John Vogel | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Ellerman House is one of Cape Town’s leading boutique hotels, and has one of the largest private art collections. Now it has inaugurated a world class Wine Gallery in the basement of its newly opened Villa Two, with a record number of 7500 bottles of wine. Architect Michael Dennett of DV8 Architects created the unique space, which aims to reflect the more than 350 year history of winemaking in South Africa, and to create an environment of learning more about and tasting our wines. It presents the Ellerman House wine collection as a work of art in itself.

Earlier this week I visited Ellerman House, and friendly guide Heike Gerntholz showed a group of us around the new Villa Two and its Wine Gallery. The 3 bedroom villa costs R50000 per night to rent, with its own butler and chef. The Wine Gallery can be accessed by the guests in the villa, as well as by the guests in Villa One, and in the main building, via a separate entrance. Villa Two guests are isolated from any noise made by the users of the Wine Gallery, we were told.

My focus was the Wine Gallery, and a hand-crafted stainless steel spiral staircase takes one down to it. It is a vast temperature-controlled space, and a number of elements attract one’s attention. The design of the very large lights above the tasting table was inspired by wine glasses. Behind the tasting table is a Terroir Wall designed by Angus Taylor, in shades of brown, orange, yellow, and beige, representing the soils of 100 local wine farms, including La Motte and Chamonix, each framed and named. There is a massive bar counter made from a solid block of granite, with a hematite wall behind it, and a Continue reading →

The brief to address trendtalk #7 at the Plascon Auditorium last week led to three speakers in the Cape Town design industry approach design trendspotting from three very different perspectives, addressing the theme of ‘Reflections on the Future’. Attending the Bloggers’ evening at the new I ♥ my Laundry branch on Bree Street last night, I saw how their bold use of orange is spot on trend, a colour they already chose when they opened on Buitengracht Street 19 months ago. Orange was described as a bright and cheerful colour which does not overwhelm and which works well in ‘dark moody spaces’.

#trendtalk was conceptualised by Lauren Shantall of Inhouse Brand Architects, and four design and decor trend talks are held in the Cape Town city centre per year.

1. Laurence Brick, co-founder of Loads of Living, spoke mainly about trends in interior home design, reflecting that consumers evolve, and feed each other with creative ideas, mainly seen on Social Media:

* The kitchen is the new lounge, where one entertains friends and gathers as a family. The design of the kitchen matches the artisanal fresh food which is on trend.

* Textiles chosen for interiors have texture, and reflect honesty and integrity in how they are made.

* Lighting has become very industrial and sculptural, ‘as good as art‘, with bare Continue reading →