A COLLECTIVE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SOUTH AFRICAN DESIGN
Clout/SA’s designer community is a dynamic network of South African creatives, makers, and collaborators shaping the future of local design. Rooted in a shared commitment to craft, innovation, and storytelling, the community brings together both emerging and established voices—creating opportunities to connect, grow, and be seen on a global stage. Through collaboration, mentorship, and real commercial pathways, Clout/SA empowers designers to turn their ideas into impactful, collectible work while contributing to a broader vision of South African design as a distinct and influential global force.
Wiid Design
The Ninevites
Mash T
Urbanative
Ananta Design Studio
Studio Kalki
Mema Designs
David Krynauw
Naturalis
Meet Our Design Community
Durban
Arkivio
At once elegant and contemporary, Arkivio’s range of mirrors and lights convey a love of natural materials and local craftsmanship. In their Durban-based studio, meticulous handiwork meets seamless technical detailing. Here, woven rattan, glass beading and leather binding combine with concealed light sources and dimmable, motion-sesored LED activation. Arkivio elevates everyday objects into the ranks of art lights and sculptural mirrors.
Studio Kalki
Based in Durban, Studio Kalki is a multidisciplinary design studio in the true sense of the word. Co-founders Nikhil Tricam and Nindya Bucktowar weave together their collective disciplines in art-making, ceramics and architecture, resulting in a product offering that’s uniquely theirs.
The duo is best known for creating bespoke handcrafted ceramic tiles and functional furniture, cued by South Africa’s natural heritage. Their work includes a wide range of pieces, such as sculptural sofas, drinks cabinets, wall sconces, and tiles inspired by local flora.
Cape Town
Ananta Design Studio
The pieces that make up sister duo Viveka and Rucita Vassen ‘s Ananta Design Studiocollective are as colourful and vibrant as the designers themselves. The is a Cape Town-based multidisciplinary studio founded by sister duo Viveka and Rucita Vassen. Idraws from thenspired by the vibrancy and threads confluence of their African roots and Indian heritage, producing the studio celebrates cultural duality througha culturally rich and joyful collectible assortment of furniture, lighting, and decor that is both joyful and deeply meaningful.
Together, they reimagine traditional craft techniques into bold, contemporary designs rooted in community and craft.Rooted in a commitment to craftsmanship and community, Ananta works closely with local craft communities, reimagining traditional techniques into bold contemporary designs. Each piece is a fusion of joyful blend of colour and, pattern, underpinned by stories and narrative, telling stories that bridge past and present, heritage and innovation.
Bofred
Bold in their simplicity, Bofred’s designs Combining meld a Mmodernist elements aesthetic with authentic craft and storytellingnarratives. Founders, Christa Botha and Carla Erasmus seek to celebratee and showcase the beauty of natural materials like wood, clay, stone, and metalsin their production, with each collection’s colours palette and product names nodding providing insight intoto the stories and memories that inspired it. CAs they grow as designers and friends, each shift into a new season of life makes it all the more gratifying and important to translate the subtleties of time and place to creatinge beautiful, relevant, and useful objects is at the heart of what this Cape Town studio does.
Hope Garden Furniture
Hope Garden Furniture is rooted in the making of timeless iron outdoor pieces, made to last generations. Their handcrafted garden furniture is made from honest materials like solid timber, stone, and iron using artisanal blacksmith techniques and restored 1950s machinery. The company launched in 1992 with iconic staples like the deck chair and folding café chair and has since produced more modern iterations of alfresco classics, bringing style back to the garden.
Jacobs Collection
Strong lines are the golden thread that connect each piece in the Jacobs Collection. Founder Christine Jacobs-Goosen imbues each of her furniture pieces with a sense of contemporary sophistication, employing architectural forms and elegant finishes. Her bold statement pieces celebrate the beauty of materials like steel, merino wool and ash wood, while her fine art background brings creative expression to her 100% wool collections.
Kino
Founded by designers Nico Hendriksz and Anton Louw, Kino’s pared-back furniture belies the technical skill behind its making. Working in ash, oak and walnut, their chairs, tables and storage pieces balance high-performance functionality with humble, understated forms. These solid-wood creations stand out for their honesty and come to life through precision manufacturing and careful detailing.
Pedersen + Lennard
Honest and pared back, the creations of James Lennard and Luke Pedersen hero thoughtful design and local, sustainable manufacture. Serious about quality production, Pedersen + Lennard’s collection of Afro-Scandi furniture and homeware balances minimalist simplicity with intergenerational durability. These are low impact legacy pieces, built to stand the test of time.
Plantr
Based in Cape Town, Plantr takes a simple need—somewhere for plants to live—and elevates it with a clever service-led approach. From their beautifully made premium planters to large-scale custom installations crafted for major developments, they’re reshaping what sustainable living looks like. And behind each planter or green project is a team of engineers, designers and makers who care as much about how things work as how they look. Their planters match beauty with purpose.
Studio Lloyd
Studio Lloyd founder Ashleigh Lloyd is a three-dimensional product and lighting designer with a deep love for textiles and a fascination with light. Her vision is to create functional, emotive pieces that captivate both the eye and the senses. Each work is crafted with meticulous attention to detail, evolving organically through a balance of material and form. By pairing unexpected textures and luxurious, high-quality materials, Lloyd creates lighting
that feels both sculptural and intimate, a true expression of individuality and craft.
