-coming South African gold prodigy Casey Jarvis is already breaking records. When he was 16, he eclipsed a 51-year record by becoming the youngest winner in South African Stroke Play Championship history. Dubbed ‘The Machine’ by his peers, he went on to become the first amateur to complete the GolfRSA South African Swing Triple Crown.

different years from a variety of star names.

Els was the last to win a major, at the mature age of 42, so Schwartzel is the last youngster to have made that huge leap, winning a Masters green jacket in 2011 at the age of 26. His stunning victory at Augusta

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sa talent

on the PGA Tour, the youngest South African in 63 years to achieve his maiden victory in America. Gary Player was four months older than Higgo when he had his breakthrough triumph in Kentucky in 1958. Higgo is not only our youngest winner, but the first left-hander from South Africa to win on either the PGA or European Tour.

Higgo is also only the 20th golfer from South Africa and its neighbouring countries to win on the PGA Tour – a statistic which speaks volumes for the rarity of the achievement.

An important aspect of his development as a champion golfer is that his progress through the amateur ranks coincided with the rise of another eye-catching performer in 21-year-old Wilco Nienaber, who is thrilling galleries around the world with his prodigious long hitting. A Bloemfontein boy, Nienaber should have had his breakthrough win on the European Tour in the 2020 Joburg Open at Randpark, only to stumble at the very end, after leading for most of the tournament, with nervous bogeys on the last two holes.

The paths of Higgo and Nienaber (11 months apart in age) resemble those first taken 30 years ago by Goosen and Els (nine months apart), and again 20 years back by Oosthuizen and Schwartzel (22 months apart). The parallels are fascinating in the way their careers overlapped from an early age, and hopefully point to them also becoming major champions in the FROM TOP Caitlyn Macnab at the 2018 Canon Ladies Tshwane Open. Following an extraordinary 12 months, she was named a finalist in the 2021 Momentum gsport Awards in August; Another youngster, 2021 Dimension Data Pro-Am winner Wilco Nienaber is considered to be one of the longest drivers in professional golf – think 439 yards at the November 2020 Joburg Open.

years ahead.

The history of golf shows that strong rivalries between talented young players of similar ages can have a supremely beneficial impact that goes on to serve them well as professionals. We have seen it locally in recent years among four other outstanding young golfing professionals – Danie van Tonder, hout – who have cumulatively won eight tournaments on the

the 2010 Open, appeared to presage another golden era in our

European Tour.

golfing history. But to our great disappointment, it didn’t hap-

South Africans have taken different routes to the profession-

pen. A decade has now passed without anyone new winning

al level. For those prodigies who excel at an early age, home

one of the four majors, despite an annual roll-out of seemingly

schooling has become the norm in the last decade. Higgo left

exciting prospects ever since.

Paul Roos High School in Stellenbosch after Grade 10, so that

It all goes to show the level of quality needed to win a major

he could play golf in America on family-funded trips. His coach,

championship and the belief system that drives golfers to that

Cliff Barnard from Plettenberg Bay CC, says that Higgo’s great-

pinnacle. And lady luck needs to on your side, as we’ve seen

est strength is his mind. ‘I’ve never seen a golfer with such a

on more than one occasion with Oosthuizen, where a Masters

fantastic temperament for the game. He is mature beyond his

green jacket and a US Open trophy have been snatched away

years, which is a massive advantage over his peers.’

from him on the line through astonishing moments of brilliance by his closest rivals.

It was thrilling to see Garrick Higgo emerging this year as the latest newcomer to properly excite us. In June, just a month after his 22nd birthday, he won the Palmetto Championship

88 Val de Vie

After school, the choice as an amateur is either to remain in South Africa and become part of the national squad, competing in tournaments funded by GolfRSA, or accept a golf scholarship to a college in the United States.

Far and away, it’s rarefied air for an exceptional few. t

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUNSHINE LADIES TOUR; SUPPLIED

Brandon Stone, Haydn Porteous and Christiaan BezuidenNational, and that of 27-year-old Oosthuizen at St Andrews in

body & mind

As head of the Kyudo Club Cape Town, Gregg Adams is relishing the opportunity to find balance through the conscientious practice of Japanese archery. It’s all about consistency and commitment.

DISSATISFIED WITH UNWINDING purely through his sports and hobbies, Gregg Adams began developing an interest in ancient Chinese and Japanese practices towards improving health, wellness, mindfulness and concentration. It was this curiosity that led him to the ancient Japanese martial art of kyudo (Japanese archery) and, ultimately, heading up the Cape Town dojo under the All South African Kyudo Federation (ASAKYF).

It has led him on a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement, and has afforded him a way to disconnect from his work as an environmental officer and Green Scorpion for the Western Cape Government Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.

‘I had developed an interest in archery but the Western practice didn’t appeal to me. Then I received a newsletter that included an article titled “Zanshin: Learning the Art of Attention and Focus from a Legendary Samurai Archer”.’ In the article, writer James Clear described how master Awa Kenzo had guided his student – German philsopher Eugene Herrigel – who had become frustrated and discouraged by his wayward arrows. ‘It is not whether one aimed, but how one approached the task that determined the outcome,’ said Kenzo.

This triggered the connection Adams was seeking and further research led him to the founder of kyudo in South Africa, Jade Fraundorfer, who was conducting a seminar in Cape Town. Now, after five years’ training, Adams is a certified junior instructor,

Body, Mind & Bow

having received the grade of Shodan (first dan) in Japan. The Cape Town dojo is regularly invited to demonstrate kyudo at the annual Japan Day hosted by the Japanese Consulate.

‘Kyudo has taught me the value of consistency and the impact of one’s commitment on a task at hand – how this impacts on the self and the other – whether it be how I care for my 89-year-old mom; how I practise guitar,

KYUDO, THE ‘WAY OF THE BOW’, IS AN ANCIENT FORM OF ARCHERY FIRST PRACTISED BY JAPANESE SAMURAI. THE REAL TRIUMPH COMES IN MASTERING CONSISTENCY AND COMMITMENT.

PHOTOGRAPH: VLADIA BAJEROVSKA PHOTOGRAPHY @VLADIAPHOTOGRAPHY

BY D EBBIE H ATH WAY

dance or Tai Chi; and how I relate to colleagues and those I serve as a public servant. I have also learnt that you have to put your knowledge into practice, that knowing is not enough, and that you often need to revisit what you know,’ says Adams.

Taking increasingly good care of body and soul is a growing focus for many people living through the current pandemic but it’s something the Japanese have been practising for centuries. Kyudo takes the philosophy a step further, aiming to unite mind, body and bow in one harmonious whole.

Learning to hit a target at 28 metres with a massive asymmetrical bow is reserved for competition but focus too much on hitting the target and you’re

likely to lose your composure. ‘Kyudo is the way of perfect virtue. In the shooting, one must search for rightness in oneself. With the rightness of self, shooting can be realised. When shooting fails, there should be no resentment towards those who win. On the contrary, this is an occasion to search for oneself.’

It’s unlike any other sport. Adams says that technical prowess creates the opportunity to work on the beauty of expression. ‘And as you let go of your technique, you begin to appreciate the expression of your art or actions on others and its impact, directly or indirectly, on those you come into contact with, however trivial or significant. It could be the acknowledgment of someone’s presence, the focus needed when caring for the aged, or presenting your kyudo to masters in Japan.’

In practice, the goal is to establish a stable mind and body to develop an assured and well-honed technique.

Archers must stand with spine straight, shoulders back, in perfect balance, with energy focused on the lower abdomen. Concentrate to the max to release the arrow when the time is right – calmly, precisely and boldly. If done correctly, this will lead to an accurate hit.

‘If you are unable to consciously implement what is needed to improve your technique, the bow will highlight your imperfections in the absence of your teacher. It is an implement of self-discovery. The target is always within, and if that’s achieved, the arrow – or any action we take – will be expressed truthfully,’ says Adams. t Visit the Kyudo Club Cape Town Facebook page, kyudocapetown.com or asakyf.co.za for more details.

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Leading The Charge THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF VIRTUAL ARGY-BARGY BETWEEN THE HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS ABOUT ELECTRIC BIKES BUT WHILE THE TWO CAMPS FIGHT, GLOBAL SALES ARE BOOMING. B Y K AT H Y MA L H E R B E

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on the move

ASK ANY CYCLIST what the greatest detractors are for the sport and they will tell you headwinds and hills. This is where the e-bike steps (or pedals) right in to assist. Note: not take over – just assist. A misconception among brawn-only cyclists is that the engine replaces leg power. But e-bikes only help those who help themselves. The battery-powered assistance from the integrated electric motor only kicks in if you pedal. So, when the road rises up to meet you, it gives you a boost ranging from ‘eco’ to ‘turbo’, depending on your level of fitness, the strength of the wind or the gradient of the hill.

Andrew McLean – founder of Cycle Lab, South Africa’s largest specialist cycling retailer – is a cycling aficionado, not to mention multiple podium winner. A Springbok cyclist, he has 25 Cape Epic stage wins and three overall wins under his saddle and has won the Giro del Capo, an international tour that included the Cape Town Cycle Tour as the final stage, a number of times. He says the current ratio of e-bikes to standard in South Africa is roughly 1:8 (this in the R70 000 plus price range), which he predicts will be turned around in the next five years. With an entry-level price of Cycle Lab’s KTM brand going for R60 000 and a top-of-the-range bike selling for the price of a small car, owning an e-bike must be very compelling.

McLean says, ‘You definitely get bang for your buck. It’s an investment in healthy living and the price resistance level is increasing. That said, we understand most people can’t afford to splash out the cash, which is why Cycle Lab has introduced a unique financing system for customers.’

E-bikes are becoming the ‘little engines that could’ as more riders – even the hardline traditionalists – are taking to the machines that take them further and faster. Getting fit just became a little less painful.

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THE E-BIKE BOOM

E-bikes have opened up a new world for those whose physical barriers

Even BC (‘before Covid’), interest in higher-

prevented them from normal cycling, adds McLean. ‘It’s liberating for those

end e-bikes was growing. Then the global

who may have a heart condition, have back and knee problems or are

pandemic saw a massive move towards

recovering from an injury or illness, and it increases the longevity of cycling

healthier living, getting outdoors and

for older people. Because the hill is no longer a slog, they can ride with

exercising. Combined with improvements

younger, fitter people and not hold anyone up. Contrary to the detractors,

in lithium-ion batteries, pricing and power,

e-bikers can spend up to 65 percent more time in the saddle than normal

this led to a surge in the purchase of

cyclists, become healthier and see weight loss results.’

e-bikes for recreation, fitness, commuting

It’s also an ego-redeeming solution when the child you used to ‘palm assist’ gently up steep gradients suddenly starts overtaking you on hills in his adolescence.

and even towing a small trailer to the local market to shop.

In December 2020, Deloitte released its

What an e-bike is not: a cop-out for couch potatoes.

comprehensive technology predictions,

It’s not complicated either. The bike charges on a normal plug and the

including a bull market for bikes, especially

size of the battery as well as the level of assistance you require will deter-

e-bikes. The company predicts that the

mine how far you can ride.

$25,03 billion spent in 2020, will reach an

‘It completely levels the playing field for all cyclists,’ says McLean. ‘And

estimated $48,6 billion by 2028. Europeans

it’s not just for older and mildly infirm riders. Recently, I sold a bike to the

are expected to buy an extra 10 million

parents of a 10-year-old who has a heart condition who can now ride with

bikes per year by 2030. This 30 million per

the family.’

year total will take bike sales to more than

Interestingly, there’s quite a gender difference when it comes to owning e-bikes: 70 percent are owned by men and 30 percent by women glob-

twice the number of passenger cars currently registered annually in the EU.

CONFESSIONS OF A TRADITIONALIST

BY ZEYD SULAIMAN I may have been wrong. When an older person in flip-flops and a bright floral shirt whizzes past me up a steep and difficult climb on an unmistakable e-bike, I may mutter all the bad things that we ‘normal’ mountain bikers tend to associate with them, including the ‘too lazy’ label. I’m wrong. Specialized South Africa’s Kylie Hanekom, who heads up the company’s marketing arm, believes that the e-bike is changing the face of cycling in our beautiful country, and around the world.

‘Cycling can be intimidating and uncomfortable for those starting out with a low level of fitness or with injuries, or even just for those riders trying to keep up with much fitter friends and family members. E-bikes have allowed these riders to share in the sport and enjoy the outdoors in a way they would never previously have been able to,’ says Hanekom.

