Clout/SA and HUB will take over all four floors of Union House to present Right here, Right Now!”, a show curated by award-wining designer Tracy Lynch, the Creative Director of Clout/SA and the Nando’s Design Program. This business-to-business creative agency was seeded within the Nando’s business with projects such as the Nando’s Portal to Africa and Design Programme transforming hundreds of the restaurant chain’s branches around the world by filling them with South African furniture and lighting pieces. In addition, the impact of the design program is focused on delivering life-changing mentorship opportunities within a sustainable procurement system.
“What we’ve put together is a showcase of carefully curated designer pieces from a selection of established South African designers as well as a new crop of emerging designers that are part of the Nando’s HYD pro-gram. And in partnership with HUB, we’ll be showing visual art as well as cross-disciplinary work by highly skilled artisans,” explains Lynch.
Invited visitors can expect to see new product designs by some of the finalists of the 2020 Nando’s Hot Young Designer (HYD) Talent Search competition. For this competition, entrants were called on to submit concept ideas for benches. Included in the exhibition are works by HYD finalists Anele Vezi and Siviwe Jali, and the overall HYD winner, Katlego Tshuma. Vezi’s bench has been brought to life by TheUrbanative while Jali’s bench has been manufactured by Takk. Tshuma’s winning Sangu Bench has been created in collaboration with Dokter and Misses, and this will be on display together with a new lighting design from his Sangu Collection.
Also on show on the ground floor is a brand-new standing screen by Dokter and Misses, commissioned for the exhibition by Lynch, which features patterns by the 2018 Hot Young designers expressed in beaded panels by the Qaqambile bead studio (residents of Union House). There’ll also be an 8m-long tapestry depicting the impact of COVID-19, and other embroidered panels, by the Keiskamma Art Project from Hamburg in the Eastern Cape.
On the second floor of Union House, there’ll be a maker station where the makers from Ourworkshop, mosaic and bead artisans from Qaqambile, can be viewed in action. Throughout the spaces, artworks sourced by HUB will be on display. HUB is the recently founded purpose-first commercial entity born out of the Spier Arts Academy, which offers businesses the opportunity to commission architectural installations or purchase a collection of artworks by emerging and mid-career artists, sourced through programmes that focus on artist career development.
HUB also facilitates collaborations with artisans in the fields of mosaic, bead and other craft mediums. HUB has worked on a number of collaborations facilitated by Clout/SA which has delivered unique collectable pieces in partnership with SA designers. Says HUB CEO, Mirna Wessels
“The collaborations we’re working on with Clout/SA are driving meaningful and sustainable large-scale growth within the creative sector, by generating opportunities for creatives. HUB supports the mutually beneficial procurement of curated collections of art, as well as the creation of cross-disciplinary partnerships in the fields of design and art.”
Because both HUB and Clout/SA are B2B platforms, the first three days of the exhibition have been dedicated to the trade. Monday to Wednesday will be exclusively for architectural and interior design professionals, corporate procurement agents and facilities managers. Day 4 has been assigned to industry education and will offer the opportunity for design learners to come through and experience the exhibition. The final day will be open to limited numbers of public guests due to social distancing concerns.
Follow @clout_sadesign on Instagram.
