Book Proposal New African Style

Contemporary African Interiors

By Cathy O’Clery

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Overview

New African Style celebrates an innovative spirit in contemporary interior design emerging on the continent of Africa

Moving beyond the well-worn cliché of safari lodge chic and Kente cloth tribal decor of the last century New African Style showcases 30 contemporary stylish spaces which share a new-found confidence of living in Africa. Today’s African interiors have a vibrant, colourful, and organic soul; they sit in harmony with their environment and are perfectly in tune with how most people aspire to live today. The fresh and inspiring spaces in New Africa Style make it a must-have book for anyone interested in the latest trends in contemporary interior design, or has an eye on what is happening in this spirited continent.

Africa is a diverse and complex place, shaped and layered through ancient trade routes, long-vanished kingdoms and rich tribal cultures. It has been exploited and trampled by conquerors, and colonialists who carved up the continent arrogantly delineating where indigenous people should or should not live. For centuries much of Africa remained a mysterious and dangerous place to the outside world and even today many places are relatively unknown and rarely visited. Modern Africa still bears the scars of colonialism and the affliction of 20th century wars and man-made famines. Modern consumerism has over taken the creative forces which shaped Africa’s ancestral societies. However the African spirit has always persevered and many of its traditions and treasures remain intact or been adapted to modern lifestyles. It is the uncanny African ability to adopt what outsiders have brought in, to adapt to their own use and create something new and unique that is a never ending source of inspiration.

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The exquisite aesthetic and enigmatic nature of African art and objects have constantly attracted the outside world to explore Africa’s cultures. Westerners have always taken inspiration from the spiritually powerful and honest pieces created by often anonymous artists and craftsmen. From great Western artists like Picasso or Brancusi to modern day designers such as Christian Liagre or Kelly Hoppen, African culture has always stimulated creativity especially throughout the 20th century.

But now, in the 21st century, it is from within the continent itself that a new creative force is emerging. A fresh confidence is in the air as Africa becomes more comfortable with itself. There is better access for visitors with travel companies seeking out new adventures for everyone from the well-heeled tourist to the back-packer. This in turn has fashioned a growing trend for world-class boutique hotels, lodges and guest houses. As a result many Westerners are setting up homes around the continent drawn in by the relaxed and multi-textured life style they find, bringing with them their own fresh take on the local style.

New African Style coincides with the global backlash against conspicuous consumerism, the desire for objects with soul and provenance, and a life of integrity and worth. Today in Africa age-old traditions, craft and cultural life are being reassessed and honed into a modern design aesthetic. Africans have realised what they may lack in high-tech industry they can make up for in human scale, one-off, and quirky production and they are bringing those skills to high levels.

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In the past few years there has been a conscious movement in defining the New African Style within the continent itself. With a renewed conviction in their talents Africans can see that the world’s design elite are looking more and more to their shores for an injection of creative spirit and are meeting it head on. Indigenous methods are being married with new technologies and traditional objects are being refashioned into contemporary pieces embellishing homes around the world. Texture, whether tactile or historic is virtually owned by Africa and the world is craving it.

New contemporary design hot spots have emerged throughout the continent, especially in Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Kenya, others like Ghana and Tanzania are waiting in the wings. In future years the creative power of countries like Mali, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia along with many others will get world recognition as young design talent emerges through better education and access to world trends.

New Africa Style showcases 30 interiors capturing this new spirit. The book is divided into six chapters each exploring a different element of what makes up a contemporary African interior. The majority of the interiors have been completed in the last few years so are relatively unseen and have never before been brought together in one book.

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Divided into six chapters, each chapter will examine the elements of contemporary style in Africa.

Each chapter will cover five interiors. Each interior will be given three spreads. The chapters are....

1 Between the Earth and the Sky How space and light and the natural environment dictate new architectural styles which work in harmony with the landscape

2 The Smell of the First Rain Rain mixed with the red earth of Africa has been an age-old building component and many of today’s African interiors celebrate indigenous methods in a contemporary context

3 Ancestral Voices Africa’s rich heritage can’t help but influence and inspire today’s interiors

4 Afro-Organic How the organic shapes and materials of traditional arts influence contemporary design

5 Afro-Pop The confident and vibrant spirit of the continent through bold colour and pattern

6 Adorning Africa The beauty of decorative African detailing interpreted in graceful modern homes

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All text will be written by the author.

There will be a 2 - 3000 word introduction on contemporary African style – offering a context and background to the forthcoming chapters.

Each chapter will have an introduction on the subject matter of 750 - 1000 words.

Every interior featured will have an accompanying text of 750 – 1 000 words, with detailed captions.

