Garreth Van Niekerk
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Articles by Garreth Van Niekerk
Through the door of Rossana Orlandi
Rossana Orlandi has long been one of design’s instinctive forces. Before becoming a gallerist, curator, and one of the most recognisable figures in contemporary design, she spent decades in fashion, developing an eye for material, colour, and the emotional charge of objects. In 2002, she opened Galleria Rossana Orlandi in Milan, transforming a former tie factory into a now-legendary destination for collectable design.
The feeling of home: inside Tshepo Sealetsa’s design philosophy
Tshepo Sealetsa’s work begins with a feeling. Long before questions of material, form or function, his approach to design is rooted in the idea that a space should make people feel held. That understanding comes from personal experience. Growing up without a permanent family home, Sealetsa moved between relatives with his mother, learning early that home was not necessarily a building, but a sense of comfort and belonging carried through people.
A look into the craftsmanship of Sarah Langa Interiors
Sarah Langa has long understood the power of image-making. As one of the internet’s favourite people, she has constructed a public image around fashion, travel, luxury and the details of a well-composed life. Now, that visual world is moving into interiors. With the launch of Sarah Langa Interiors, she is taking a more formal step into the design space, translating her eye for mood, material and presentation into rooms, objects and complete environments.
Decorex Africa 2026: The hard work for a soft life
A fair such as Decorex, the continent’s largest and longest-running event of its sort, requires a great deal of belief and quite a lot of make-believe. There is the belief that thousands of moving parts can come together from around this enormous continent. That ideas can become rooms, drawings can become buildings, and materials, objects, and people can travel vast distances to meet under one roof.
Made in Marrakech: the craft behind LRNCE
LRNCE began quietly. What started as Laurence Leenaert’s personal exploration of textiles and ceramics in Marrakech has, over more than a decade, grown into an internationally recognised design studio spanning furniture, art, objects and hospitality. The brand has built its global identity by remaining firmly rooted in Morocco, where its work is produced in collaboration with artisans working with pottery, zellige [traditional handcrafted Moroccan tile], plaster, metal and wood.
A room of her own: Sarah Langa Interiors
Sarah Langa has long understood the power of image-making. As one of the internet’s favourite people, she has constructed a public image around fashion, travel, luxury, and the details of a well-composed life. Now, that visual world is moving into interiors. With the launch of Sarah Langa Interiors, she is taking a more formal step into the design space, translating her eye for mood, material and presentation into rooms, objects and complete environments.
Cracking the Milan Design code
In a crowded calendar of global design weeks and fairs, few are booked quite as early as Milan Design Week. Long before the previous year’s fair has faded from collective memory, the design crowd starts planning for the next trip: which area to stay in, which restaurant booking they should make next time, which show they shouldn’t miss, and, inevitably, how to schedule more time to take it all in. Four days for the main Salone del Mobile Milano showgrounds. Four days for Milan Design Week.
The Soft Life
A fair such as Decorex, the continent’s largest and longest-running event of its sort, requires a great deal of belief and quite a lot of make-believe. There is the belief that thousands of moving parts can come together from around this enormous continent. That ideas can become rooms, drawings can become buildings, and materials, objects, and people can travel vast distances to meet under one roof.
Zoë Modiga, The Brother Moves On and lordkez lead Fête de la Musique Joburg
Fête de la Musique returns to Victoria Yards in Lorentzville on Saturday, June 20, bringing one of Joburg's best free music days back to the city for its 15th local edition. Running from 1 pm to 7 pm, the festival will be led by Zoë Modiga, The Brother Moves On and lordkez, with a wider line-up that leans into the city's usual refusal to sit neatly in one genre.
Neighbourhood Diaries: Rosebank
Rosebank is one of Joburg’s great in-betweeners, an area not as overwhelming as Sandton, not quite as charming as Parkhurst, not as green as the Parks, and somehow feeding off all of them to create its own distinct thing. It’s a neighbourhood of commuters and collectors, gallery openings and hotel lobbies, office workers, tourists, sneaker kids, aunties doing a serious grocery run, and people who’ve absolutely dressed for dinner.
