Exhibition curated by Tracy Lee Lynch for Clout/SA
Art curated by Tamlin Blake for HUB
Photographs by Justin Patrick
The journey of the past seven years has had many milestones, and our celebration of South African design has been expressed through a variety of platforms, from facilitating the Nando’s Hot Young Designer talent search to hosting Clout Industry Days pitch sessions at 100% Design SA to establishing business mentorship programmes for designers, and right through to the curation of the Portal to Africa, the online market place linking South African designers to interior designers working on Nando’s restaurants around the world.
June 2021 marked yet another milestone for Clout/SA. In partnership with House Union Block in Cape Town, Clout/SA hosted Right Here Right Now, an expansive exhibition that served as window to some of the best contemporary South African design, curated by Tracy Lynch, creative director of both Clout/SA and the Nando’s Design Programme. Alongside the furniture and lighting, Lynch also selected artwork for the exhibition from House Union Block’s collection, which is curated by the Spier Arts Trust’s chief curator, Tamlin Blake.
“We’ve all come out of a really challenging time, and we wanted everyone to remember, that despite all the hardships and things that have been going on in the world, there is so much to celebrate. Creatives that have been isolated continue to work, they continue to find ways to push themselves, possibly more so than ever… It was very important for me to find an expression of that energy that’s bubbling at the surface,” says Lynch.
The exhibition was spread across all four floors of the historic Union House building in Cape Town. It included a variety of work from established award-winning designers such as Wiid Design Studio, The Urbanative, Dokter & Misses, and Mash T Design, as well emerging talent unearthed through the Nando’s Hot Young Designer talent search and Clout Industry Days pitch sessions.
Watch a video of the show here, where Lynch will takes us through the exhibition, introducing us to some of the designers whose work not only captures this moment Right Here Right Now, but is also charting the way forward towards the future of South African design.