The book will finish with a Source Book - four pages detailing suppliers of African style, in Africa and around the world.

Images have been sourced from magazines, photo libraries, photographers and lodges but the author has some leads on new material which will need to be shot. To cover expenses these stories could be sold to magazines before or after publishing.

At the beginning of each chapter there will be a DPS of stock images with the introductory text, depicting the inspiration for the subject matter of the forthcoming chapter. For example Chapter Two, The Smell of the First Rain, could have images of African mud/earth/mud buildings etc. To be chosen by the author and art director.

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Chapter One Between The Earth and the Sky

Cape Town SA Great Rift Valley Kenya Franschoek SA Lebombo SA

Standing in an African wilderness is a primal experience. You are assured of the exquisite beauty of the world but at the same time made aware of its dangers. Underneath expansive skies in which clouds soar impossibly high the sweeping dramatic landscapes leave you in wondrous awe. The red earth and weather-worn rocks impart how ancient Africa actually is. You are conscious of the rhythm of the day; in the midday sun the heat is oppressive in its stillness but in the early morning the breeze is sweet and cool. And the afternoons are full of distant rumbling thunder and static air as evening storms approach to bring relief and freshness once again.

In the past both indigenous and colonial architecture was designed to block out the harshness of the African climate and bring respite to people who chiefly lived outdoors. But thanks to a modern desire to live within the natural world and technical advances many contemporary African homes now embrace the vastness and beauty of the landscape and have opened out to greet it. Indoor/outdoor living is a way of life in Africa and today’s architecture is designed with easy access and flow in mind. The buildings explored in this chapter all successfully and poetically embrace the natural world around them. From a family wine estate near Cape Town to a hilltop hideaway overlooking the Masai Mara ‘between the earth and the sky’ celebrates bringing the landscape into the interior.

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Chapter Two The Smell of the First Rain

Namib Desert Namibia Djenne Mali Free State SA Bahareya Egypt

There is nothing like the first rain after a long dry season. With the encroaching thunder storm vortexes of wind whip up the dust from the parched land and mix it with ionised air. Well before the rain reaches you can smell it from afar – the water hitting the red sandy earth. It is a truly African experience - the smell of the first rain.

An essential component of traditional building in Africa is the use of mud. From the mud mosques of Mali to the rondevals of Swaziland buildings have been hand-crafted out of the basic ingredients of earth and water, dung and straw. The organic fluidity of such buildings and the sense that the building has grown from the ground up is now inspiring many modern architects. Some draw a shape in the sand and craft the building as it develops, some incorporate the raw textures in state-of-the-art environments, others bring the handmade element to the form of built in furniture almost sculpting them straight out of the earth.

These sun-baked interiors offer a perfect antidote to high-tech living with a rawness which touches our primordial instincts. The houses in this chapter, from a stone and straw desert dwelling in Namibia to a hand crafted lodge in Egypt offer a glance as to how African interiors can live in harmony with the earth in its most honest and basic form.

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Chapter Three Ancestral Voices

Lamu Kenya Karoo SA Cape Town SA Morocco

From the indigenous migratory societies of Africa, to Arab and Asian traders, and European colonists and pioneers, outsiders have left their mark on Africa and created the melting pot it is today. They all brought or imposed their own style and have contributed to a cross-cultural tapestry which has enriched the continent. Whether it was in the form of a gracious Colonial mansion, a sensual Arab Riad, or the honest simplicity of a miner’s cottage, some of Africa’s richest and most beautiful buildings result from the merging of its diverse cultures. But Africa too has inevitably made its way into their homes. Many find soon enough, that they want to embrace the cultures around them and one obvious approach is to incorporate what is around them into their own homes.

African decorative elements from architectural detailing to accessories and artefacts have always provided a rich source of inspiration for modern interiors. They texture the contemporary space with an essence of timelessness. They also provide a framework for many who are proud of their own backgrounds and history. Whether it is a South African pioneer’s Karoo farmstead restyled for modern living or a serene and elegant villa in Kenya the interiors in this chapter show how reference to an ancestral past enhances and contextualises contemporary African life.

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Chapter Four Afro-Organic

Lamu Island Kenya Kelibia Tunisia Johannesburg SA Essaouria Morocco

The natural world is omnipresent in Africa and as with the rest of the world many African architects and designers are taking direct inspiration from the environment by incorporating more fluid organic shapes into buildings and furniture. But it is the abstract sculptural forms found in the ancient shapes of traditional African furniture and art and reinterpreted by contemporary designers which give modern African interiors their distinct style. The ancient materials of woven textiles, wood, stone, beaten metal, basketry and beading all allow themselves to be worked in a contemporary from. Likewise many are now updating old African artefacts by painting them in pure white, gold or silver, highlighting their significance and making what is an historical allusion into a contemporary functional piece. It gives a nod to the past but shows that things move on.