While today’s cars look to better fuel efficiency and performance, e-bikes are also rapidly evolving to offer riders a better experience.

on the move

ally, with the EU a more dominant 90 percent to 10 percent. However,

developments focused on lighter batteries that last longer and lighter

McLean predicts that this will change in the future as bikes become

motors. McLean says, ‘The biggest challenge is to make them lighter

lighter and easier to handle.

and less cumbersome. Even though most e-bikes have a walk assist

Note to the adrenaline junkies too: just because there’s a motor in

button, which ‘walks’ your bike up hills and over gnarly tracks, the aim

your bike, it doesn’t mean you can go as fast as you wish. At a certain

is still to reduce the weight – with smaller batteries, motors and lighter

speed, the pedal assist stops helping you, although top speed varies

frames – to as low as 12 or 13 kilograms.’ The breakthroughs in lithi-

from 32km/h in the USA to 25km/h in Europe and South Africa.

um technology have made e-bikes lighter and more efficient, and the

There’s always one though… ‘Some people “jailbreak” their bikes –

most expensive bikes have a range of between 60 to 140 kilometres,

in other words, jippo the system so the bikes go over their maximum

depending on how much assistance you use. Current middle-of-the-

speed limit,’ says Deon du Toit from Cycle Lab, an enthusiast whose

range bikes can go for around 80 kilometres without recharging, again

knowledge of e-bikes is prolific. He mentions a master fitter he knows

depending on how much engine assist you use.

who chipped his e-bike to go at 70km/h – with disastrous results. He

It’s the driving force behind investigations into ‘wireless charging’

says the speed ‘handbrake’ is there for safety reasons. ‘Turbo boosting

and even a regenerative braking system on e-bikes. ‘Like Formula One

the bike is dangerous and readers should definitely not try this at home.’

cars,’ says McLean, ‘under braking, the car recovers some of the ki-

If the need for speed is not the future of e-bikes, where is develop-

netic energy and uses it to charge a battery, which can then be used to

ment heading? McLean says despite the quality and technology in cur-

propel the car again. On an e-bike, this would offer a totally new level

rent e-bikes, you can compare the present electric bike technology to

of freedom.’

the first ‘brick’ Motorola mobile and the development in the next five years to the iPhone 12 Plus.

One of the most recent developments in e-bikes is the larger front and smaller rear wheels allowing a tighter turning circle, with most new

lating about crossing to the other side, take Larry Olmsted, Forbes lifestyle journalist’s advice and ‘stop wishing you owned an e-bike and just buy one already’. t

‘Since the Generation 1 Turbo Levo was launched in 2015,’

Getting fit aside, there’s a bigger issue. While in South Africa

she says, ‘we’ve seen improvements with each iteration in

road safety issues mean that e-bikes are not yet necessarily an

motor power and smoothness, battery life, range, system

option for commuting, globally, e-commuters are the fastest-

reliability, overall ride quality, and huge advances in the overall

growing segment in cycling. And they nudge the climate change

eco-system.’

narrative forward when they cite lower traffic density and re-

You might be able to pimp your ride if you’re into the hobby

duced CO2 emissions.

but no one’s going to mess about with their German-engi-

‘E-bike technology is bound to migrate to other sectors of

neered sedan. It seems e-bikes beg for a little personalised

the cycling industry, including greater improvements and adap-

tinkering. ‘Riders are able to completely custom-tune their ride

tations to the commute bike and the natural opportunities that

experience using the Mission Control app, and even perform

these will create for the intracity courier and transport services.

in-field diagnostics on their bike,’ says Hanekom

In simple terms, think of each cycling courier that you see as

And it’s not only the bike that’s evolving. Hanekom sees an expansion in buyer profile, with the elderly leisure rider being PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

There’s not much ‘not to like’ about e-bikes. So, for those still vacil-

one less car on the road. This is a really exciting prospect for the future,’ she says.

joined by those who want to develop their technical skills and

E-bikes are now a part of the cycling landscape and purists like

time-crunched riders who want to ride further and faster on

myself will have to re-holster our elitism. Inclusion of any kind

weekends to build fitness. ‘It’s all about squeezing the most out

in a world that can often feel very exclusive is a force for good

of riding time, but still being able to keep up with a group. Older

that we must embrace. I may not ever don a floral shirt but I’ll fly

riders want to be able to share the sport with their families and

colours for anyone on two wheels who loves the sport as much

e-bikes have become a tool to have more fun with,’ she says.

as I do.

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95

Blouse, OPARI. Bodysuit, stylist’s own.

Skirt, Flamenco Fanatic.

Boots, Country Road.

Hat, Stetson.

Earrings, Lovisa.

Horse bridle, Horse and Style.

Horse, What A Thrill.

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97

Blouse, Country Road.

Pants, Rag & Bone.

Scarf, Trenery.

Belt, Equestrian Affair.

OPPOSITE Bodysuit, Amaio.

Skirt, Zara.

Earrings, OPARI. Bag, OPARI. Bracelet, Lovisa.

Horse bridle and rein, owner’s own.

Horse, Spanish Dancer.

Blouse, OPARI. Bodysuit, Amaio.

Leather cincher, Zara.

Earrings, Lovisa.

PHOTOGRAPHS:

OPPOSITE Dress, OPARI. Hat, BeachCult.

Belt, stylist’s own.

Earrings, Lovisa.

Horse bridle and rein, owner’s own.

Horse, Picasso’s Ambition.

flag

Jacket, Rubyyes.

Dress, Christy Dawn.

Boots, Zara.

Horse bridle and rein, owner’s own.

Horse, Tiran.

Shirt, Espoir Equestrian.

Trousers, Country Road.

Scarf, LE | RU. Earrings, OPARI. Horse, Libby.

OPPOSITE Shirt, Espoir Equestrian.

Skirt, Witchery.

Belt, Witchery.

Earrings, OPARI. Horse leather halter, Horse and Style.

Horse, Paris.

MODEL Danielle Vermaak PHOTOGRAPHERS Chelsea Wilson Chrisél Mouton STYLING Marli van Schalkwyk HAIR & MAKEUP Rentia Weber LOCATION Val de Vie Estate

great escapes

Drying The Cheetah’s Tears AS A SPECIES HUNTED AND TRADED ALMOST TO EXTINCTION, THERE IS HOPE FOR THE FRAGILE CHEETAH POPULATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. B Y JI M F R E E MA N

IN SAN MYTHOLOGY, human-cheetah conflict began soon after the first female gave birth to her maiden cub. While First Mother went hunting, First Hunter passed the den and spotted the little one.

Smitten by its beauty, he craved it as a plaything and stole it away. First Mother returned and couldn’t find her child. For centuries, she sought the lost one, crying ceaselessly. In time, the African sun burned dark runnels from her tear ducts to her chin, until she could cry no more. First Hunter found her in the veld and saw the misery he had caused. He returned the cub but the damage was done – cheetah would always have two stripes to counterpoint their spots.

The story unfolds as Les Slabbert and I sit on Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve near GraaffReinet in the Karoo, watching Ava and her cubs playing topsy-turvy in the winter grass.

‘This is her first litter and often new cheetah moms – especially those born in captivity – lose some, if not all of their offspring because they don’t know how to feed them or protect them from other predators,’ says Les, who has been a ranger for half of his 45 years.

Independence age for cheetah cubs is around 18 months.

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great escapes

‘Ava is a killing machine. Just the other day she brought down a full-grown female kudu. And she’s incredibly protective of her little ones. I believe she’s going to be a “supermom”.’ Ava, it would seem, is going to be a standout success in the fight to grow a stable and healthy population of the most vulnerable of the world’s big cats.

The relationship between man and cheetah has always been fraught, says Vincent van der Merwe, cheetah metapopulation coordinator of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Conservation Programme.

Once found throughout Asia and Africa, there are only about 7 000 adult and adolescent cheetahs remaining in the wild – down from more than 100 000 a century ago.

‘The destruction of the cheetah population boils down to the relationship between agriculture and wildlife,’ maintains Van der Merwe. It’s a struggle that has spanned 13 000 years.

‘There used to be cheetah throughout the Middle East and as far as India and the southern parts of Russia. Now, there are only 40 wild cheetahs in that part of the world.

Similarly, there are only 200 cheetahs left in West Africa.’

There is a population of about 2 100 in East Africa but it’s this region (particularly countries on the Horn of Africa) that supplies the so-called Arab elite who seek exotic pets and are prepared to pay up to $10 000 per animal.

Cheetah do not breed in captivity, so the illegal pet trade is based exclusively on the removal of cubs from mothers. ‘It’s

TODAY, NUMBERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA STAND AT MORE THAN 4 000 ANIMALS, OF WHICH 1 300 ARE IN SOUTH AFRICA – THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WITH A GROWING CHEETAH POPULATION Cheetah once ranged throughout most of subSaharan Africa and into the Middle East and central India, with the name ‘cheetah’ derived from Hindi and Sanskrit. Today, the global cheetah population is fragmented, in part due to agricultural practices, poaching and the exotic pet trade.

estimated that a few hundred cubs are smuggled through Somaliland every year. Tragically, most of them don’t make it across the Red Sea,’ says Van der Merwe.

The pattern of human-wildlife conflict and the extermina-

The reason for this, Van der Merwe maintains, is mainly

tion of carnivores repeated itself in South Africa, especially

because South Africa’s conservation policies fly in the face

after the arrival of European settlers with horses and rifles.

of the widely held belief that stock farmers and predators

‘Cheetah can run fast but they can’t run far,’ says Van der

can coexist. ‘It’s a totally unrealistic expectation. The reason

Merwe. ‘First, they were wiped out in the Western Cape,

we have growing populations of lion, cheetah, leopard and

then the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. By

wild dog is because we practise “fortress conservation”: we

the 1960s, there were only 500 in the Kruger National Park

keep predators safe behind electrified game-fences.’

and the South African portion of Kgalagadi Transfrontier

Included in the country’s cheetah numbers are 478 ani-

Park, then known as the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park.’

mals located on 65 private game reserves. ‘The metapopu-

Today, numbers in southern Africa stand at more than

lation project started with 217 cheetah on 41 private game

4 000 animals (about 60 percent of the world’s wild cheetah

reserves in 2011. We have since expanded to Malawi, Zam-

population), of which 1 300 are in South Africa – the only

bia and Mozambique and – by the end of this year – aim to

country in the world with a growing cheetah population. Lo-

move into India and Zimbabwe.’

cally, at least, although their future remains precarious, the

In the 1980s and ’90s, the previous government intro-

threat of imminent extinction appears to have been averted.

duced two laws that were to have long-term positive effects

110 Val de Vie

on carnivore conservation. The first stipulated that reserves

Pretoria, stepped into the spotlight by introducing a R10 000

wanting to hold big cats on their properties had to enclose

relocation and compensation incentive to game ranchers for

the land with predator-proof fencing. The second piece of

each cheetah captured.

legislation came 10 years later and allowed stock farmers

An unintended consequence of the two laws was a pro-

to raise game instead of domestic animals, with the result

liferation of private game reserves and Van der Merwe es-

that swathes of North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and

timates more than 1 000 were established in the decade

KwaZulu-Natal were turned over to breeding antelope and

straddling the advent of democracy in 1994. A spike in

buffalo. This was as good as issuing an invitation to preda-

foreign tourists wanting to experience the country’s charis-

tors to join the party, especially cheetah, which are too small

matic wildlife – specifically the Big Five – meant that eco-

to kill cattle but are capable of bringing down most antelope.

tourism began to outcompete agriculture as a land-use form.

‘Cheetah poured into these areas after escaping from

Captured cheetah were released on selected private re-

Kruger or crossing the border from Botswana. Suddenly,

serves and it’s on these sub-populations that the EWT’s

we had “problem” cheetah on our newly created game

cheetah metapopulation project (CMP) focuses. Van der

ranches.’ A little-known facility, the De Wildt Cheetah and

Merwe says the project has been an incredible success but

Wildlife Centre (now the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre) near

he insists that the real heroes are the people who bought

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111

great escapes

the old farmlands, restored ecological functionality and re-

All the ingredients of the cheetah conservation recipe

introduced the original prey animals to create safe spaces

come together at Mount Camdeboo, where Les Slab-

for cheetah.

bert spends his days keeping an eye on Ava (originally

The metapopulation is sustained by a small number of

from Ashia) and her cubs, as well as Saba and Nairo,

really fit and fertile females that have been very successful

two three-and-a-half-year-old brothers donated by the

in raising cubs to independence. This, however, causes its

Aspinall Foundation.

own set of problems and more than 80 percent of the 478

At 14 000 hectares, Mount Camdeboo – where Saba

managed through the CMP can trace their genetics back

and Nairo arrived after four months at Ashia – is 400 times

to just a handful of females.

the size of the wild animal park in Kent from which they

Enter the philanthropists – like Stephan Illinberger and

came. The Karoo topography and climate are also dra-

Chantal Rischard of Paarl-based Ashia Cheetah Conser-

matically different. The ‘boys’ were released into a holding

vation, and Damian and Victoria Aspinall in England.

boma until they overcame their travel disorientation before

‘My husband and I had been coming to South Africa

being moved to a 300ha hunting camp that had been

from Germany since the 1990s,’ says Rischard. ‘We re-

stocked with antelope. The camp was devoid of other

tired at the end of 2014 and were on the plane the next

predators and closed to Mount Camdeboo guests.

day to live here permanently. We initially looked to finance

The siblings, says Les, required great care: Saba was

an existing conservation project but ended up buying this

(out of necessity) hand-reared by Victoria Aspinall and the

place in 2016.’ ‘This place’ is a 10-hectare section of a

two were almost tame when they landed in South Africa.

working farm upon which the Ashia not-for-profit wild-

‘They achieved a milestone in their wilding process when

ing and release initiative for captive-born cheetah was

they brought down a kudu bull in December. That’s when

launched in September 2018.

we knew they could be released onto an even bigger area

Rischard emphasises that the Ashia programme is sci-

of the reserve.’

It was fascinating watching this remarkable pair once

gered Wildlife Trust and the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre.

they moved into this 8 000ha section, says Les. ‘On

There are several stages: finding suitable animals, acquiring

one occasion, Nairo – the more adventurous of the two

them, assessment, physical preparation (including weaning

– wandered away in a loop of several kilometres. I was

them off whatever diet they’ve become accustomed to and

tracking Nairo via his collar and knew Saba’s location;

onto fresh venison), relocation to a pre-release facility and

Nairo stopped, turned and – even though he was upwind

phased introduction to the wild. Animals are DNA tested to

– walked straight back to where his brother was lying.’

ensure release will broaden a reserve’s gene pool.