Where to find last-minute local gifts for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, 10 May 2026, which means there’s still just enough time to avoid the petrol-station-flowers-and-panic-chocolates routine (although The Pantry in Rosebank is still a very good option for this, if you can find parking, of course). Joburg has plenty of independent stores, local design-led boutiques and indie labels that can make a last-minute gift look suspiciously thoughtful.
American rock heavyweights +LIVE+ return to SunBet Arena this December
American rock heavyweights +LIVE+ are returning to South Africa this December, bringing one of the most recognisable alt-rock songbooks of the 90s and 2000s back to local stages. For Gauteng fans, your faves will be on at the same stage you fell in love with them on from their last tour - the SunBet Arena at Time Square in Pretoria on 11 December 2026. When SunBet Arena first opened, +LIVE+ were the first band to take to its stage.
Neighbourhood Diaries: Newtown
Newtown isn’t the kind of neighbourhood you can flatten into a neat little round-up. It’s too dense with history for that, too full of the old, too marked by reinvention. So while putting this guide together, we reached out to Marc Latilla, the writer behind the deeply researched Johannesburg 1912 blog, and author of Johannesburg Then and Now, to help peel back a few of those layers.
Where to catch live music and theatre in Johannesburg for the rest of April
Autumn is a very good time to go out in Johannesburg. The evenings are cooler, the leaves start dropping (helping the city itself look a little brighter after dark), and, best of all, the theatres and music venues start launching their most wonderful shows. April still has a strong run of live entertainment left, with all sorts of family musicals, serious theatre, big-budget stage spectacles and, as Joburg does so well, a welcome lineup of excellent jazz.
Decorex Africa 2026 is bringing the Soft Life to Joburg
If the last few years of design have felt a bit like a performance of productivity, Decorex Africa 2026 wants to offer something else. This year’s edition, built around the theme “Soft Life”, is less about hard-edged aspiration and more about how we actually want to live now: more comfortably, more beautifully, and ideally with less noise. Returning to Johannesburg, Decorex remains South Africa’s, and the continent’s, biggest design showcase, and this year the scale sounds as expansive as ever.
Fête de la Musique has opened applications for its Joburg edition
If you’re an emerging musician looking for a platform, Fête de la Musique wants to hear from you. The long-running free festival, now in its 15th year, has officially opened applications for its 2026 Johannesburg and Pretoria editions, giving musicians, bands, DJs and poets the chance to perform at one of the city’s most reliable showcases for new talent.
Aubrey Moloto is turning Melville’s first Thursday into a street-level comeback
Melville’s always been good at reinvention. It’s carried the city through decades of late nights, first dates, student misadventures, and the kind of after-hours stories that start with “you won’t believe what happened last night…”. But in recent years, the narrative has hardened into something flatter and less fair: Melville is unsafe; Melville is only for students; Melville isn’t what it used to be.
Neighbourhood Diaries: Parkhurst
What’s Parkhurst known for? Joburg isn’t exactly a walking city, so when a neighbourhood makes strolling feel effortless, the city shows up in its finery. Parkhurst is that kind of place. A proper high street with energy, a steady hum of vibes, and just enough people-watching to make you forget you arrived with an agenda.
The 7 best art districts in Johannesburg
If you’re new to Joburg, start here. This is the city’s easiest art run, and still one of its best. Everard Read and CIRCA anchor what’s known as Keyes Art Mile, a collection of inspiring galleries and art-inspired retail spaces, with stops like Lizamore on Keyes and Gallery 1 full of exciting names and mediums to explore. It’s one of the few parts of the city where you can move between serious art, architecture, design stores and lunch without losing momentum. Marble being right there doesn’t hurt.
Neighbourhood Diaries: Melville
What’s Melville known for? Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s deal with the elephant in the room. Melville gets a bad rap. There’s no shortage of think-pieces mourning the suburb’s “decline” as Joburg’s former nightlife, culinary and entertainment hub. Falling apart this, unsafe that, we miss the old days, blah blah blah. But here’s the thing: Melville has always been a shapeshifter. It reinvents itself, tests its edges, quietens down, then surprises you again. So enough of that.
