August 2012
28 posts
"That eureka moment hits you like a cop car"
Falsetto never sounded so good. Welcome to Everything Everything’s Cough Cough — addled, anarchic, oily and urgent — a dystopian vision of nowness, in shades of grey and hellish yellow, in tune with our times.
The single drops in October, part of Arc, the Manchester band’s second album, which will be released in January.
Life imitates art
50 years ago Andy Warhol painted Campbell’s soup cans for the first time in 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans — a potent statement about consumerism and the boundaries of art.
To commemorate this, Campbell’s is releasing limited edition cans based on the colours used by Warhol. Looks like consumerism is having the last laugh.
(Thanks Hypebeast and Grocery Headquarters.)
Art uncovered
Today Business Day’s subscribers receive a copy of WANTED’s special BASA Awards edition, featuring patroness of the arts, Mary Slack on the cover.
Gotta get down (to Woodstock) on Friday
Gotta get down on Friday, as that philosopher-poet-turned-songstress Rebecca Black says. No. Actually you need to get down to 99 Lewin Street on Friday evening for the launch of the Evil Son, which is hosting its debut group exhibition, Bootleg. Rumour has it that this is the newest art gallery on the block, supported by the edgy and awesome Blank Projects (which happens to be literally around...
Paying fashion forward: a call to action
Fashion gets responsible with the fifth annual Rock Me Again, a recycled fashion initiative. Five Vida e Caffe stores (Kloof Street, Prestwich Street and Boulevard in Cape Town, Greenside and Rosebank in Johannesburg and Gateway in Durban) have donation bins created by some of SA’s leading designers (including Ryan Honeyball and Rodan Kane Hart) where you can drop off the clothes you no...
Cocktail: P.I.S.C.O Bar
Named after Peru’s national liquor – a clear grape brandy with a potent kick – Pisco Bar opened in May. And thank goodness for that – with the Cape of Storms more than living up to its gloomy moniker this winter, there couldn’t be a better time for some Technicolor Peruvian good cheer. The bar sits atop Keenwä, Cape Town’s only Peruvian restaurant. Dark, with multi-coloured stripes, Pisco’s...
Wine interview: Andries Burger of Paul Cluver...
De Rust is the name of the 2 400-hectare Elgin estate that has been in the Cluver family since 1896. Current business activities include apple and pear orchards, a Hereford stud, eco-tourism and last but not least, wine.
The Cluvers were at the vanguard of the modern movement to establish winemaking in this ward, setting up vineyards in 1986. An on-site cellar was established in due course,...
Power, escape and abstraction
This week sees a flurry of openings in the world of David Krut.
At its Arts on Main outpost in Johannesburg, the Mpumalanga-born Senzo Shabangu’s Amandla, was launched on the 26th. A meditation on the intersections between power and money in Joburg, the show features linocuts and monotypes produced while in residence at the David Krut Print Workshop earlier this year.
“This body of...
Quality Time: Breguet Ladies Reine de Naples...
Breguet might have been a sideline in female-oriented jewellery pieces but there is something truly magical about a lady’s watch that combines the aesthetics of fine jewellery with the technical expertise of fine watchmaking. When done properly, it’s a match made in heaven and nobody does it better than Breguet.
2012 sees the 200th anniversary of the first wristwatch made by...
The haven
ON A RECENT TRIP TO THE BRITISH CAPITAL, WANTED DISCOVERS A HAVEN OF SERENITY IN A COMFY COUNTRY HOUSE ON ITS PERIPHERY.
My favourite moment at Cannizaro House was not long before I departed. I had just finished an English breakfast in the airy dining room, and walked out with my coffee onto the terrace. The sun was shining; the sky was blue; dew glittered on the lawn spreading to distant...
Powerdresser: Philipp Dreyer
For Philipp Dreyer, the founder and director of Alexander Suits, clothing is a way of life. This is not because of his custom-made suiting service but because he grew up in the trade. His father owned a clothing company specialising in woollen clothing in his native Germany and this fostered Dreyer’s understanding of the specific attributes of fabrics and materials.
He also saw firsthand the...
Travelogue: Sanjay Verma
Your most inspiring holiday destination?
Briksdalsbreen glacier at Stryn in Norway. It’s simply out of this world. You get enveloped by nature in a way that could only be experienced, not described.
Most interesting person you’ve met on your travels?
I’ve met many but I can’t forget ex-Swedish prime minister Göran Persson. He was very friendly, modest and chatted like any other normal...
Majestic millinery
This fabulous and extremely rare cap, known as a mpu, dates back to the 19th century and was made by the Yombe peoples who live in an area that stretches from the Loango coast and the Angolan province of Cabinda into modern day Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The cap was made by a process of knotting and looping pineapple or raffia fibre, employing a laborious...