They were home for good. t

Releasing captiveborn cheetah into the wild is a scientifically painstaking process.

Paarl-based Ashia Cheetah Conservation is dedicated to making sure that the cats taken into their care ultimately have the best chance at independence.

PHOTOGRAPHS: JIM FREEMAN, HU-CHEN/UNSPLASH

entifically painstaking and enjoys support from the Endan-

112 Val de Vie

EXTRAORDINARY THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU ABANDON CIVILISATION AND LET THE WILDERNESS CAPTURE YOU.

BY KEITH BAIN

114 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: SCOTT RAMSAY; DAN GRINWIS/UNSPLASH; SUPPLIED

The Wilding

wilderness

IMMERSING YOURSELF in the wild can have all the effects of a drug – a healing psychotropic impact of the sort described not only by the poets and philosophers of naturalism, but increasingly by researchers who prod and poke, measuring theta and other brainwaves with their mobile EEG machines, and their probing questionnaires about mood swings and innermost feelings.

Nature as medicine is a relatively recent field of study but its therapeutic value to us has been known as long as we have lived beyond the wilderness.

Coaxed by our imaginations and endless inventiveness, we abandoned jungles, forests, deserts and empty plains to settle in villages and cities. We traded instinctual living for comfort and safety, convenience and technology. We began to favour intellectual pursuits, leisure time, hedonism and culture. And fell for the endless demands of work to pay for it all.

We gave away the gift of the wild.

Yet, when we step back into those natural realms, places now unfamiliar – even strange – to us, the sensation is of a wound being staunched, a void filled. We breathe, we savour and we feel nourished in ways we barely recognise. It’s a satisfaction different to what we’ve grown up with, because the source is something other than what we’ve been taught to value.

Our brains remember though. The landscape becomes part of an immediate, visceral reality – and there’s mounting evidence to suggest the wild might save us from ourselves.

Few have helped tap into this power of wildness with as much authority as Peter Raimondo, a wilderness guide whose adult life has been dedicated to getting people to spend more time in wild places. He heads up a non-profit called Wild Life Foundation, which raises awareness around the urgent need to preserve the planet’s untouched spaces.

His own backstory is tinged with a kind of magical realism. He recounts his first taste of a pure unadulterated wilderness in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal. Emerging from the bush before returning to civilisation, he says he experienced a form of synaesthesia – ‘lines of light moving across the landscape, extending right around the Earth’ – and, overwhelmingly, a beautiful sense of connection to everything that was alive.

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I FELT MY FEAR ABATE AS OTHER SENSATIONS TOOK HOLD: FREEDOM, BELONGING,

‘Something must have changed in me while we were in the bush. My

carrying an emergency cell phone but you should know that if some-

senses were altered; my hearing, my sight, my sense of smell. Touch was

thing does happen to you, if some animal gets hold of you, by the time

a lot more sensitive.’ He was 13, with no knowledge of psychedelics.

I have found a place where there’s signal and a helicopter’s dispatched,

He says he later experienced a deep sense of estrangement. It trig-

it will probably be too late.’

gered a kind of ‘homesickness’, a yearning for the wild place he’d just

In the weeks building up to my time with Raimondo on a five-day

left. ‘I felt like I’d been torn out; that part of me belonged to that place.

trail, I’d had repeated nightmares involving rhinos skewering me, and

As soon as I got back into the fabricated world, my body became some-

so, yes, I paid mindful attention, and was grateful that Raimondo was

thing that was small and cold and alone. I felt so isolated after the con-

heading up this expedition. Somehow, once we set off with backpacks,

nection I’d experienced in the bush.’

sleeping bags and little more, I felt my fear abate as other sensations

Raimondo says he spent years trying to get back to that transcendent state afforded by being in the wild: studying philosophy, meditating, yoga, veganism… ‘I tried everything but ultimately, my only way back was by becoming a guide and returning to the bush.’

took hold: freedom, belonging, fullness of spirit. I was in my element, not entirely unafraid, but somehow at home, at ease, unknotted.

‘Being in the midst of this wild terrain immediately forced a widening and deepening of all the senses’ is how Co Berendsen, a former direc-

He is a specialist advanced trainer for guides at top luxury lodges but his

tor of Vodafone Netherlands, described his experience. ‘I was instantly

real passion has been leading small groups of corporate leaders into deep

more switched on, more aware. Every creaking branch and rustling leaf

off-grid terrain where his pre-trail briefing includes details such as ‘I am

caught my attention.’

116 Val de Vie

wilderness

FULLNESS OF SPIRIT. I WAS IN MY ELEMENT

arousal) after trips into nature. Even troubled teens taken into the wilds come back happier and less angry.

Much of this has to do with taking us out of our heads and into the physical world. Without the regular distractions of daily life, focus goes to those awe-inducing elements in the environment – scenes we

That sensory arousal made them feel vulnerable and often quite emotional, he says. ‘This turns out to be a state of being that’s very helpful

regard as beautiful now are the same ones that aeons ago demanded our attention in order to survive.

when grappling with life’s big questions. This led to life-changing in-

‘You don’t go into that kind of environment without being affected

sights. Most profound was the realisation that everything is connected

deeply,’ says Chantellé Hurford, a self-confessed Jo’burg workaholic

and that everything we do comes back to us in some shape or form.’

who works as an executive producer for a global events agency. De-

Berendsen’s observations are widely echoed by experts. Books are

scribing her experience on one of Raimondo’s wilderness immersions as

being churned out extolling the virtues of spending time in the wild, al-

‘a conceptual leap’, she says, ‘By the end of it, my perspective of my life,

though the idea that human health can be salved by nature has been

my place in the world and my career had all been reshaped.’

around for generations. The Victorians jumped into the ocean for much

Hurford says, post-wilderness, it took her a long time to readjust

the same reasons that health practitioners are now experimentally ‘pre-

to city life. ‘My discovery was just how much of our daily lives is pure

scribing’ nature to patients. Cold-water swimming to ‘forest bathing’

sensory overload. I now often find myself seeking out the quiet of na-

are being touted as the route to faster recovery and building resilience.

ture to restore that healing balance and perspective that can only be

Nature videos are used to calm prison inmates and nature-based

found in the wilderness.’

therapies are employed to help war veterans suffering from PSTD. The

Another ‘graduate’ of Raimondo’s 10-day wilderness experience is

research seems to show that the latter experience a dramatic decrease

New York actor John Grady. He says, ‘Faced with the reality of being

in extreme stress symptoms (flashbacks, emotional numbing and hyper-

in a wild, primitive, Jurassic-like world, the stranglehold of the urban jungle where I live and work faded quickly, giving me fresh perspective, making me feel very present. No past. No future. Just the now.’

Raimondo himself believes that the wild makes him experience reality differently. ‘Physically, I stand taller. My back is straighter, my eyes rest more on the horizon. I feel energised, more vital. I’m mentally at ease.’

He says there’s a kind of anxiety that comes with trying to affect outcomes beyond your control but in the wild that need subsides. ‘Because so much of our human-made environment is being controlled, it’s easy to assume that we can control it. Out there, in the wild, I know that all I really need to focus on are water, food and sleep, and that’s

LEFT After a profound and life-altering bush experience at the age of 13, Peter Raimondo returned to the wild as a guide and now leads small groups of corporate leaders way off-grid to get their own hit of that powerful natural ‘high’.

For many, the sensory arousal of connecting with these untouched spaces facilitates a journey of self-discovery, vulnerability and deep gratitude.

actually enough. Those are good things to focus on – they’re healthy for me to think about, and they challenge every aspect of my being in order to achieve them. It just feels right; it feels like I have a place in the world and I fit in the world.’

Nature, it seems, also teaches us acceptance of chaos, the unknown and the unknowable. In the wild, there’s no app that will aid our survival. Being there forces the brain to remember and to adapt. Beyond physiological changes, there may be a philosophical argument for wilderness therapy. When you find yourself steeped in a world unchanged by civilisation, it feels like wondrous proof that there’s something beyond human intelligence at work in the universe.

‘There’s a kind of feeling you get,’ Raimondo tells me, ‘that’s akin to when you see a shimmer rising on a hot day. That’s how it feels when you’re in a place that isn’t known by people, that isn’t for people and where the life that’s around that place doesn’t know people. When you arrive there, there’s that feeling inside and you know, “Ah! This is wild; I’m unknown here.” That’s the most awesome feeling.’ t

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escape

And Then, Suddenly…

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. TEXT: LES AUPIAIS

NO MATTER WHERE YOU TRAVEL OR HOW WELL YOU KNOW AN AREA, THERE ARE ALWAYS SURPRISING UNTRODDEN PATHS TUCKED AWAY IN A CURVE IN THE ROAD OR NEW EXPERIENCES JUST OVER THE HORIZON. EXPLORATION IS THE NEW LUXURY.

Under Flamingo Wings THE MAIN ROAD in Stanford is the little town’s weekend drawcard. Cappuccino-fuelled visitors zigzag the street, collecting for their homes and larders. It’s a favourite dash from Cape Town or Hermanus for lunch at Madre, La Trattoria, or perhaps a river cruise. And then you’re out, heading for the next small town on an Overberg ramble.

But what if you were to stay a while?

Head out of town until clusters of Victorian cottages or their modern interpretations peter out, and a winding and cambered dirt road punctuated by farm gates and smallholdings takes you southeast. The road leads to the Walker Bay Nature Reserve shore where the slightly deflated tyres of a 4x4 churn like rubber mill wheels through the powdery sand for the last few metres. Scramble up a steep dune and sit with your back against the sea grass. The beach is deserted, the surf wild.

Just a few kilometres before this marine reserve zone, a discreet stone wall and wooden gateway lead to Perivoli Lagoon House.

Designed by architect Gregg Goddard, the slate-grey of the undulating roof structure echoes the contours of the terrain and, from a distance, blurs to invisibility with the natural landscape. The central living areas flow towards a wide deck and heated infinity pool with each of the four double suites, all angled for privacy, opening onto their own private spaces. It’s Africa-contemporary in style – sleek, minimal, but with texture and organic form to soften the architectural lines.

Beyond this central living area spread the reeds and shallow waters of the Klein River lagoon, where flocks of greater flamingo cluster and goose-honk a chorus, their pale feathers obscuring bright salmon-pink coverts that only in flight present a cloud of moving cerise.

Perivoli’s ‘garden’ is a wild 140 hectares of fynbos, home to hundreds of bird species, small mammals and reptiles, porcupine, lynx and buck.

When you explore on foot on a guided tour or on mountain bikes, each brush past the abundant fynbos creates a natural aromatherapy. Paddle a canoe out onto the lagoon and slip through the flat waters armed with curiosity and good binoculars or suspend yourself in one of the lodge’s large woven swing seats on a deck, swing idly and read. Roll out a yoga mat and stretch. At night, chef Madré Malan presents a menu of dishes that pop with local flavour.

On a map of the world charting air quality, this extensive region of the Western Cape is coded ‘blue’ – an eco-badge of honour. So, breathe deeply here and you’ll find that rare intersect between wellness and contentment.

TRAVEL NOTES

Four couples or a family of eight may book the house for exclusive use with options for full catering with a chef or self-catering.

Lagoon House is owned by the philanthropically-focused Perivoli Trust, with all profits going to conservation and nursery school children’s education in sub-Saharan Africa. (perivoliafrica.com)

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escape

Travel notes Book an exceptional food and wine paring experience at Creation. It’s an amble down through the vineyards and across the dam. Check their site for seasonal menu changes.

There are great walking and cycling trails and there are two mountain bikes at your disposal.

On The Edge Of Dawn SITTING ON MY STOEP and watching the sunrise over the Hemel-en-Aarde valley outside Hermanus, I realised that one of the more enjoyable aspects of growing older was regularly seeing dawn with fresh rather than bleary eyes. For much of my life, the sight of the sun’s first rays peeking over the horizon signalled time to go home rather than to rise.

The night stills as black lightens almost imperceptibly. There are a couple of minutes of almost total silence. Suddenly, the first starling starts to sing in the trees. The day has begun, and the farm comes to life. Here you hear rather than watch night transition into day. It’s quiet but not silent. Apart from frogs clicking and croaking in the reeds below, there is an almost constant soundtrack of birdcalls from night to day: nightjars, owls, blue cranes, plovers, spotted thick-knees, and I was staying in the Voormanshuis (‘foreman’s house’) on Creation, named two years ago as one of the world’s top 50 wineries and currently regarded as the planet’s most innovative wine tourism experience, largely for its superb wine and food pairings.

I doubt, though, that the judges got to spend a summer night in the guest maisonette – with its own wine cellar – built under huge pines above one of the many streams that run through the farm and at the foot of the Babylonstoren mountains. The architect used ‘raw’ as his brief for the structure: bagged brickwork, timber, iron, a deck made from felled alien trees – a clever offset from the interior, simply (but tastefully) furnished and with Pierneef, Marjorie Wallace, Jan Vermeiren and Christo Coetzee for company. The hero feature is a picture window looking eastwards over the vineyards and tasting room.

Hemel-en-Aarde translates from Afrikaans to ‘Heaven and Earth’. Honestly, it would be more accurate to call it ‘Heaven on Earth’ because the 20-kilometre-long valley is one of the most beautiful landscapes in South Africa.