The 10 best spas in Johannesburg
The Saxon spa now has two branches, the first in leafy Sandhurst and its new sibling, a brighter, more expansive wellness experience in Steyn Cityâs Clubhouse. Tanya Lopes has been managing the Saxon spa for a decade, curating a staff of impeccable therapists and crafting a transformative treatment menu for guests. The Luxury Soul by Saxon package is a firm favourite with a full-body scrub, mud treatment and top-to-toe massage.
The future but make it deco
Set inside the historic Kuglegården naval depot at the recent 3 Days of Design Copenhagen, the FAST / FORWARD exhibition by Fenix and Formica, curated by design consultant Federica Sala, might have looked at first like a lesson in material futures. But the brief to the studios of Federica Biasi, Laurids Gallée, Panter&Tourron, Tino Seubert, Uchronia, and South Africa’s Thabisa Mjo — to reinterpret a design decade — became something else entirely: a gentle reckoning with the past.
Milan's most memorable
ATELIER DE TROUPE, Intermezzo Installation View Salone del Mobile (Milan Design Week) arrives each April in Milan like a well-timed hallucination — not exactly real, not entirely dream, and only possible in a city like this.
RADIO REVIEW: Xolani’s easy mornings
2017-01-15 06:01 by Garreth Van Niekerk Xolani Gwala (Facebook 702) Johannesburg - It wasn’t exactly the highlight of my year when I worked out that I’ve been in a 15-year-long relationship with John Robbie, the 61-year-old former host of 702’s breakfast show. He’d been there with me from the days of being driven to school, to driving myself to university, all the way to parking in the basement of my first nine-to-five job – a lot of time together with someone I’ve never even snogged before.
sibonelo chiliza: beyond botanical art – House and Leisure
Drawing plant specimens takes on an additional level of historical and political abstraction when it comes to the botanical art of Sibonelo Chiliza — a little-known, but exceptionally talented illustrator from Port Elizabeth, whose work subtly considers the complex realities of representing the natural environment in South Africa.
inside sanlam's extraordinary century of art collecting – House and Leisure
A new exhibition currently up at the Sanlam Art Lounge at 11 Alice Lane in Sandton, Johannesburg, reveals the story of 100 years of the Sanlam Art Collection — one of the country’s most comprehensive, and valuable, art collections.
some tips on framing your artwork creatively – House and Leisure
‘Creative framer’ Wessel Snyman of Wessel Snyman Creative looks at framing as part of the artwork, not just a display tool, and his radical ideas are taking hold. He has become the framer of choice for clients looking for alternative framing to the standard steel boxes. He caught up with House and Leisure ahead to give some creative tips on how to reconsider your approach to framing. 1.
banele khoza explains his conceptual space in braamfontein – House and Leisure
Artist Banele Khoza recently opened up his own space, BKhz, in Braamfontein – an exciting mix of design from neighbouring designers in the suburb, alongside a collection of his own artworks, and group exhibitions created via ongoing collaborations with other artists and friends. House and Leisure caught up with Banele this week to better understand his multifaceted approach to the space. ‘The space has been rumoured to be a gallery/shop/studio/artist project.
5 bits to look forward to at the 2018 FNB JoburgArtFair – House and Leisure
With the 2018 FNB JoburgArtFair around the corner, House and Leisure rounds up some of the must-sees at one of our favourite events of the year. What’s on your list? With more than 54 countries from Africa represented at the fair this year, the weekend’s activities will make it the largest fair dedicated to contemporary art on the continent.
Haroon Gunn-Salie Is The FNB Art Prizewinner For 2018 – House and Leisure
The winner of the FNB Art Prize was announced at an FNB JoburgArtFair event last night, and the honours went to Cape Town-born artist Haroon Gunn-Salie, whose work challenges difficult ideas about power in South Africa.
