Woven Legacies: Innovation & Tradition

Timed Online Auction, 2 - 24 February 2025

Innovation & Tradition
About the Session

‘Woven Legacies: Innovation & Tradition’ highlights a diverse range of materials, techniques, and processes from various regions, including Southern, Central and Western Africa. These works coalesce utility, aesthetics and cultural identity. From the tactile threads of textiles to the intricate blending of natural fibres in baskets and the sculptural forms of steel, copper, brass and beads, the concept of weaving is reimagined as a metaphor for connection, storytelling and the passing on of tradition.


  • Houtlander and Mash-T. Design Studio; Hlabisa Bench, 3rd production in series
  • Houtlander and Mash-T. Design Studio; Hlabisa Bench, 3rd production in series
  • Houtlander and Mash-T. Design Studio; Hlabisa Bench, 3rd production in series
  • Houtlander and Mash-T. Design Studio; Hlabisa Bench, 3rd production in series


Lot Estimate
ZAR 95 000 - 105 000
Location
Cape Town
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About this Item

South African 21st century
Hlabisa Bench, 3rd production in series
curved three-seater oak bench with natural and dyed ilala palm
212cm long

Notes

This is the 3rd production of the Hlabisa Bench, the 2nd of which was purchased by The Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou in Paris.

It is the first South African object to enter the Design section of the Centre Pompidou, of great importance for the museum's collections because of its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, at the crossroads of craft and design, local traditions and recent technologies" (Oliver Zeitoun, Curator at the Centre Pompidou).

"Craft is the new luxury. We spend all day staring at our screens, so that when we come across something tactile and handmade, we're intrigued. But, at the same time, craft in SA has become kitsch and commoditised. We want to bring design back to craft; to access the depth of understanding that has been instilled over years and therefore cannot be easily replicated. It's about preventing the stagnation of craft; taking this magnificent tradition and making it new again. And that's what's going to ensure its sustainability." 1. (Stephen Wilson, 2019)

1. Lisa Witepski (2019) ‘Design collab sparks a new beginning for an ancient KwaZulu-Natal craft’ Home & Gardening, Sunday Times, 7 July 2019.

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