120 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: ERIO BROWN. TEXT: JIM FREEMAN

a host of species I couldn’t identify.

HEMEL-EN-AARDE TRANSLATES FROM AFRIKAANS TO ‘HEAVEN AND EARTH’. HONESTLY, IT WOULD BE MORE ACCURATE TO CALL IT ‘HEAVEN ON EARTH’

TRAVEL NOTES

Book an exceptional food-and-wine paring experience at Creation. It’s an amble down through the vineyards and across the dam. Check their site for seasonal menus. There are great walking and cycling trails and there are two mountain bikes at your disposal. (creationwines.co.za)

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escape

Creature Comfort IN THE KAROO, the phrase ‘living on the edge’ is taken seriously… Well, it is at Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve outside Graaff-Reinet.

Mount Camdeboo owner Iain Buchanan’s latest brainchild is positioning two prefabricated cabins in isolated areas of the 14 000ha reserve that happen to include the Big Five. It’s off-grid ‘glamping’ taken to the next level – and not for the fainthearted.

It will, however, be an adventure that few will be able to match. Animals come close but not terrifyingly so, though that’s perhaps a matter of opinion based on one’s familiarity with the bush.

The real beauty of spending a night and part of a day in and around the cabin is not that animals come to you rather than you seeking them; it’s that you get to experience space and seclusion without distraction. As Buchanan says, ‘It’s perfect for romance or introspection.’

The 24-square-metre structure consists of an indoor shower-toilet with views of the veld and a kitchenette should weather preclude a braai. The main attraction is the sleeping area with an enormous picture window at the foot of the bed and panoramic windows on either side; it’s almost as if the place is designed for you to spend most of the time flat on your back or outside.

There’s also an outside wood-fired hot tub fed by spring water pumped from a nearby windmill.

The clifftop sojourn is offered as an add-on activity for Mount Camdeboo guests on multi-night stays. They are transported mid-afternoon onto the plains by a qualified guide who stays with them – and will even braai for them, should they wish – until they are comfortable being on their own. Levels of selfsufficiency are discussed in advance. Guests are in radio contact with the main lodge for emergencies… or if they want another bottle of bubbly.

TRAVEL NOTES

it comes to travel but that’s exactly what you’ll experience when you spend a night at one of the two standalone cabins at Mount Camdeboo. Not only will you and your partner be within eyesight of one another, you’ll also be able to appreciate the immensity of the Karoo landscape and its heavens. (newmarkhotels.com)

122 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. TEXT: JIM FREEMAN

The phrase ‘getting away from it all’ is somewhat hackneyed when

A Star Safari THE TWO YOUNG FEMALES lope along the gully, alert and with the

That’s the bush though. You ride out at dawn and return, a kill cap-

gait peculiar to cats on a hunt. With no alpha female to show these

tured frame by frame or with nothing more than a sighting of a rufous-

two the ropes, a kill would be down to luck and opportunity. We’re in

naped lark, a waterbuck’s white ‘target’ markings or perhaps a Jame-

the game vehicle watching the antics of a few warthogs around a dead

son’s red rock hare – even these are rich rewards for urbanites. But your

fallen tree when the lionesses crouch and drop, minimising their profile.

heart rate is up, your senses wired and you’re edgy with anticipation.

The wind is in their favour. The ‘hogs disappear for a moment over a rise

It’s a bush rush that’s addictive...

and, in a blur of dust and squeals, it’s over. Well, not quite. One lioness

And for South Africans, a short hop away. Welgevonden Game Re-

has downed her prey but she hasn’t mastered clamping her jaws on the

serve, a 36 000ha malaria-free reserve in Limpopo within a three-hour

warthog’s windpipe. It’s a 20-minute struggle. An hour later, the cats’

drive of OR Tambo International (or a 50-minute charter flight) supports

bellies are so swollen they can only lie and pant.

several private lodges. It’s a glorious location on the Waterberg plateau

TRAVEL NOTES

If your goal is a wellness experience, not only are the menus geared to balanced nutrition but fresh

ingredients

are

sourced

from an adjoining farm. Mhondoro has a spa and private relaxation deck, so between drives and tissue

massage,

aromatherapy

or a wallow in an outdoor bath.

There’s also an infrared sauna and a heated pool. Many high-end lodges accept children but here a dedicated and enclosed play area and out-drives with a guide are literal ‘game’ changers. Friends and families of six can book out the private villa, while honeymooners are offered a secluded and self-contained hideaway. (mhondoro.com)

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. TEXT: LES AUPIAIS

enjoying your lodge, try a deep

escape

with mountainous terrain, rolling grasslands, semi-deciduous forests

oramic star-scape or focus the 25-inch telescope to bring the moon to

and kloofs, and an exceptional diversity of wildlife. Iron Age rock paint-

your fingertips. And there are other celestial benefits to the lodge too. In

ings are the only traces of ancient human habitation and a sharp rap on

March 2021, Mhondoro completed a major solar power installation, and

our conscience of how lightly these humans touched the land.

has successfully taken the operation off-grid.

Mhondoro Safari Lodge enjoys a prime position in the reserve and

Wilderness is our answer to wellness and lodge owners Frank and

combines luxury with Big Five viewing – and not just from a vehicle. A well

Myriam Vogel are committed to their custodianship, including fiercely

camouflaged hide accessed by the lodge’s subterranean tunnel brings

safeguarding the white rhino here. ‘In a world that is rapidly becoming

you within metres of animals drinking at the waterhole.

more populated, we believe that man has the responsibility to protect

There’s also an unusual custom-made star deck with wooden benches tilted at just the right angle, so that you can gaze upwards into a pan-

nature where we can,’ says Frank. Protect and serve – there’s a motto for an African coat of arms.

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Dark Sky Safari I’M BACK. Peering through the porthole of the Cessna 210 at an in-

peace settled on us as we made our way across those plains, nothing

tensely mineral world: barren browns seamed with black ridges, arrow-

but a dust plume to mark our passage.

straight lines cut into russet plains, inselbergs like coal-black nipples.

I returned often after that first journey. Once to conceive a daugh-

Breaching the flat-topped Tsaris mountains, the copper dunes of the

ter near (and named) Katima, after which the gaps between grew

Namib Sand Sea stretch to the west; below they are awash in pale

longer. While my attendance tapered, new visitor numbers steadily

gold. My cheeks ache. A year and six days since Cyril first announced

rose. I’m told that by 2019, the road to Sossusvlei was seeing up to a

that we couldn’t leave our homes. The joy of liberation acute. So too

thousand cars a day, creating queues at dawn and a permanent dust

the gratitude – of all possible places, this.

cloud that could be seen for miles before the completion of the tar

The first time I traversed the Namib-Naukluft National Park was in

road. Yet Namibia’s most iconic drawcard offered a paucity of quality

1992. We were three, travelling to Walvis Bay in an old VW Beetle,

accommodation within easy striking distance. If you wanted to visit

mouths agape at the startling beauty. Every now and then, the Beetle

the Sossusvlei dunes before the hoi polloi streamed in – ruining the

would sputter to a halt. The driver – recovering from a psychotic epi-

views as they trudged up, baseball caps perched backwards on beet-

sode that saw him into Valkenberg – would hop out and fiddle with the

red faces – only Wilderness Safaris’ Little Kulala, enjoying a private

engine, rubbing spark plugs with the vigour of hope before firing her

gate into the park, or Dead Valley Lodge, located within the park,

up again. Miraculously, the Beetle would roar to life. We’d turn up the

passed muster. But the real plum – despite not being in the actual

tape and open a warm beer, high on the arrogance of youth.

park – was always NamibRand Nature Reserve.

The grandeur of the landscape though, that was the thing. We

The origins of this vast private reserve – now more than 200 000

chugged past mounds of purple rocks dusted with lime, dunes pin-

hectares – date back to 1984, when Albi Brückner reputedly traded

pricked with spindly gold grasses, volcanic black rock laid out like

his VW Beetle for the farm Gorassis, the farmer bundling his family

giant briquettes. Mile after mile under a vast sky painted in palest

and broken dreams into the VW to hotfoot it back to Windhoek. An

binary-boomer baby blue. Despite an inadequate water supply (none,

apocryphal tale, his son Stephan later tells me. Gorassis was bought

to be precise) and the capricious nature of the Beetle, a transcendent

by Albi on auction, though the savagely protracted drought meant

126 Val de Vie

escape

it cost little more than a Beetle. Overgrazed with no surviving live-

and timber by Stephan Brückner, enjoyed the kind of occupancy levels

stock, it earned him the opprobrium of Mrs Brückner who, on being

hoteliers dream of. So, when one of the NamibRand farms – 15 000-ha

congratulated on her husband’s purchase at the hair salon, returned

Kwessieberg – came on the market in 2017/8, Dave Van Smeerdijk,

home livid, yelling, ‘It’s not a farm, it’s piece of desert!’

cofounder of safari outfit Natural Selection, didn’t think twice. ‘I spent

But Albi Brückner had no real intention to farm. At the time a travel-

many years in southern Namibia when I was with Wilderness Safaris

ling agent selling water pumps and diesel engines to farmers across the

and I always looked at NamibRand with a kind of envy. It’s the best of

country, it was the landscape that he loved. Two years later, he bought

the Namib, with sand plains, gravel plains, rocky inselbergs, savan-

adjoining Stellarine; Wolwedans and Jagkop followed, and in 1990, the

nas, mountains and, most importantly, dunes – that’s what people re-

year Namibia gained independence, Die Duine. He tore down fences

ally love. And Kwessieberg has it all. It’s a gem.’

between the properties, dug out waterholes, removed car wrecks and

This is particularly apparent now. The rains fell long and hard in

began persuading surrounding landowners to forego farming for con-

January, breaking a 10-year drought and pelting the plains with fur-

servation. A decade later, 17 former livestock farms had been reha-

ry grass, filling the ephemeral watercourses that occasionally flow

bilitated into a single continuous natural habitat covering more than

through the Namib Sand Sea, and dotting the dunes with plump

215 000ha, and in November 2001, NamibRand was registered as a

green narras. Alighting from the Cessna into this extraordinary 3D

section 21 non-profit tourism operation – remarkably prescient, given

artwork, we stand with cellphones aloft trying helplessly to capture

that the Namib Sand Sea (comprising three million hectares and en-

the scale of it all. Our guide and driver – Papa G, a man who looks

compassing NamibRand) was denoted a World Heritage Site and area

like he has seen it all – waits patiently. Finally, we give up and clam-

of Outstanding Universal Value by UNESCO in 2013.

ber into the Landie, gazing in silence as he drives us into a sea of

Following a ‘high quality-low impact’ tourism policy – visitors are

gold. We pass oryx, fat as ticks, an army of V-shaped horns loping

limited to a ratio of one bed per 2 000ha – NamibRand offered not only

along. In places the grasses are so tall that the ostriches look like

extraordinary landscapes, but an exclusive experience, undisturbed

toy ducks, floating bodies crowned with long thin necks. And every-

by visual noise. Wolwedans Dunes Lodge, artfully designed in canvas

where, grasshoppers: big and small, drunk on the feast that is 2021.

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127

escape

NAMIBRAND IS THE CONTINENT’S ONLY DESIGNATED INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY RESERVE, SELF-EVIDENT WHEN THE SUN COMPLETES ITS JOURNEY WEST, LEAVING THE NIGHT PINPRICKED WITH STARS

TRAVEL NOTES

Kwessi Dunes, designed in an asymmetrical horseshoe shape, is set on the edge of a vast gravel plain backdropped by mountains. Oryx

In the evening, Papa G drives us to an elevated spot in the dunes overlooking a

slake their thirst in the waterhole in front of the

gold-washed plain as the sky turns pink. ‘These dunes are basically just decora-

timber deck and central living area, which is

tion,’ Papa G explains, pouring us each a G&T. ‘About five million years ago, a new

thatched and airconditioned, alongside a fairly

Arctic current pushed the Kalahari sands, washed into the ocean from the Orange

generous pool. The 12 thatched canvas rooms

River, up onto the shoreline. The wind then moved these sands onto the gravel

(two family) are linked with sandy pathways with

plains, where the sun baked the iron-oxide coatings to create the red colour. But

generous spaces furnished with a choice of

these plains,’ he sweeps a hand across, ‘they date back 80 to 100 million years.’

beds (four-poster inside, al fresco double bed

Perhaps it’s the second G&T, perhaps it’s the overwhelming awe at being sur-

outside), desk, seating inside and on the deck,

rounded by a landscape painted and carved by nature using the tools of wind,

indoor and outdoor showers and air condition-

water, heat and time, but I lie down digging my bare heels into the red sand, pick-

ing. Quad biking in the dunes is a highlight.

ing up fistfuls to watch it trickle through my clenched hand.

