Vicente Wolf

The next day I went shopping at Amatuli – I always shop there when I’m in Johannesburg – to find objects for VW Home. I found a great Ethiopian chair, which I had been looking for for a client, as well as some Dogon ladders.

Earlier that day I had walked through the different booths at the convention center to select my top ten exhibitors at Rooms on View. Trust me, it was really hard to choose from all the creativity on display. From African manufacturers to contemporary furniture lines there were so many designers and so many different booths. It was a really fun experience.

I met the wonderful Liz Morris who is the editor of Conde Nast House and Garden and an absolute gem, charming and delightful. We immediately hit it off! Her magazine’s booth, designed by Maira Koutsoudakis of Life was really exquisite with wonderful objects and it incorporated really refined and outstanding bush elements.

That night I went to drinks at one of SA’s top interior designers Stephen Falcke’s extraordinary black and white townhouse. It looked straight off the pages of Architectural Digest. The house is done entirely in black and white and features incredible artwork and his personal finds from around the world. Naturally it was rounded off by his bushy white cat, which would have given Nene a go in the cuteness factor!

I saw so many people whom I’d met ten years ago on my first SA trip and we discussed many things, from the economy – they’re not in the plush either and it was interesting to again have that reassurance that we’re all hurting together – to how the design industry in South Africa has progressed over the last 10 years. It is quite extraordinary. Wonderful new designers are breaking ground in their style and the sense that we are living in a creative global society is truly proven by what I saw there. Many of the spaces could have been in a top  New York apartment.