Vogel
John Vogel’s work explores organic forms and the idea of shape as an intuitive language that evokes emotion. Over time, he has experimented with a range of materials but continues to return to wood, a medium that grounds his practice in the natural world and reflects his commitment to responsible forestry. His design process is deeply tactile and iterative. Vogel moves to prototyping early, allowing design and production to evolve in unison until form, function, and feeling find balance.
Wiid Design
Wiid Design is celebrated for its imaginative work with cork. In his Cape Town based studio, Laurie Wiid van Heerden transforms this sustainable material into high-end pieces of art. Working collaboratively with other artists and materials, Laurie’s collection of furniture, lighting, tableware and collectible objects merge cutting-edge manufacturing with handcrafting. As an African “ambassador” for Portuguese cork producer Amorim, Laurie has achieved several world firsts including the largest cork pendant light and cork cabinet, both of which were exhibited by Southern Guild.
Johannesburg
Acre
Founded by Lianel de Jongh and Lindy Swart, Acre is a Johannesburg studio that understands the link between design and mood. The power of good design, they say, is its ability to elicit a feeling. Locally made by hand here in South Africa, their contemporary furniture pieces are united by streamlined silhouettes and considered tactility. Their creations are made to order and built to last.
Anatomy Design
Anatomy Design prides themselves on creating objects made to last. Founded in Johannesburg in 2010, the studio first drew attention when its elegant, industrial Lab Light was named Most Beautiful Object in South Africa by Design Indaba. Since then, founders Megan Hesse and Andrea Kleinloog have built a brand defined by contemporary sophistication. Timeless pieces destined to become future heirlooms, their locally made homeware, lighting, and furniture collections balance utility and beauty.
Mash T.
Mash T Design Studio, founded by Thabisa Mjo, brings together technology and tradition, weaving cultural stories into every object. From the award-winning Tutu 2.0 Pendant Light to the sculptural Hlabisa Bench created in collaboration with Houtlander, Thabisa’s pieces combine meticulous craft, contemporary design, and local storytelling – turning everyday objects into artful expressions of our country and its people.
David Krynauw
David Krynauw, born in 1984 in Piet Retief, grew up with a deep passion for woodwork inspired by his father. After studying Agriculture and Winemaking at Stellenbosch and briefly working as a winemaker, he returned to his family farm in 2007 to pursue furniture design. His breakthrough came in 2008 with the award-winning Dome Pendant Cluster, followed by international recognition for his Haywire light. Innovating with CNC technology, he developed the “Joburg Method,” enabling complex designs and earning Designer of the Year in 2015. Today, David leads a thriving design and build business at Victoria Yards, creating furniture, architectural projects, and sustainable building solutions while mentoring young talent and pushing boundaries in timber design.
Dokter and Misses
Founded in 2007 by Adriaan Hugo and Katy Taplin, Dokter and Misses is synonymous with bold and expressive furniture. The award-winning Johannesburg-based design studio makes objects that challenge convention and reinterpret everyday forms. Their work blends colour, geometry, and wit, resulting in distinctive pieces that are beautiful, practical, and make a statement.
Mema Designs
Based in Johannesburg and run by Sian Eliot, Mema Designs is renowned for its elegant and ethereal aluminum mesh lighting. Weaving this unexpected material into sinuous, organic and nature-inspired forms, their lights bring wonder to the spaces that they illuminate. A Mema Designs light is as much an exploration of engineering as it is artistic expression.
Houtlander
Houtlander’ s furniture presents Scandi simplicity crafted on African soil. Founder Phillip Hollander’s chairs and tables have become a go-to for numerous commercial and hospitality spaces, each time channeling understated beauty. Bymarrying traditional techniques with technology- Houtlander’s elegantly pared back furniture is brought to life.
Naturalis
Naturalis believes in functional design, made with craft and flexibility in mind and specialises in high-quality, customisable seating and furniture solutions. From perforated metal garden benches to fully upholstered auditorium seating, their work combines durability with design versatility. The Miyabi collection, for example, is a contemporary take on the classic café chair – offered in an array of finishes from powder-coated metal to
leather upholstery. Naturalis also produces tables and storage pieces, all connected by their dedication to function, comfort, and craft.
The Ninevites
The Ninevites is a textile design studio rooted in conscious making. Founded by Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg, the studio celebrates collaboration, working with artisans across the world to create rugs, cushions, blankets, and limited-edition pieces. Currently based in Stockholm, Mlangeni-Berg continues to return to her source of inspiration: African traditions, black culture, and community upliftment. Using locally sourced, OEKO-TEX-certified fibres, The Ninevites honours both people and planet.
The Urbanative
Designer Mpho Vackier’s creations are brought to life by African stories – present and past- and sustainable production, expressed through contemporary design. Drawing from African tribal hairstyles, stories of ancient kingdoms and West African Adinkra symbols, The Urbanative brings the spirit of ancient Africa into the home. Over time, her collection has expanded to include everything from furniture and lighting to planters and mirrors.