After dinner, I sit on the deck in front of my room listening to the barking geckos,

GETTING IN AND OUT: Airlink (flyairlink.com)

a kind of aural Tinder. The housekeeping team have made up a bed in the back

is your best choice. If you want to fly to Kwes-

courtyard so I can sleep under the stars – NamibRand is the continent’s only des-

si Dunes, possibly combining with camps in

ignated International Dark Sky Reserve, self-evident when the sun completes its

northern Namibia, Natural Selection will make

journey west, leaving the night pinpricked with stars. But for now, I like being here,

seamless arrangements with advice on Covid

gazing out at the dark plain, savouring what lies ahead: a dawn ascent in a hot-air

protocols and PCR test centres. You will need

balloon; a pilgrimage to witness the once-a-decade sight of Sossusvlei filled with

to spend your last night in Windhoek. Am Wein-

water; quad biking up and down the copper sand dunes. I enjoy that first night,

berg Boutique Hotel (amweinberghotel.africa) is

knowing the next will pass like seconds. I am 54 this year, the last birthday my

a great option, not least for the choice of res-

father reached, the weight of it heavy on my mind, alongside the anxieties. But

taurants on your doorstep, and facilities that in-

here, where space and time are measured in millions, the brief spark of a human

clude a PCR test in the comfort of your room.

life is short as the single click of a barking gecko. Young or old, rich or poor, dead or alive, we are all insignificant, and there is solace in that.

128 Val de Vie

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED. TEXT: PIPPA DE BRUYN

naturalselection.travel/camps

Kelp Forest Bathing I’VE BEEN A DANCER most of my life, moving effortlessly from one style to another. Snorkelling in the ocean enables a different kind of grace. This was My Octopus Teacher territory, the Oscar-winning documentary that is sending groups of brave divers into the icy Atlantic to try to recreate the magic of his encounters with the creatures that live in Western Cape kelp forests.

The documentary’s protagonist, Craig Foster, dived daily for years only in his trunks but it was five millimetres of neoprene for me, head to toe. The day I took the plunge, the water was about 15°C, icy but calm and just a little murky after being stirred up by the previous day’s wind.

PHOTOGRAPH: LESLEY ROCHAT. TEXT: DEBBIE HATHWAY

I joined a group led by Terry Corr, head of education of AfriOceans and codirector of Shark

TRAVEL NOTES

Warrior Adventure Centre. You don’t dive alone here. Our small group kitted up on the beach,

Travellers staying at Tintswalo

spat into our masks to stop them steaming up, and slipped quietly past the Boulders penguin

Boulders have an on-the-spot ad-

colony, chest-deep at first to let them get used to our presence.

vantage for kelp-diving. The hotel

As a beginner, it takes time to get used to floating while pushing your face into the swell and

is a penguin-waddle from their

learning to breathe through the snorkel without swallowing water. My neoprene hoodie blocked

property through a private gate

out surrounding noise and all I could hear was the faint sound of voices on the beach, the move-

and this is one of the optional

ment of water around my body and the sound of my own breathing.

experiences offered by the luxury

Within minutes the outside world receded. It was just me and the fish.

boutique hotel, which teams up

And suddenly, as I pulled myself through the swaying brown kelp, relatively alone in this alien

with Shark Warrior Adventures.

environment as my group had swum ahead, a lone light-grey stingray appeared. It had spots on

The entry for this particular ex-

its back and a wingspan of about a metre. A juvenile giant short-tail stingray? Perhaps. It was the

perience was from the beach but

last creature I had expected to see and for a few moments, we swam together.

the team at Shark Warrior also

‘What’s so amazing about this environment is that you’re in a three-dimensional forest,’

offer PADI scuba diving courses

Craig is quoted as saying, ‘and you can jump off the top and go wherever you want. You’re fly-

and fun dives from the shore or

ing, basically.’

from boats. (sharkwarrior.com)

I relive these moments still, in my dreams. t

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Suspended Animation IN ITS MOST MALLEABLE FORM, GLASS CAN HAVE A WILL OF ITS OWN. NO PIECE IS A DUPLICATION

BY THE TIME NATURE AND THE ARTIST HAVE INTERVENED.

BY LES AUPIAIS

craftmanship

HOW CARELESS WE ARE with the

fragrance bottles with a stopper that fits

everyday treasure that is glass. Now, in its

with precision or a wide, elliptical platter

mass-produced form, it is mostly invisible,

streaked with inclusions of fiery reds or the

an air barrier, a mere container or work-

aqua shades of sea and sky. Glass in this

manlike surface. It was a wonder once:

studio becomes a contemporary chande-

natural volcanic obsidian was first fash-

lier or a suspended installation that moves

ioned into tools, and over centuries, deli-

with the slightest shift of air; a living thing,

cate crafted amphora, decorative water

a free-form objet with no function other

vessels and urns for ashes told of skill and

than to please the eye.

superior technique. Glass was evidence of

It becomes yours then, this fragile galaxy

high art, a precious and traded commodity.

of glass with a unique signature, for noth-

We have domesticated it over the cen-

ing nature creates is without variation and

turies but in the hands and furnaces of

no hand duplicates the precision of the

master craftspeople, this natural material

machine. ‘A piece of glass always has a

has retained its allure. In David Reade’s

say in what it wants to be,’ says David.

studio in the small Western Cape town of

He is excited on this day as a large cru-

Worcester, it becomes the most delicate of

cible he sourced internationally has finally

Glass shears used to snip still malleable, molten glass in David Reade’s studio. Glass works are packed carefully and shipped to collectors, galleries and architects around the world.

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The love of glass has been a lifelong passion for David, who was held ‘captive’ by the art from the age of 16. He now mentors young apprentices in his Worcester studio to ensure that there is a new generation of top craftsmen.

craftmanship

arrived after pandemic-disrupted shipping sailed it from port to port for several months. It’s a beast that racks up temperatures of over 1 300°C (and with a price tag to match), but a thing of beauty for David as it radically improves his production.

This love of glass and its potential as art first held David captive at the age of 16 on the Isle of Wight, where he says he doggedly refused to leave the studio until the master took him on as an apprentice. ‘It was a seven-year commitment that started with sweeping the floors,’ says David, who now carries on the tradition of training young local apprentices in South Africa, where he moved in the early 1980s.

His studio is a collection of workshops with his wife, Lorna, and home is a courtyard away. Lorna is an artist who also takes glass studio time to create mementos for clients who have lost loved ones or their pets and want to retain a fraction of their ashes in jewellery or ornamental keepsakes.

David works on equally delicate pieces – votives, diffuser bottles and vases – but his real love is crafting 16-kilogram blocks of glass with a diamond saw and cutting several facets to create a gem-like form. One of his team of three apprentices will take over polishing micron-thin layers until the facets are mirror-like. The sculpted pieces in a gorgeous palette of anything from amethyst, ruby, saffron and forest green to brilliant copper blue are shipped to cities around the world where collectors, architects and designers place them in domestic or commercial settings.

‘There was one piece I really liked,’ says David, ‘and the brief called for a soft iris colour and a specific shape and form. The fifth time we got it right. Then we got a photo of it recently. It was set on darkish wood with flowers and plants around it so the main colour reflected was green but it looks amazing.’

So much for the soft lilac brief but a piece will always find its real expression in the context in which it hangs or settles, changing character as it reflects and refracts the light as the day advances. David may not ever finish a piece exactly as he would like but he must let go. Like parenting, really.

Along one wall of his workshop is a cabinet, a ‘printer’s tray’ of dozens of glass balls from Germany. Melted at high temperatures, the molten threads of colour are encased in blocks of translucent glass, like insects in amber. How they twist and spiral, lengthen and cluster is down to 500°C of heat, kinetic movement and the artist. While David can duplicate a style or look, here lies the individualism of every piece.

PHOTOGRAPHS: DANIEL SAAIMAN; SUPPLIED

He’d rather wrangle glass than clients and administration, which is his son Keenan Binneman’s portfolio. Keenan manages global digital marketing and has proven to be invaluable as a partner. David is mercifully left to his own studio logistics and design while Keenan patiently explains to architects and clients that while deadlines are deadlines and briefs are briefs, glass pieces will out in their own sweet way – the process can’t be rushed.

A solid obelisk of glass looks to be there forever. Not so. ‘Glass is liquid, you know?’ says David. ‘Above zero degrees, it’s still actually moving. You’ll see in old churches with stained glass windows that they are still “running down”.’ We look over at the heavy sculptured piece. ‘So theoretically,’ he says, ‘in a few thousand years, this will be a puddle.’

Enjoy the pieces now, then. Know that they are ‘signed’ by nature and the artist, and that they have passed through the dexterous hands of trained apprentices. Know that they will shift and reflect the colour and shapes around them, pattern other surfaces with refracted light and captivate you – perhaps for over 50 generations to come. And then the earth will take it back. t davidreadeglassart.co.za, ashesinglass.co.za (Lorna)

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135

Bringing Africa Home GORDON RADOWSKY IS PASSIONATE ABOUT WHY – NOW MORE THAN EVER – WE NEED TO INVEST IN PAN-AFRICAN ARTS, CRAFTS AND PEOPLE.

B Y V IC K I SLEET

136 Val de Vie

IT’S A MONDAY MORNING and the rain is bucketing

He’s an inspired former art teacher, a voracious consumer

down when we pull into Cape Town’s deserted CBD. The

and sharer of African cultural nuances, a superb cook, art

throngs of year-round tourists with their cellphones set to

tour leader and an avid traveller (currently of the armchair

Google Maps are nowhere to be seen. I’ve got Gordon

variety). Gordon also knows the street trader scene in the

Radowsky in the car with me. We clicked immediately when

Cape Town CBD intimately, and an Instagram post implor-

we met more than 20 years ago. He’s one of those endlessly

ing people to shop at these market stores rather than chain

fascinating humans with a similarly infinite knowledge about

stores recently struck a chord.

countless subjects, and African art is one of them. For the

A City Bowl native, Gordon has walked the streets flat

past year, I’ve become increasingly fascinated with Gordon’s

since he was a teenager, visiting avant-garde galleries in

Instagram feed and his dissertation-worthy captions.

the 1980s and trawling junk stores for Kalahari Studio pot-

investment

tery long before it became popular. By the late 1990s, when traders from north of the equator were beginning to set up shop in the city, he had developed what became an insatiable passion for African trading beads.

The first glass beads came to West Africa in the 16th century. They were handmade by Venetian glassmakers and, understandably, highly prized. Later, they were crafted from bone, stone and plastic, and over the centuries have morphed to become cultural icons in virtually every corner of the continent. To fuel his desire to acquire more of these treasures for himself (‘It became like a drug,’ he laughs), Gordon built a clientele of similarly enamoured collectors, and it’s no LEFT A former art teacher, enthusiastic cook and consummate African art enthusiast, Capetonian Gordon Radowsky is passionate about sharing the real stories behind the objet and collectables that pepper African curio and art stores in the city. BELOW LEFT Long Street has long played host to traders, and just a few hours visiting shops and dealers reveals astonishing layers of history and insight into African art.

BELOW RIGHT A selection of designed-to-be decorative and former ceremonial masks become striking sculptural objet.

surprise he is affectionately known as ‘L’esclave de la perle’ (‘the bead slave’) among Long Street local traders.

Through his endeavours and his own jewellery-making business, it’s inevitable that Gordon would meet fellow traders of artworks, antiquities and other intrinsically African handmade collectables. Most came to South Africa in the late 1990s and early 2000s from long lines of antiquities and crafts-trading families, many from Mali and Cameroon.

As South Africa became more ‘Afropolitan’, so trading further south became viable – and spreading the net across the continent and certainly to Cape Town and Johannesburg, so often the ‘gateways to Africa’, makes business sense. On this day, he is sharing his CBD stomping ground and playing guide on a route that, to the untrained eye, follows a trail of ‘exotic’ curios and collectables but, to the aficionado and the curious, is one brimming with priceless insights into centuries of African history.

Our first stop is at Diakaridia Bagayoko’s four-by-threemetre shop, crammed from floor to ceiling with beautiful handmade creations. Originally from Mali, Bagayoko, as he is known throughout Long Street, made his way to South Africa in 2005, and like many of the traders Gordon introduces, started the Cape Town leg of his career in the Pan African market. Formerly housed in a Victorian building close to Green Market Square, the market was a hub for tourists and traders alike for decades, and its demise in

PHOTOGRAPHS: DANIEL SAAIMAN

Covid times is a grim reminder of how much has changed in a short space of time.

While his shop is eerily quiet, Bagayoko – who is ‘a scholar and a consummate dealer’, according to Gordon – stays in touch with scouts and buyers online and via WhatsApp. Items are gathered over time, sometimes up to a year before container loads are driven to South Africa. Bagayoko opens his WhatsApp messages and shows us a piece that has just landed in New York after three months on a ship. Later,

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137

investment

while we are chatting, he opens a drawer and reveals a pair of in-

Gordon is delighted. ‘I told you! That piece is really very special,’

laid wood and Formica Zulu ear amashaza or ear plugs from the

he says.

1950s, carefully wrapped in crumpled tissue paper. ‘Not every-

We set off again. ‘The thing to understand about “art in Africa”

thing of collectable significance has to be big or powerful,’ says

is the ever-shifting reality of availability; so many pieces we are

Gordon. ‘Sometimes, the smallest items are equally relevant.’

familiar with were made to be functional and because they’re

Next on the route is Mouloim Ousmane Aziz’s store. I’m im-

made of natural materials like wood, they have a limited lifespan.

mediately drawn to a display of bronze statuettes. ‘Are they valu-

Don’t forget that items coming onto the market tell their own his-

able?’ I ask Gordon. He pauses and I think I see an eye roll.

tory of displacement, giving them even more historical context

‘I always say to people to put their wallets away and to first shop

and significance,’ Gordon tells me, pointing out timeworn head-

with their eyes and then their hearts; look at everything you see

rests and birthing stools as we pass more stores and traders.

in a space, then come back to the ones that speak to you – only then do we consider whether it’s of value or not.’

