Photo by Ulrich Knoblauch, courtesy of Southern Guild Gallery
The House and Garden Designer of the Year (DOTY) Awards for 2024 honour a selection of extraordinary Southern African talent across various fields, from architecture and interior design to product design and art.
The winners have been recognized for their innovative approaches, commitment to sustainability, and significant contributions to their respective disciplines.
Here’s a look at some of the standout honorees.
ICON Award: Southern Guild
With galleries in Cape Town and now Los Angeles, Southern Guild established by Trevyn and Julian McGowan continues to place contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora on the global stage.
With over a decade in investing in the growth of the African creative ecosystem, cultivating an ethos of cultural exchange and interconnectedness through its robust international fair and biennale programme, Southern Guild has played an important role in African works being acquired by many of the world’s most prestigious art institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and National Gallery of Victoria to name a few.
If there is an African artist on your radar, it is likely they had a role to play in that.
Landscape Designer Of The Year Award: Leon Kluge
Landscape designer Leon Kluge always knew plants were in his future with his grandfather as curator of the Betty’s Bay Botanical Garden and his father, the curator of the Lowveld National Botanical Gardens in Nelspruit where Leon spent his childhood.
With a long list of celebrity clients and multiple awards to his name, Kluge also took home three top awards at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower show for ‘The Cape Flora of South Africa’ display, winning Gold, Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion and New Design Award for the fynbos extravaganza with Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, a first for South Africa.
This was followed by another international feat, also taking home Gold at the Singapore Garden Festival in August, claiming ‘Best on Show’ and ‘Best Lighting’ for his ‘Between Two Worlds’ display.
Artist Of The Year Award: Lulama Wolf
Johannesburg-based artist Lulama Wolf’s engages with themes of African spirituality within a contemporary context and merges that with colour theory influenced by traditional South African vernacular, architecture and indigenous rock art.
Lulama has exhibited locally and in Copenhagen, Athens and New York with artistic collaborations with Bang & Olufsen and H&M under her belt. Blackness is innate in her work, and vital because proof of existence is rare in the Black community and information is shared but not sustained in ways that are known to us right now.
Pan-African Designer Of The Year Award: Thabisa Mjo of Mash.T Design
Passionate about preserving traditional skills and helping other small businesses, owner/ founder of Mash.T Design Studio, Thabisa Mjo made her way into the design industry by entering the Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search competition in 2015, which foreshadows to her now beloved pendant light with a contemporary forward-thinking South African twist.
She participated in Ventura Future at Salone del Mobile Milano, arguably the most important design fair in the world, where South African craftsmanship adapted its cultural traditions ensuring the survival of vital skills that can be shared with the next generation.
Other Epic Designers Who Won Awards
Restaurant of the Year: Nic Charlambous, Ouzeri
Hotel of the Year: Coot Club
Home of the Year: Salt Rock by Julia Rutherfoord Architect & Nikhil Tricam
Architect of the Year: Sumayya Vally—Vally of Counterspace
Product Designer of the Year: Bofred—Christa Botha and Carla Erasmus
Interior Designer of the Year: Fyfe Boyce—Bruce Fyfe and Kelsey Boyce … Look them over