Q&A: Five Minutes With Pioneering Artist Sue Williamson – House and Leisure
My official entry into the art world could be pegged at 1984, when I completed an advanced diploma in fine art at Michaelis, UCT. For my diploma work, I made the mixed-media series ‘A Few South Africans’, portraits of women involved in the struggle for liberation from apartheid. At that time, the cultural boycott was in place, and as far as the international art world was concerned, South African contemporary art did not exist.
Polytheism: Make Testament Bar's Perfectly Wicked G and T – House and Leisure
Braamfontein’s Testament ‘microbar’, owned by the same crew as Kalashnikovv Gallery (located next door to the bar) and the Tennis Club, has become the coolest spot to drink and dance in the inner-city. But, in case you were too distracted by their extraordinary, ever-changing art installations, we got you the recipe for their delicious Polytheism cocktail — a true testament to the many gods of the night.
Inside The Making Of Billie Zangewa's FNB JoburgArtFair Artwork – House and Leisure
This year’s FNB JoburgArtFair Featured Artist of The Year, Billie Zangewa, invited House and Leisure to her beautiful home in Johannesburg recently, where she is busy putting the final touches to one of the artworks due to premiere at her installation of work at the fair in September. The piece is part of an ‘intervention’, Billie explains, a combination of three-dimensional elements and silk works.
The Goodman Gallery's Liza Essers Talks Women In The Arts – House and Leisure
This year, Goodman Gallery owner and director Liza Essers celebrates 10 years since taking over the iconic gallery. House and Leisure visited Essers at home to get inside the story of her pioneering work and insights as a woman in the arts. Sue Williamson points out in this issue that female artists in South Africa, for instance Marlene Dumas, Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser, dominate the auction/secondary market, unlike in European and American markets.
Go Inside Local Studio’s Epic 'Hustles' – House and Leisure
Pioneering Johannesburg architecture firm Local Studio will release Hustles next week — a chronicle of the firm’s first 12 built projects, and five years of practice in the City of Gold. Co-authored by Thomas Chapman, who founded Local Studio (and is one of the 2018 House and Leisure Next Level’ers), photographer David Southwood and illustrator Michael Tymbios, it reveals the work of Local Studio in snapshots, diagrams, essays and interviews.
MoMa Celebrates Bodys Isek Kingelez's Dreamy African Cities – House and Leisure
New York’s Museum of Modern Art has just opened City Dreams — a retrospective of the futuristic architectural imaginings of the late Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez, and it looks incredible. At the exhibition, Kingelez’ ‘extreme maquettes’ of entire African cities are celebrated as sculptures, and investigated for their intense study of how an African city of the future could work, and look.
Go Inside Local Studio’s Epic Hustle – House and Leisure
Pioneering Johannesburg architecture firm Local Studio will release Hustle next week — a chronicle of the firm’s first 12 built projects, and five years of practice in the City of Gold. Co-authored by Thomas Chapman, who founded Local Studio (and is one of the 2018 House and Leisure Next Level’ers), photographer David Southwood and illustrator Michael Tymbios, it reveals the work of Local Studio in snapshots, diagrams, essays and interviews.
into rich mnisi's bold new underworld – House and Leisure
If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re about to fall in love with Rich Mnisi’s new look book — an otherworldly trip to the spirit realm that explores the memory of his late great-grandmother, Nwa-Mulamula. In the look book, models become alien fashion creatures, dressed in the hypermodern, hyperluxe looks from Rich’s ‘transeasonal’ 2018 collection, while sporting prosthetic pixie ears and elaborate headgear.
deep dive: a study of brutalism – House and Leisure
In the House and Leisure Back to Black July issue we feature an exclusive interview with Michèle Lamy, who with fashion designer Rick Owens, produces an extraordinarily minimalist furniture line. Lamy describes the furniture as ‘brutalist’, but what is brutalism?
joburg's kate otten up for world architecture festival award – House and Leisure
Kate Otten Architects, known for designing some great South African buildings such as the Women’s Jail Museum and Gabriel’s Garden Pavilion, among others, has just been shortlisted for the prestigious World Architecture Festival Award – for outstanding design in various categories. Otten’s building ‘Law on Keyes’ in Rosebank, Johannesburg, has been nominated in the Office Category of the 2018 awards.
knit together: introducing the new laduma x ikea rug – House and Leisure
The last time knitwear designer Laduma Ngxokolo released a rug design, he broke Twitter (The Ubuhle Busintu rug made the #Maxhosa hashtag trend for days on social media), and now the brand’s latest foray into floorware is sure to do the same.