Aziz, who has lived in the city for 17 years and is originally from Cameroon, is not a man of many words. ‘When some-

‘We must also remember that priceless African art can feel incredibly modern – after all, greats like Picasso and Modigliani were directly inspired by art from West Africa. It’s why I believe it is so utterly timeless,’ he says.

thing was used for a ritual activity or every day in the home, it is

But how can we rest easy that these aren’t culturally signifi-

much more important than a simple mask,’ he explains quietly.

cant antiquities that have been pillaged from their original owners?

‘Of course, I don’t stop people who want to buy masks but

‘Throughout history, when people are on the move for whatever

sharing an important piece of African history is so much better

reason,’ says Gordon, ‘the first thing they’ll sell are household or

and, of course, they are more valuable.’ He smiles wryly, and

regularly used goods. Their intrinsic value is very much seen by

I, suitably schooled, settle on a small bronze cockerel from Benin.

these dealers and they’re careful to ensure they’re given the respect they deserve. That doesn’t mean the masks and Africanised objets you’ve seen aren’t important, as such; they’ve been handmade by someone who was taught by their father and their father before them. The difference is that those masks were made to be sold for decorative purposes and so there are more of them.’

What an African art dealer is doing is not a simple thing, Gordon says. ‘He is a link in a chain that maintains artistic history, heritage and integrity, and I feel this so deeply with so many of these men.’ By now, we’re standing in Ousseni Ghangne’s shop on Long Street. Rain is pouring in through a massive hole in the roof but Ousseni is sanguine about the leak. His collectables

FROM TOP Tourist trinkets are the pretty items that draw people into city curio stores but there is so much more to be seen and understood in each and every shop; Ghanaian-born Solomon Manan Ajimah (who everybody calls Manan) is both a trader and an accomplished djembe drummer and teacher. In pre-pandemic times, Manan’s Saturday pavement drumming stories outside his store became something of a city phenomenon.

138 Val de Vie

have seen much more than rain in their time. ‘Those masks are new; those bronzes are hundreds of years old; that is a fetishist statue, it’s pretty much priceless,’ says Gordon as we pick our way through the store.

‘The colonialised, dumbed-down perceptions of African art and the mass production of “tribal chic” homeware are so dangerous and it’s so offensive to people like Bagayoko, Aziz and Ousseni.

They come from long lines of historians and protectors of their history – I’m just a conduit into their world.’

As Gordon stands in this battered store that has seen so much, especially in the face of a pandemic, he says, ‘This is not a shop, it’s a temple and it’s essential we treat it, its contents and its custodians accordingly.’ Make the journey with respect and return home with a piece that has history – and a valuable story to retell. t Follow Gordon on Instagram: @gordonrad

ABOVE Diakaridia Bagayoko (or Bagayoko as he is known throughout Long Street) is originally from Mali – and set up a satellite to his family business in Cape Town in 2006. He sources all over Africa and ships all over the world. BELOW Hand-hewn crafts and art are imbued with a multitude of historical associations and the traders themselves are the keepers and sharers of much of this Pan-African history.

legacy

EXPERTISE IS A JOURNEY. Before he became the go-to expert on Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae, two defining mid-20th-century sculptors born in Johannesburg, Gavin Watkins was a young collector with catholic tastes for South African art and design.

‘Like many collectors, I started buying what I could afford,’ writes Watkins in the foreword to The Sculptures of Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae, his much-anticipated book on Kumalo and Legae that has been two decades in the making. Besides collecting 18th-century Cape furniture and copper, Watkins tells, he started out as a collector in the early 1970s buying prints, drawings and paintings by artists like Walter Battiss, and by relative unknowns like Fred Page, George Pemba and Gladys Mgudlandlu. He didn’t take much notice of sculpture.

‘I always thought bronze was old fashioned, you know, passé stuff of a traditional bust or a stylised reclining figure,’ says Watkins during one online chat. ‘Why would I I have assisted Watkins, a recently retired business consultant and mathematician who decamped for Australia in 1998, with the editing of his forthcoming book.)

His dim view of sculpture changed in the mid-1990s when Watkins bought a bronze on a small auction in Johannesburg. He took his new purchase to auctioneer Stephan Welz. Suspecting the work was by Kumalo, Welz pointed Watkins to the artist’s former dealer Egon Guenther. The ensuing visit to Linksfield, where Guenther lived in a whitewashed brick homestead designed in a new post-war vernacular by architect Donald Turgel, would prove life changing for Watkins. Quite simply, it reset his compass as a collector.

Born in Mannheim in 1921, Guenther settled in Johannesburg in 1951, where he resumed his twin passions of goldsmithing and art dealing. He opened a metallurgical studio in 1955 and, two years later, launched his epony-

A Golden Ratio A CHANCE PURCHASE OF A SINGLE BRONZE WAS THE CATALYST FOR A WONDERFUL OBSESSION AND, ULTIMATELY, THE PUBLICATION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SOUTH AFRICAN ART BOOKS IN DECADES. B Y S E A N O ’T O O L E

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY STRAUSS & CO; MARIO TODESCHINI, SUPPLIED

buy this type of stuff? It isn’t interesting.’ (Full disclosure:

mous Egon Guenther Gallery in Connaught Mansions in central Johannesburg. Kumalo held his debut solo exhibition at this venue in 1962. A year later, he joined the Amadlozi Group, a loose collective of likeminded young artists founded by Guenther, which in addition to Kumalo included Giuseppe Cattaneo, Cecily Sash, Cecil Skotnes and Edoardo Villa.

In 1965, Guenther relocated his city gallery to his suburban Linksfield home. It was here, at a house famously entered through a door carved by Skotnes, that Watkins arrived 10 minutes late for his first meeting with Guenther. The master of the house promptly reprimanded his younger visitor. Guenther, though, proved to be a generous host. Watkins, a bighearted conversationalist when it comes to his passions, might not have known this at first but he had met his match in Guenther. The conversation between the two flowed. Watkins was invited to stay for lunch. Guenther uncorked a bottle of 1966 burgundy. Afterwards, he showed Watkins his collection of African sculpture. Afternoon flowed into evening. Guenther retrieved more wine from his cellar.

This gregarious encounter was fateful for Watkins.

For starters, he learnt that the sculpture he had bought was one of only two castings of a work titled Pregnant Woman II, which Kumalo produced in 1968. Guenther and Kumalo had been closely associated from 1960 until 1972. The German had kept meticulous records of all aspects of their dealings, including the number of castings produced and details of their sales. These records would become increasingly important to Watkins after he started buying ‘pretty much everything’ he could find

OPPOSITE Sydney Kumalo, Figure with Outstretched Arms, 1969, bronze, edition #1:10.

ABOVE RIGHT Sydney Kumalo, The Listener, 1968.

RIGHT Kumalo with Head Matriarch in the foreground.

produced during the period Kumalo and Legae were guided and mentored by Guenther.

‘And then, I guess, Egon asked me to write the book,’ says Watkins, referring to the proposal that kickstarted a book project that has taken more than two decades

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141

ABOVE, FROM LEFT Ezrom Legae’s Small Head, 1967; Legae with unknown sculpture; Egon Guenther outside his gallery.

to conclude. ‘I will share my notes and records,’ he remem-

‘If people are serious collectors, they’ll go to the catalogue

bers Guenther saying, ‘provided you write a half decent book

raisonné, and if a work isn’t in it, they’re going to have doubts,’

on Kumalo and Legae, because nobody else has.’ Watkins

explains Watkins. ‘Why isn’t it in the catalogue raisonné?’

agreed. As part of the deal, Guenther introduced Watkins to

Watkins says he was intellectually predisposed to produc-

Skotnes and Villa, also the widows of his deceased protégés,

ing a book of this sort. ‘I’ve always taken an analytical view

as well as Carlo Gamberini, whose Vignali Foundry in Pretoria

of the stuff I collect. If it’s ceramics, I want to know who the

cast important bronzes like Kumalo’s Madala 1 (1966) which

ceramicists are, when they’re making and how many pieces

was sold for R1,8 million at auction last year by Strauss & Co.

they made.’ He credits this way of thinking to his academic

‘The book was very strongly driven by Egon,’ says Wat-

training. ‘After realising I wasn’t qualified to be an architect – I

kins, who is frequently approached by auction houses for

can’t draw – I went back to university to become a mathemati-

cataloguing assistance. ‘I think he was smart enough to

cian.’ He eventually obtained a mathematics PhD cum laude.

know that if he gave me the challenge, I would do it.’

142 Val de Vie

‘I might not be an art historian but working on a catalogue

Agreeing to write a book is very different to actually writing

raisonné is a bit like doing a research PhD. It involves nego-

a book. Watkins compounded the difficulty of the assign-

tiating different strands, cross-referencing, finding stuff that’s

ment by settling on a format that most art specialists pur-

wrong, and trying to work out why it’s wrong. You want to get

posefully avoid: the catalogue raisonné. Concisely defined,

to the bottom of things. Why was it that Egon was doing this

the catalogue raisonné is an exhaustive and systematic

stuff and who else was doing it and what was good about it?’

documentary listing of a single artist’s complete output. They

The answer to this extended question is connected to the

are time-consuming affairs and require genuine commitment.

remarkable flourishing of artistic talent in post-war Johan-

The Greek-French art historian Christian Zervos compiled

nesburg, notably in an inner-city hall on Polly Street that was

Picasso’s 33-volume catalogue raisonné over four decades.

designated for ‘non-European’ adult recreation. Kumalo was

Verification is their key virtue.

a teenager when, in 1952, he began attending biweekly art

PHOTOGRAPHS: MARIO TODESCHINI; SUPPLIED

HE LEARNT THAT THE SCULPTURE HE HAD BOUGHT WAS ONE OF ONLY TWO CASTINGS

legacy

‘The first time Kumalo travelled overseas was in 1967 and Legae in 1970, in both cases on a US-South Africa leadership-exchange programme,’ says Watkins. ‘The hurdles they faced were almost insurmountable. The fact that they produced as much as they did during this period is remarkable.’

Kumalo and Legae parted company with Guenther in the early 1970s. A clash of strong personalities and diverging opinions on production broadly explain the break. Kumalo and Legae both joined the Goodman Gallery, which represented the artists until their deaths, Kumalo in 1988 and Legae in 1999. For his part, Watkins the collector prefers the work Kumalo and Legae produced during their association with Guenther.

Can a collector be a dispassionate cataloguer? Watkins thinks so. He has put aside personal bias to produce a book that is a definitive account of all the sculptural output produced by Kumalo and Legae. An unexpected 2019 meeting with collector Charles Skinner in Johannesburg, whose holdings also include works by these artists, provided additional momentum to the project. After initially trading informal emails, they have developed a close working relationship of almost daily correspondence. ‘To find somebody who has the same level of interest and knowledge, and shares the

OF A WORK TITLED PREGNANT WOMAN II

same sort of drive, has been inspirational,’ says Watkins.

The book they have jointly worked on is exhaustive. Among other things, it provides details of Kumalo’s short-lived but important relationship in the mid-1960s with London dealer Eric

classes at Polly Street. He initially concentrated on painting

Estorick of Grosvenor Gallery. A seven-year stay in the Eng-

but the death of his father prompted a sudden transition to

lish capital after 2003 enabled Watkins to research this pivotal

sculpture. ‘He was a watercolour painter and needed a job,’

period. In addition to familiar works, such as Kumalo’s excep-

recalled Skotnes in a 1984 interview. In 1957, the two artists

tional Madala series, an example of which was exhibited at

jointly executed a ceiling mural at St Peter Claver Church in

the São Paulo Biennale in 1967, and Legae’s late-period Afri-

Seeisoville, Kroonstad, with Kumalo additionally producing

can Goat (circa 1990), an edition of which is in the collection

bas-reliefs of the 14 Stations of the Cross. Skotnes showed

of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, the book

photographs of Kumalo’s first attempts at sculpture to Villa,

also includes entries on late works and posthumous casts.

who agreed to mentor Kumalo twice a week at his studio.

But this is not what makes The Sculptures of Sydney Kum-

Kumalo was a teacher at Polly Street when, in 1962, Le-

alo and Ezrom Legae, due out in 2022, such a treasure. The

gae began attending art classes. His skill and facility as a

book includes Kumalo’s earliest signed and dated work, a

draughtsman quickly generated notice. In 1964, he became

red clay mask made while under the tutelage of Skotnes at

an instructor at the art centre. Legae met Guenther a year

Polly Street in 1958 and shown in his 1962 solo exhibition

later. He held his first solo exhibition at Guenther’s gallery in

with Guenther. Watkins was unfamiliar with the work until he

1966 – the same year Kumalo represented South Africa at

received an email from an American in Kansas City who had

the Venice Biennale, the world’s oldest mass participation in-

bought the work for a pittance at a local house sale. Initially

ternational exhibition. The social reality of apartheid, however,

sceptical, Watkins consulted his formidable archive. There it

complicates this story of artistic success. Kumalo was not

was, displayed on the wall at Kumalo’s renowned solo exhibi-

able to attend his earliest international exhibitions, neither in

tion in 1962 attended by Thabo Mbeki, Joe Slovo and Walter

Italy in 1963, nor in London in 1965, says Watkins, adding

Battiss. ‘I immediately bought it, but not for anything like

that apartheid bureaucrats denied him a travel passport. He

what he had paid for it. Let’s just say that the man in Kansas

was also unable to attend the Venice Biennale in 1966.

