house and leisure August 2009

A great pic in the latest House and Leisure by David Ross of the first nest in situ showing one of the proud new owners. This is what i designed it for.

Weavers Nest

Just recently exhibited a piece at the Joburg Art Fair
It was commissioned by Southern Guild and the purpose was to blur the line between art and design

I always lived under weavers and always wondered what it was like up and in there.
Finally I deceided to make my fantasy reality.
The most difficult thing was finding the right person who understood exactly what I was talking about and didn’t think I had been smoking my socks.

The bigger story is that it is woven out of alien trees. More specifically Port Jackson/Black Wattle which is abundant in the water catchment areas of the Riviersonderend Mountains.
It also has alien poplar trees and then dak riet to fill.
It’s made in Riviersonderend where I collaborate with Mariki and Beyers Beyers of Bloemenkraal.
They specialize in working with aliens and the result is providing much needed jobs in an area where there aren’t many.
It’s huge 3m x 2.5m, and can carry two adults and a small child.
The original dream was for them to be erected on game farms as chill spaces that functioned as hides for the occupants to view game at a watering hole or river or bird watching. Watch those spaces.
Suspended from a tree and hung about 3meters off the ground to keep you out of reach of any dangers.
Access is via a rope ladder that can be rolled up and stored.

First one's sold and we are currently designing one for 4 adults for a Russian client.

Lites

Called “Lite” - to emphasize how softly this product treads on the environment.
The turned wooden bulbs function as lamp shades and, as outsize versions of the outdated and non-sustainable luminaires that are in the process of being replaced by CFLs and LEDS, make a comment on sustainability and energy consumption. In fact, Lite’s very design makes it impossible to use anything but a light-on-electricity CFL, as nothing else will physically fit the socket and old-fashioned bulbs would simply burn the wood. It is craft-based designs, sustainable processes and materials like wood, that hold the secret of our future.
What’s also noteworthy here is the natural beauty and variety of wood, which is integral to Lite’s appeal, no stains or dyes are used to create the wide range of colourways.

Material - Various woods

Size - 240mm high x 180mm wide

Price on application

CONTACT PORKY FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION
AND A PRICING LIST

Available direct from Animal Farm
porky@animal-farm.co.za

BEER CRATE STOOLS

Inspired by makeshift seating found in most shabeens, barber shops and spaza stalls around South Africa, the wooden crate stool serves as an ode to every African tale voiced from these seats of hope.
Recent winner of Elle Decoration 2009 EDIDA Award for the seating category
Available in 'High Hopes - Big Dreams' and 'Short Courage - Tall Stories'
Material - Supawood
Size - 430mm high x 400mm wide x 300 deep
Price - R1 300.00

BLACK AFRICA. A MIRROR

sizes:
1000mm x 900mm

Material - Perspex

price:
POA

NDEBELE STOOL

Made in collaboration with Elizabeth and Vincent Gwebu, bead workers originally from Mpumalanga, now living in Philippi, Cape Town.

These stools are based on the materials, techniques and forms of traditional Ndeble dolls.

Ndebele art speaks no longer just to the indigenous community, but now serves also as an aesthetic commodity, an economic "bridge to the 21(st) century" for South African Ndebele women artists and their families. We are witnessing an artistic society of women proceeding through their own cultural aesthetic evolution.

Instead of producing more and more traditional dolls that are common in South Africa, and whose only function is a curio or keepsake, we are using tenets of Ndebele culture to produce furniture that is relevant/attractive to an international market with sustainable economic benefits.

TOKOLOSHE

Traditional magic and superstition have always formed an integral part of South Africa's indigenous folktales, in which the tokoloshe is a significant manifestation. Even today many rural and urban Nguni peoples, particularly the Zulu and Xhosa, still believe in the power of these mischievous and sometimes evil, hairy spirits. Interestingly though, the belief in these water sprites has spread to all cultures in South Africa.

All over the country, black South Africans would often raise their beds by placing the legs of their beds on paint tins or bricks, raising their bed up to 3 feet from the ground. It is an almost universal belief, that this was to keep the occupant of the bed out of reach of the Tokoloshe while you sleep.

Tokoloshe is avaliable in two widths:
bench - 1800mm x 430mm
bed - 1800mm x 800mm

Steel frame is epoxy coated and
avaliable in a variety colours.

To place orders or for more information
contact Animal Farm on +27834410662
or porky@animal-farm.co.za