Cultural Museum Comes To Life With Bricks
House and Leisure’s obsession with beautiful brickwork continues this week after we discovered the extraordinary central column of the uMkhumbane Cultural Museum at Cato Manor, Durban. Designed by Rod Choromanski and Dean Ramlal of Choromanski Architects, the building’s five-storey museum tower saw approximately 500 000 clay bricks used to create the sculptural monolith.
Banana Tree Sanitary Pads Are Changing Lives In Rwanda
Millions of girls in Africa, and around the world, are forced to miss school because they cannot afford sanitary pads. But a startup is changing that with their innovative, Earth-friendly and inexpensive "green" pads. The Sustainable Heath Enterprises (SHE) pad is made of banana fibres, which are transformed using a cutting-edge technique developed between the United States and Rwanda to transform the pulp of banana fibres into a super absorptive, environmentally friendly sanitary pad.
Three SA Wines Voted 'World's Most Admired Wine'
Three South African wines have made the prestigious Drinks International 'World's Most Admired Wine Brands' list for 2018 — the most representation South African wine has ever had on the important ranking. At the top of the 50 wine brands on the list is Nederburg, at position 41, followed by KWV, at position 45, and Tokara — who are on the list for the first time — at position 48, and are one of the youngest brands on the list, being only 15 years in the making.
IN PICTURES: Check Out These Extraordinary Acts From The Africa Circus Festival
Ethiopia welcomed some of the world's finest circus performers to its second Africa Circus Arts Festival last week, the continent's biggest celebration of circus culture. The three-day festival, hosted under the horn of Africa's first big top in Ethiopia's military showground, saw hundreds of performers gathering for workshops, lessons, and elaborate performances attended by thousands of admirers from the country's booming circus audience.
LGBTQI Flag Flies At Tshwane City Hall In Historic Human Rights First For SA
In a historic first for South Africa, a group of activists demanding the prioritisation of LGBTQI+ rights in the country raised the gay flag at Tshwane City Hall on Human Rights Day. The event, organised by the Democratic Alliance (DA) LGBTQI+ movement in collaboration with the City of Tshwane, was a call for the escalation of LGBTQI rights as a matter of national importance.
HuffPost Team Weighs In On Human Rights Day
On March 21, 1960, a shameful moment occurred in South Africa's history. The lives of 69 unarmed protestors ended with more than 100 people wounded, as our forefathers fought for the right to live in an equal and just society. Upon listening to the stories of my family members who lived through the apartheid era, I am often shocked at how much blood was spilt for the preservation of dignity.
South African Girls Get Great Literary Inspiration
A new children's book is hoping to get young South African girls looking to their own African female role models for guidance and inspiration, and is accompanied by extraordinary illustrations of the women, drawn by students themselves. "Her Story. Daughters of Modjadji" – or in Zulu, "Umlando Wakhe.
Take A First Look At Constitution Hill's Next Museum: The MARCH
Johannesburg's historic Constitution Hill, home to the country's Constitutional Court, is about to welcome a new addition to its central square — the Museum and Archive of the Constitution at the Hill (MARCH), and it's going to be a talked-about addition to the city's ever-evolving architectural landscape.
Nakhane On New Music, The Problem With Queer Role Models, And Late-Onset 'Inxeba' Trauma
South African author, actor and musical star Nakhane has already had quite a year, what with the local furore over his award-winning depiction of a gay Xhosa initiate in "Inxeba". But things are about to move into overdrive as he prepares to launch his new album. Record label BMG will be releasing the album, called "You Will Not Die", on Friday. It comes just weeks after the release of a new video and single called "Interloper", which has been receiving rave reviews around the world.
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