City thought all his Christmases had come at once.’ t

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N05 Parfum 2015, limited edition, Collection Patrimoine de Chanel

The Evolution Of A Legend CHANEL N°5 HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC BRANDS IN THE WORLD, NOT JUST FOR ITS UNIQUE FRAGRANCE BUT ALSO FOR ITS DESIGN. OH, WHAT A DRAB WORLD we would inhabit should fashion be a single silhouette, a music score confined to one instrument or cuisine restricted to a specific flavour. Unimaginable!

For women in the 1920s, their choice of fragrance was restrained to a single note, be it lily of the valley or violet. Enter the free spirit of fashion icon Coco Chanel and her desire for a signature fragrance that was nuanced and complex, a reflection of her personality. Fragrance creator for Chanel, Ernest Beaux was poised on the brink of revolution.

His avant-garde composition combined the finest natural ingredients with new synthetic molecules called aldehydes in unprecedented proportions to create what would become the iconic Chanel N°5. The fragrance’s pioneering character not only ushered in a new era for perfume, but also encapsulated what it meant to be free-spirited and liberated for women. It was a bold step into modernity.

Beaux’s successors at the House of Chanel carried the torch over the decades, each mindful of their pledge to honour the original formula while sourcing the highest quality raw materials and personally overseeing the seasonal harvests to ensure that year after year, Chanel N°5 would remain exceptional.

While the contents of the bottle stirred created magic, so too did its design. The radical minimalism of the silhouette of the bottle (oh, so Coco), with its flat squared-off shape, was de144 Val de Vie

focus

ABOVE Evolution of the design of the Chanel N05 parfum bottle.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP RIGHT Gabrielle Chanel in a 1937 campaign for Chanel N05, photographed by François Kollar; An icon for an icon, Marilyn Monroe is photographed by Bob Beerman in 1953; A modern classic, Marion Cotillard photographed

by Steven Meisel for Chanel N05’s 2020 campaign; Nicole Kidman is photographed by Patrick Demarchelier for 2006’s unforgettable campaign; The early minimalism of the first bottles of N05 Parfum – the 1924 version on the left and 1921 version on the right.

signed to travel well – a little ‘hip flask’ of liquid seduction. And then there was that interlocking double-C on the stopper. That symbol alone became synonymous with outstanding design – a marque of quality and sensuality. It needed only Marilyn Monroe’s playful quip that all she wore to bed were a few drops of Chanel N°5 to stir the imagination. From then on, every woman could secretly play the siren or movie star.

Few commercial products make it to the museums of the world but in 1959, the Chanel N°5 box made it into the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Andy Warhol immortalised the fragrance as a contemporary pop-culture icon in his screen prints.

In the 1960s came the fragrance ambassadors, including some of the greatest actresses of our time: Ali MacGraw, Lauren Hutton, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet and Nicole Kidman, all photographed by equally famous photographers.

The legend grew.

Today, the custodian of the brand is fragrance master Oliver Polge, who followed in his father Jacques’ tenure. Each master over the decades reinterprets the original fragrance with all the iterations created around 12 ‘musical’ notes, a symphony played for the women of the world.

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

We shut our eyes and take in a heady floral bouquet of rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang with a touch of vanilla – and more. On our skins, the fragrance works its magic. We have no need to know the secrets of a fragrance maker’s alchemy, only that as we gently twist the glass stopper and release the first notes, the fragrance becomes ours to wear as a signature of our style. We are Coco Chanel at heart. t

A Virtual Triumph JAEGER-LECOULTRE CELEBRATES THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF REVERSO WITH SEVERAL IMPRESSIVE NEW TIMEPIECES. B Y D E B B I E H AT H WAY

REVERSO TRIBUTE SMALL SECONDS

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Recalling the early use of colour that distinguished the Reverso, this year La Grande Maison presents the Reverso Tribute Small Seconds in green. The rich tone of the sunray-brushed lacquer dial and matching leather strap poetically echoes the deep green of the pine forests surrounding Jaeger-LeCoultre’s home in the Vallée de Joux.

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timeline

WHEN GLOBAL travel restrictions forced Watches and Wonders Geneva 2021 online in April for the second consecutive year, Jaeger-LeCoultre and 37 other participating brands had to prepare to present their new launches digitally.

The Grande Maison’s high watchmaking masterpiece, the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque, was one of them. ‘Needless to say, it was a bit of a headache on how we would get the beauty, the technical prowess of this piece across. It’s the most complex Reverso timepiece we’ve ever made and a great achievement by the team and the Manufacture,’ says CEO Catherine Rénier.

How did they manage? ‘Honestly, we’ve learnt that when you have the proper creativity, innovation and content, the way you can communicate a message is bigger, wider and stronger than ever. The 20-minute video on this one piece continues to attract a lot of attention on YouTube and other platforms,’ she says, adding that it has been a fantastic learning experience on how they are able to convey a message.

Gender parity in watchmaking was topical at Watches and Wonders this year, with Rénier further making the point by wearing the magnificent Hybris Mechanica for an interview.

The world’s first timepiece with four functioning display faces is not necessarily for men, she explains, despite measuring

REVERSO HYBRIS MECHANICA CALIBRE 185 QUADRIPTYQUE

The latest addition to the Hybris Mechanica collection showcases the utmost complexity of watchmaking in infinitesimal detail making it a captivating example of the creative spirit of the Grande Maison.

Highly skilled craftsmen have carte blanche to create these limited-edition pieces, which are developed with patience and expertise over the course of several years.

51,2mm by 31mm with a 15,15mm overall thickness. The most complicated Reverso is also one of the easiest to wear.

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timeline

REVERSO ONE For 2021, the Maison

introduced four sparkling new Reverso One models, uniting the codes of fine watchmaking, artistic crafts and high jewellery to bring delicate-yet-eye-catching colour, sophistication and glamour to the collection.

The creation of these exquisite timepieces called for a synthesis of enamelling, engraving and gem-setting work, produced in a remarkable collaboration between highly skilled artisans at the peak of their prowess.

The ideal accessory for men and women, the Reverso has a double-sided rectangular case, so you can change the look without changing the watch. The case was designed according to the golden ratio, which is said to be optimal to the human eye. There are no sharp angles, and the top of the case is curved, not flat. It’s versatile, comfortable and doesn’t slide to the end of one’s arm like a round watch sometimes can.

Heritage is part of the joy of owning a Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece. The Grande Maison develops and produces watches in their entirety at their Swiss Manufacture in the Jura Mountains, Le Sentier. ‘We are well known and recognised for our timeless style, but also for our ability to innovate and create amazing high-complication timepieces,’ says Favre. ‘It gives one personal satisfaction to

The piece is the outcome of more than six years’

know that the entire watch is designed according to the

development, combining key areas of savoir-faire at the

state of the art. Each detail is worked in order to be per-

Grande Maison with innovative new astronomical indica-

fect, even those that are not visible. This is part of the

tions. By incorporating three displays of lunar information

magic of mechanical watchmaking, and something we

on the interior face of the Reverso cradle (the synodic,

value at Jaeger-LeCoultre.’ t

draconic and anomalistic cycle), the Hybris Mechanica Quadriptyque can predict the next global incidence of astronomical events such as supermoons and eclipses. It’s another world first and required no less than 12 patents.

What’s more, a perpetual calendar, tourbillon and minute repeater feature among the 11 complications in this piece, highlighting Jaeger-LeCoultre’s mastery of chiming watches, precision mechanisms, astronomical complications and ultra-compact watchmaking.

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

True to tradition In 1930, British soldiers stationed in India challenged Jacques-David LeCoultre and his partners to create a timepiece that would ‘resist the heat of polo games’ – players regularly had their watch faces smashed during play. The watchmaking team rose to the challenge and patented the reversible wristwatch the following year. The rest is history.

‘The Reverso design is strongly inspired by Art Deco – order, geometry, pure lines – all the essentials of the artistic movement,’ says Lionel Favre, Jaeger-LeCoultre product design director. ‘It’s the synthesis of form and function, a design based on a fundamental area – its reversal – which makes it one of the most innovative watches.’

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REVERSO TRIBUTE NONANTIÈME Refinement and elegance are the hallmarks of

the Nonantième. The pink gold case with its signature gadroons frames a silvered, sunraybrushed dial with applied golden indexes and Dauphine hands. The lower half of the dial showcases a moonphase display set within the circle formed by the small seconds counter.

Beneath 12 o’clock, a large date display framed by an applied filet of pink gold echoes the rectangular shape of the dial and case.

There’s a surprise concealed on the reverse side of the watch too. Flipping the case over reveals an entirely new and breathtaking visual expression of some of watchmaking’s most familiar complications. Dramatic and captivating, it is unlike anything seen on a Reverso before with a limited edition of 190 pieces.

Sense And Serensipity COULD FINE VINTAGE WINE AND WHISKY BE A SMART ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT TO THE MONEY MARKET? SURE. BUT IT’S A MOVE BEST MADE SOBER AND OF SOUND MIND.

ST. MORITZ, 2017. Chinese millionaire Zhang Wei pays

fascinating journey to explore different wine and whisky pro-

£7 600 for a two-centilitre tot of 1878 Macallan single malt in

ducers, learn about their craft and, hopefully, enjoy the taste

the Waldhaus Am See hotel. The hotelier, who had opened

of what you’re investing in.

the bottle especially for Wei, recalled it had been bought by

There are two things to know about fine wine investing:

his father 25 years earlier. But experts later spotted discrep-

‘It can offer great returns, but also offer great risks,’ says

ancies in the cork and label, and carbon dating suggested

Johan Malan, an investment manager at Wine Cellar.

a 95 percent probability that the spirit was created between

South African wines have been rising in quality for the last

1970 and 1972. Further tests found it was blended Scotch,

few years and gaining international attention, he says. ‘South

not a single malt. The hotel reimbursed Wei in full.

Africa continues to be in the limelight among renowned crit-

Wei lost no money, but may have lost face in the hul-

ics, with exciting, affordable, quality wines, and that atten-

labaloo. Still, it’s a salient lesson in splashing out on a rare

tion has put South Africa on the map for an international

vintage without solid proof of its origin.

audience. Because our production quality is improving, the

A millionaire’s bid may be on the extreme spectrum of ‘liquid assets’ but there’s a lot of fun and speculation to be had in the tiers beneath for anyone seeking alternative investments to the money market.

Like ordinary investing, you can pay someone else to decide where your money goes. Or you can set off on a

150 Val de Vie

ability of our wines to age well is also strong, and that makes an interesting investment case.’

Building a portfolio that will appreciate in value is a matter of supply and demand. If only a small number of bottles are produced, and half are drunk within the first few years, it’s likely to command a high price 10 years later.

PHOTOGRAPH: SHUTTERSTOCK

B Y L E S LEY STONES

investment

Fine wine has shot up in value by 200 percent in the

While nobody can predict the future, Wine Cellar has been

past decade, according to the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 in-

achieving 10 percent year-on-year growth after adjusting for

dex, which tracks the value of 1 000 wines from across the

inflation. ‘There can be some great rewards but if you’re on a

world. The value of rare and collectible whisky has soared by

very tight month-to-month budget for your retirement, then

564 percent in the last 10 years, according to the Knight

don’t give us your money because the reality of wine is that

Frank 2020 Wealth Report, largely due to rising demand

it can go anywhere,’ Malan says.

from Asia.

If you start amassing a collection of valuable bottles, don’t

Yet there’s a strong argument that hoarding wine and

forget to insure it, says Christelle Colman, managing director

whisky rather than drinking it almost defeats the purpose

of Elite Risk Acceptances. Specialised insurance can also

of its existence.

protect against accidental breakage, spillage or faulty equip-

Malan suggests buying two or three cases and drinking

ment, such as wine racks falling over. Much like any asset

one or two, then storing the rest for five to 10 years to fund

that needs monitoring, investors should also regularly review

your high-class drinking habit. He speaks poetically of the

the amount it’s insured for. ‘Wine collections that may have

pleasure of enjoying wine with friends and family years after

cost R1 million years ago, now may cost R2 million to re-

it’s been nurtured in the vineyards and the cellar.

place, which could leave investors out of pocket,’ she says.

‘Part of the strategy is to be able to enjoy it down the line,

Whisky has one strong advantage over wine – it won’t

not just trade it as a commodity. It shouldn’t just be an asset

deteriorate. Vintage spirits include a few bottles of Old Over-

you don’t touch, because the culture and appreciation of

holt rye whiskey in the US still around from 1904. Younger

wine is part of it. You can split your purchase to enjoy some

whisky probably tastes better because the techniques have

and, at the same time, have a portfolio that builds value over

improved so much, but savouring ancient spirits is also

time,’ he says.

about the history, nostalgia and exclusivity.

There are many global trading platforms for both wine and

Bottega Café in Johannesburg boasts endless shelves of

whisky, with plenty of information to help you decide what

whisky bottles collected by owner Saverio Cardillo, who also

to buy and when to sell. Timing is important, because you

runs a national fan club. ‘I’m not a whisky investor – I drink it,’

might struggle to sell a really old wine in South Africa since

he says. ‘There are people who invest and make a lot of mon-

there’s very little appreciation here for 20- or 30-year-old

ey out of it but I don’t have the patience or the outlay for that.’

wines, Malan warns.