Cocktail: Orphanage
In the heart of town, Cape Town’s bar du jour is close to St Paul’s Church, where orphaned children would gather to receive food from its rector, the Reverend Sidney Warren Lavis, in the early 1900s. It remains to be seen whether Child Catcher, Brimstone & Fire and the other cocktails on Orphanage’s creative and comprehensive menu will remain as popular in a year’s time. Right now, the bar’s...
Top of the world
There’s a certain sartorial thrill that comes with answering the question “Where did you get that?” with a strategically flippant, “Oh, I just picked it up at TOPSHOP”. It’s thrill a lot more of us are going to be feeling soon.
It was recently announced that British high-street giant TOPSHOP and its menswear brand, TOPMAN, will open their first South African flagship store in northern...
Simply sublime
For a woman who established one of the most successful local fashion brands, Karen Liebmann is, in her own words, “more focused on taking care of her home and family.”
Essentially, this is what drove her to launch Earthchild in 1992, after the birth of her son. “There were no great looking, great quality children’s clothes of my liking at the time,” she says. She endeavoured to make garments that...
Women's only
Timberland is a brand that has long been recognised for making clothing and footwear that is comfortable enough to wear all day and hard-wearing enough to take from the city streets to the great outdoors. The lifestyle brand recently opened the doors to its Hyde Park store selling only women’s footwear and accessories. “In other parts of the world, the women’s Timberland range is sold in...
Shirting the issue
The bar is now open, but instead of cocktails, white shirts are on the menu.
Recently opened in Johannesburg’s Hyde Park Corner, the White Shirt Bar is a signature boutique feature of Thomas Pink, the luxury London shirtmaker based in Jermyn Street and part of the LVMH group of luxury brands. It comes stocked with an extensive collection of crisp, classic white shirts in a variety of styles,...
Writer's Block: Elaine Proctor
The London-based Proctor was born and raised in South Africa, where she made anti-apartheid documentaries until 1986, before moving to England to complete her master’s in writing and directing films. The winner of a Cannes Mention Speciale - Prix de Camera D’Or, her films include City of Gold, Skin and Bones and My Year as a Man. Her debut novel, Rhumba, is about the lives of Congolese...
August Winelands diary
Shiraz Showcase
7 August, Vineyard Hotel, Newlands, Cape Town
More than 100 examples of Shiraz will be on show at this event and snacks specially chosen to complement the wines will be available. Tickets are R100 per person from Webtickets.co.za. For more information, call 021 863 5199.
Robertson Slow 10-12 August, Robertson valley
30 wine estates and guesthouses in the Robertson wine...
Constant: Telling Stories
It is only through culture, through language, through images, through words, through dance that we are able to tell our stories, to identify what makes us both human and individuals. Inasmuch as early man sat around a fire, performing the great hunt, or painted on cave walls, so too are we doing the same with theatre, opera, film and the like, today.
Storytelling is the driver of the 14th...
August goes awesome
GARY COTTERELL, WANTED’s editor, previews the August issue. It will be delivered to Business Day subscribers tomorrow and shortly after that will be available on newsstands in Exclusive Books in Cape Town and Joburg.
Having recently been away in London, Paris and elsewhere, I’ve been both spoilt and spoiled by travel. The more I see and experience, the more of a gypsy I become and the more...
Old worlds, new tales
Europe’s turbulent past and uncertain future provides outsiders with a rich imaginative seam to explore.
EDITED ALEXANDER MATTHEWS
FICTION Dead Europe
By Christos Tsiolkas
The Melbourne-based Christos Tsiolkas made a splash internationally with The Slap, a frank and gripping assessment of his city’s multicultural milieu. Published in Australia before his global bestseller, Dead Europe has...
A perfect partnership
Julia Day, the founder and owner of design firm Generation Furniture, has teamed up with Fergus Armstrong to create a retail space in their new Hyde Park showroom. After 20 years designing for top clients, corporate, retail as well as domestic, Day has chosen to expand her offering with a carefully edited selection of objet for the home. Day and Armstrong have chosen everything they personally...
Urban oasis
There’s something incredibly comforting about being close to the floor, releasing all control, while allowing your body to be stretched, pulled, contorted and twisted in every conceivable direction. With the new enmasse massage studio here in the City of Gold, owner and founder Murray von Hirschberg has replicated his successful Cape Town formula for tired and overworked Joburgers on the top...
The horse, the snake and the cat
Bob Philion started with PUMA in 2005 and his unique understanding of the brand has since elevated him to the title of president of COBRA PUMA GOLF. COBRA PUMA GOLF recently partnered with Ferarri to create an exclusive range of apparel.
How did you decide on the synergy between the brands? PUMA has had a very successful relationship with Ferrari for several years now, which is how COBRA PUMA...
