Knitting and Neoprene at Cape Town’s Number Two
Cape Town’s What If The World, a gallery/design studio/collective, have a hard-earned reputation for pulling together the city’s disparate creative community. As well as running a gallery, a much loved food/arts market on Saturday mornings, and staging numerous exhibitions, they have also launched a platform for underground South African fashion and design through irregularly staged Number events.
Number 2 (logically being the second event) was held recently and saw a crowd of local hipsters descend on the Old Biscuit Mill complex in the slightly scary, but rapidly gentrifying, suburb of Woodstock. As well as an exhibition of product design by Xandre Kriel, Adriaan Hugo, Lyall Sprong and Liam Mooney (who also curated the whole event) there was a catwalk presentation, “The Nothing”, by four young South African labels.
The cheekily chic Abraham & Louisa flew down from Joburg armed with a collection that mixed up pin-up play suits and fifties glamour with a dash of French maid sex appeal. Another design duo Dandy Savant took conflict as a theme and delivered an officers mess of souped-up bomber jackers, sharp suits and space age fabrics. White Noise used neoprene to create a crowd-pleasing collection of animalistic style that designer Petro Steyn christened the “Zonkey” (a mix between a zebra and a donkey apparently). But the highlight was possibly local stylist/designer Richard De Jager’s avant-garde knitwear Phwoa label. Richard used ruffles and knitted shapes to create a sea life inspired collection of alien silhouettes (the South African Gareth Pugh of knitting?).
Creative Director Liam Mooney explained the thinking behind the event:
“So many of the emerging designers in South Africa do not have the resources or experience required to be a part of the larger events. I think it’s so important for young and emerging designers to show their work from an early stage, so they can learn and get experience directly from the audience and the media that view it.
“That being said, although this event is a bridge and one of the primary stepping stones in a professional career, we want to grow with the designers and provide an opportunity for them to show and exhibit regardless of what stage they’re in, in their careers. With regards to both the fashion and the product design shows, it was important for us that we cut the frills and the fuss that usually accompany events such as this, we wanted to stick to what was important, namely: talented designers, good work and an appreciative audience…”
What If The World aren’t planning on taking any breaks in the near future. They’ll be taking local product design to Tokyo’s 100% Design, exhibiting at Cape Town’s Design Indaba in February, and then on to event Number 3.
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