People who trade in whisky are nicknamed ‘flippers’, buy-

It’s also vital to be able to prove where you bought it and

ing from distributors who import a small number of limited-

that it’s been stored properly, otherwise buyers will fear it

edition bottles, and selling them for twice the price a year or

has deteriorated. ‘That’s the biggest risk, especially in South

two later, Cardillo says. Bottles of a Springbank Local Barley

Africa where we don’t have a culture of storing wine prop-

that he bought for R2 700 have been flipped in the UK for

erly,’ he says. ‘We regularly get contacted by people saying

£440 (about R8 700), he says.

they’ve had a wine in the kitchen cupboard for 20 years and

Like wine, whisky investors need to know what they’re

can we give them R2 000 for it but if you don’t keep it prop-

doing and which will appreciate. ‘You can do your own re-

erly, there’s no value. It could be a total mess and we can’t

search and have a look at what rare collections are going

resell it with integrity.’

for. At the moment, whisky is on the up and the worst-case

It’s also no good storing ordinary wine for years and

scenario is you’ll get your money back.’

hoping it appreciates, because value is about quality, not

Cardillo does sell whisky on his club website for other

just age. ‘Investment wines aren’t sold in a supermarket –

people, if they have the documents to verify it. ‘They have to

they’re sold by merchants who understand them.’

be able to legitimise it because there are a lot of fakes out

Investors also need discipline, just like shareholders are advised not to make knee-jerk decisions when the markets rise or fall. If you bought your wine as an investment, don’t sell it for a quick profit the minute a critic raves about something you’re holding, Malan advises.

there,’ he warns.

You’d not want to lose your Wei. t For more about fine wine investment, visit winecellar.co.za/investment. For Bottega Whiskey Club, visit.bottegawhiskey.com.

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151

Green Gold IN THE FACE OF DROUGHT AND A PANDEMIC, IT’S ADAPT-OR-DIE FOR MANY FARMERS IN A SMALL TOWN IN THE KLEIN KAROO. BUT THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE COMING – AND THAT WIND IS REDOLENT WITH A FRAGRANCE UNLIKE ANY OTHER.

BY LES AUPIAIS

The extracts from South Africa’s resilient indigenous plants may soon be the new ‘green gold’ for a growing enterprise in Calitzdorp, in the middle of Route 62 in the Western Cape.

The patchwork of smallholdings could collectively become an important hub for producing essentials oils.

smart gap

SYDNEY: OPERA HOUSE. Rio: Carnival. New York: Well, New

rope and see first-hand some of the architecture he’d studied over the

York. They are places that have marketed themselves cannily and

years. He never returned to the States.

hitched their city to an experience or iconic landmark. In the small-

As an entrepreneur at heart, he worked on groundbreaking projects

town category in South Africa, Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo has al-

in London, ultimately heading up his own architectural studio in the

ways been about port, a label we can bandy about as consumers but

Netherlands, and later specialising in rural economic development in

strictly speaking, it’s Portugal’s territory and, as legislation demands,

Africa with a Dutch consortium. It was this experience in economic

we must back off, as we have had to do with sherry and Champagne.

and spatial planning, including the drafting of viable business plans,

Boplaas Tawny it is then. Ja, well, things change.

that would be tested in the unforgiving Karoo.

South Africans adapt, especially when we’re battered by things be-

After the tragic loss of his first wife in 2007, Steve met Mo, a fashion

yond our control. Like when you’re a stone fruit producer in the Klein

designer. Restless from the neat, orderly and ‘slightly claustrophobic’

Karoo in the grip of a protracted drought that slowly ravages your

life they were leading in the Netherlands, they needed a change. ‘Our

crops and almost half your vineyards. This followed by a decision by

first idea was to travel in Africa, perhaps settling in Kenya,’ says Steve.

the major fruit houses to source cheaper stone fruit elsewhere and

They bought and kitted out an old Nissan Patrol and became mobile

a KO punch in the form of a global pandemic that cripples trade.

and nomadic with no great life plan other than to avoid settling in Cape

Climate change is a dark macro threat. It’s madness to write off your

Town. ‘Lovely, but too European,’ they say.

half-dead orchards, then replant and wait over four years for liquidity.

The grand road trip took them thousands of kilometres, from Kenya

You change, maak ‘n plan. Maybe you switch to tougher cash crops,

to the Cape, until they came over the Swartberg in 2016. Yes, that fa-

like lucerne.

mous port experience was the lure. They arrived in Calitzdorp, and that,

But not everyone.

essentially, was that. There was something about the Klein Karoo (‘Per-

The town that’s pretty much bang in the middle of Route 62 may

haps the people or the magical light here,’ Steve muses), but whatever

soon get a new claim to fame… Calitzdorp: Botanicals.

One couple who settled here relatively recently are in the vanguard of an industry that may not only revive the area but taps into a booming global market.

it was, it was deeply felt by both of them. Within days, they’d put in an offer on an organic farm with olive and apricots trees and a vineyard.

‘We had no real idea what we wanted to do with it,’ Steve says, grinning. Like all madly, deeply irrational impulses, it was love first and

Steve and Mo Lewis farm in Calitzdorp on a 10-ha block of land in

practicalities second. Steve did eventually put together a business

the north of town, sharing boundaries with several other smallhold-

plan accepted by the DTI to utilise four hectares of the farm for hydro-

ings, a patchwork quilt of agriculture that came about as large families

ponic and tunnel-based vegetable production.

subdivided land over the decades. To the south of the town, in the

Mo, meanwhile, longed for the healthy, homemade bread with

Gamka area, lie the big commercial farms owned by fourth- and fifth-

which she’d grown up, and after baking for the two of them with a

generation families or contracted out to farmers who take the risk and

growing demand from friends and locals, she started The Accidental

then relinquish 50 percent of their profit. It’s a tough life.

Baker. It’s an essential Route 62 stop now, and cars leave the bakery

How the couple found their new home and business direction is a

trailing the delicious aroma of fresh ciabatta, baguette, focaccia, ‘Very

story that began seven years ago with an epic road trip, spiced with

Berry’ bread, and a jalapeño and chilli savoury loaf, all made from Bio-

impulse and a dash of serendipity.

Wheat organic flour.

Steve is a born-and-bred New Yorker, an architect and urban plan-

But the vegetable growing concept soon hit a snag. Delivery of fresh

ner by profession. On graduating, he felt he needed to explore Eu-

produce to their key market over four hours away in the greater Cape

Val de Vie

153

smart gap

Town area began to look logistically impossible. What now, they asked?

Not long ago, Steve was in the local agriculture co-op extolling the

‘We had to consider non-edible crops and something endemic to the

potential of the essential oils industry. There was a farmer within ear-

area. I was also committed to organic farming, but realised that it was

shot of his conversation and when Steve had finished, he came over.

going to be tricky in the face of the wide usage of pesticides here.’

‘I am totally flabbergasted at what you’re talking about,’ said the burly

In the meantime, Steve had met Werner Bester, a 15-year veteran in the essential oil sector and the founder of Riebeek Kasteel’s farm

third-generation seed farmer. ‘I’ve got to know more.’ His next visit, on the Lewis’s Lenies Hof stoep, was a long one.

Pure Green, Essential Distillation Equipment and Still Pure, the latter the

The farmer subsequently switched to organic practices (as have sev-

marketing arm and ‘face’ of the botanical oils Werner and his farmers’

eral smaller farmers on the south side) and has chosen to stop using

cooperative produce. His advice to Steve was to ‘know your market

harmful pesticides. He’s recording bumper crops on the north side of

first’. Steve and Mo became shareholders, but also took their first steps

the Calitzdorp divide and is eyeing a new crop, which has the potential

in replicating the model in Calitzdorp as CROP Botanicals.

for a ‘seed-to-scent’ operation.

The big idea, with a gloriously South African angle, is that beyond rose

Steve is animated about the future. ‘It’s really about three pillars,’ he

geranium (a French hybrid with partly local DNA) is a rich, biodiverse flo-

says, ‘people, planet, profit. Because the crops require intensive farm-

ral kingdom: plants that yield fragrant essences for wellness and beauty

ing practices, there is potential for serious job creation.’ In a worldwide

products, plants suitable for teas and foods, and plants that are power-

wellness industry that tips the financial scales at $4,5 trillion, tapping

houses of natural medicines. What southern Africa’s earliest inhabitants

into the behemoth is a smart move. ‘Clean beauty’ is a new catch-

used to heal and nourish are only beginning to be explored seriously.

phrase as people become increasingly concerned about what they are

‘Rosemary, thyme and lavender will be in the CROP Botanicals line-

putting on their permeable skins.

up but there are about 45 endemic plants that are purely South African,

Steve believes more farms in the area will become part of an expand-

such as Cape snowbush, and my personal favourite – my “soul plant”

ing cooperative and key to a new green economy with CROP Botani-

– African chamomile,’ says Steve.

cals as a catalyst.

A little research on the medicinals is an eye-opener. Most of us know

It’s not just the propagation, nurturing and harvesting of a crop; the

that the common sour fig relieves the pain of a bluebottle sting but the

distilling needs a stillmaster. There’ll be need for a ‘nose’, much like the

juice is allegedly good for burns and eczema. Kooigoed everlastings

alchemist perfumers used by major fragrance brands. There are beauty

were used for centuries to stuff mattresses and repel bedbugs but in-

products that’ll need package design, researchers and scientists to focus

fused as a tea, it’s said to reduce blood pressure and soothe pain. ‘These

on pharmaceutical products, and marketing campaigns to entice con-

are powerful plants,’ says Steve. As for fragrances, we are spoilt too,

sumers. It’s a fragrant botanical chain with value added at every stage.

with African sandalwood, immortelle, lemon verbena and khaki bush.

Best of all, while Portugal and France may guard the provenance of their alcohol products and wave legislation at us, our wild botanicals will occupy a niche so small, so unique, that no other country can claim

It’s enough to prick up the ears of any farmer looking for opportunity.

ownership. We can wave back. The fynbos is ours. t

PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED

Fynbos is resilient and cultivated, and its growing cycle amounts to roughly a third of the commercial crops historically planted in the area.

ABOVE, FROM LEFT Steve Lewis has begun to propagate the water-wise seedlings needed for the essential oil production; The dry Karoo climate is perfect for the crop and it should fare a lot better than the region’s traditional stone-fruit farming.

154 Val de Vie

the smoking pen

by her long, slim arm like a docking rope to a

deadlines and adrenalin can mask the fact that

bonneted weather balloon. Those first spherical

age and slothfulness are like crack cocaine

years would resurge over time but for a brief

for fat cells. One day you wake up two pants

time in New Zealand where, up against large,

sizes up, like hitting a super-tax bracket. The

lanky, dairy-fed Grade 5s well into their first size

concept of going-on-diet became a desperate

12 shoes (the girls), I was gloriously average.

lurch between weighing veg, following calorie-

Back home on South African soil, it took two

cult gurus who hit bestseller lists with their

months of boarding school for the nascent fat

promises of a 20 percent body weight drop

cells to celebrate their comeback.

in two weeks and, of course, the jolly triumvi-

In misery lay comfort food.

rate of abstinence, starvation and grumpiness.

Generous helpings of meat and boiled veg

Nothing lasted longer than five days and was

with two thick slices of bread as a side were

followed by not so much falling off the food

followed by a calorific aftermath of not just

wagon as a bungee jump.

dessert (what you might know as little back-

That all changed with a DNA test and a doc-

of-spoon scrapings artfully punctuated by two

tor who pretty much warned me off living in

raspberries and a wafer the width of three

– nay, even visiting – the UK for longer than

microns) but pudding: stolid vanilla cake

two weeks: the weather and pub grub would

topped with a thick glaze of apricot jam

inflate me in a heartbeat. Dairy was the devil,

(‘Maritzburg pavement’); chocolate custard

she said. My portions were too large. And no,

the consistency of silicone, its slightly puck-

I could not swig back a few glasses of wine

ered skin sprinkled with coconut (‘mud and

every night and expect my body to give them

toenails’); and vanilla ice cream beaten to run-

a cheery wave as they passed unencumbered

niness with a fork, laced with instant coffee

through my system. They would convert, she

and drizzled with golden syrup. The syrup im-

said. It was no good mooning over a robust

mediately hardened into rivulets of sweet steel

red with top notes of cherry and subtle hints of

and locked any metal braces and jaws until

vanilla and spice when it was a Slush-Puppie

the warmth from your mouth slowly unjammed

of sugar as far as my liver was concerned. She

MY FATHER, I was told, fed me hot dogs

them. Lettuce, more decorative than dietary,

was firm and persuasive, the doc. ‘Use this

when I was 18 months old while watch-

was the shredded and slightly oxidised green

glass jar,’ she said. ‘It will help.’ (I thought it

ing trains in London. The carbs and shunt-

frill that encircled trays of triangular white

might be for a lab sample but it turned out to

ing yards made me doze off and, as I only

sandwiches filled with egg-mayo.

be for lunch.)

Diet Hard With A Vengeance LES AUPIAIS CONFRONTS HER DARK, CALORIE-LADEN PAST AND HER DIET RECIDIVISM.

ever catnapped, these were the desperate measures of the sleep deprived.

I believe tastebuds are not born depraved but go rogue with the slightest provocation.

I’m pictured with my wraith-like mother, a

Your 20s and 30s can be deceiving. A vigor-

waist like Scarlett O’Hara, and tethered to her

ous metabolism and career based on savage

A month later, four kilograms down, and there they were, my hip bones, last seen in 1986. I will never advocate thin, but trim? Ja… The ghost of the balloon hovers. t

‘ONE DAY YOU WAKE UP TWO PANTS SIZES UP, LIKE HITTING A SUPER-TAX BRACKET’

160 Val de Vie