If there is one element which stands out in contemporary African interiors it is the organic form and places like Laurie Owens’s romantic- organic Johannesburg home or Paul Perelli’s whimsical Tunisian Lodge are superb examples of how far this can be instilled into modern life.

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Chapter Five Afro- Pop

Pamushana Zimbabwe Essaouria Morocco Karoo SA Cape Town SA

Is it the quality of light, the vibrancy and tenacity of the people, the abstraction and boldness of the textiles or the afro-pop culture of post colonial Africa? Somehow colour and pattern is louder and more intense in Africa. Bright colours have always been used to soak up the glare of the sun or bring cheer to tough lives but their use in contemporary interiors also reflects an uninhibited attitude that is so African.

In modern African homes colour is not held back. It is not wishy-washy or subtle it is intense and bold. Often used with dramatic pattern and printed textiles, tiles and ceramics, the vivid colours hum with life. If colour is an indication of mood then Africa is wide-awake and partying.

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Chapter Six Adorning Africa

Morocco Cape Town SA Marrakech Morocco Johannesburg SA

Powerfully sublime detailing can be found in many of Africa’s age-old artefacts and architecture. There is an unlimited supply of historical design reference from both vanished and existing cultures. Though much of the meaning and context may be lost through the passage of time its utilization is made all the more alluring and appealing because it is mysterious.

The interiors in this chapter have been subtly infused with indigenous decorative elements illustrating the sensitivity the owners have to the history and culture of their region. They also showcase much of the emerging poetic design which is being inspired by Africa’s rich heritage. Beautiful bead work and embroideries sensually hint at a bygone era but remain modern by being placed in pared down contemporary spaces. Traditional crafts, like tile making and ceramics have been given a modern twist. Basketry is woven with new materials or innovative structures and shapes. What they all refer to is an assurance that Africa is still active in its phenomenal ability to create. A new and very sophisticated design language is developing all over the continent.

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The Author

Journalist and stylist Cathy O’Clery is a leading authority on contemporary African design through her extensive magazine work in South Africa and Europe.

She started her career in London as features editor for World of Interiors magazine and following her move to South Africa in 1995 she became editor of Elle Decoration(SA) and later Associate Editor of House & Leisure magazine and House & Garden(SA) magazine, consecutively.

Cathy is a respected expert on design in South Africa through consultancy and product development with leading retailers and her groundbreaking exhibition in Johannesburg in 2006; The South Africa House, which showcased contemporary South African design.

She is a creative director and co-owner of BEAD a soft furnishing company based in Johannesburg and has designed an award-winning contemporary African fabric range ‘Essence’ in association with fabric house, St Leger & Viney. She has contributed to the South African compendium Flux Trends 09 (Struik Publications) and many international magazines and newspapers including Marie-Clare Maison, Stella, House & Garden and Belle.

She lived in South Africa for 12 years and still travels between there and her home base in Ireland where she works as a journalist, consultant and designer.

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Competitor Analysis

There are many books covering specific styles or countries in Africa. Morocco on its own has been covered extensively. South Africa has also been covered quite recently with new titles published from South Africa. But no one, as far as the author is aware, has brought contemporary African interiors, created in the last 10 years, together in one book.

The most significant book on the subject of African style has been the double volume book Inside Africa (2003) by Deidi von Schaewen and Angelika Taschen for Taschen. It covered all styles of interiors from ancient tribal homes, colonial mansions, modern villas and township shacks. It has been re-printed in several formats, most recently in 2008 in the form of a soft back edition African Interiors.

Much of the material in the book was shot over 10 years ago and the contemporary interiors in the books are now appearing very dated to anyone familiar with the huge changes to African style over the past decade. However the reprinting demonstrates the endurance of many of the images. In typical Taschen format there is no background text – just elongated captions which make it frustrating for anyone who wants to learn more about the interiors. Nevertheless it is a beautiful book and a seminal piece of work.

Taschen have also produced Living in Morocco by Barbara Stoeltie and in their Icon series of picture books, African Style, Morocco Style and South Africa Style, again using already printed material.

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Other Books

African Style (2000) by Sharne Algotsson A hands on guide to decorating in African Style aimed primarily at the American market. Interiors are not necessarily in Africa. Hackneyed and dated style of interiors.

The second volume of interiors from South Africa (2008) – shot in a classic style by Fritz von Schulenburg – covering all styles of mainly Eurocentric decoration from colonial to modern.

(2009) SA production depicting some excellent contemporary SA interiors Shot by Craig Fraser

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