South African Design: Past & Present – A Journey Through Materials and Memory
Strauss & Co proudly presents South African Design: Past & Present, a landmark Timed Online Auction closing on Wednesday, 9 July 2025. This sale traces the evolution of South African design across centuries, materials, and memory. It celebrates the ingenuity of local artisans past and present, and the craftsmanship that continues to shape the country’s cultural fabric.
The auction is divided into two sessions:
- Cape Interiors: Furniture, Metalware, Silver & Glass
- Interior Elements: Wood, Metal, Fibre, Ceramic & Glass Art
Together, they offer a rich, layered story of design objects — decorative and functional, traditional and experimental.
A Global Beginning: The VOC Dish and Early Trade
The journey begins in the 17th century with a rare Japanese Arita VOC dish (R60,000 – R80,000). This object exemplifies early globalisation, where Japanese craftsmanship met Dutch East India Company branding. It’s a fusion of East and West, crafted in Arita and shipped through Deshima for VOC elites.
Cape Craftsmanship: Wood, Silver, and Legacy
The auction features exquisite examples of 18th and 19th-century Cape furniture, including a Cape stinkwood, beefwood, and ebony armoire (R250,000 – R300,000) and Neo-classical side chairs (R70,000 – R90,000). These pieces reflect not only the technical skill of early South African furniture makers but also their aesthetic sensibilities, honed through generations.
An 18th-century brass konfoor (R15,000 – R18,000) adds functional history, showing how everyday objects became canvases of beauty and utility.
The Cape silver section is a highlight, featuring legendary makers like Gerhardus Lotter, Lawrence Holme Twentyman, and Martinus Lourens Smith. Notable pieces include a covered sugar bowl by Lotter (R80,000 – R100,000) and a sugar caster (R180,000 – R220,000) — both blending utility and ornament.
Contemporary Innovation: Reclaiming and Reimagining
The second session of the sale spotlights today’s design visionaries. The HUT x Always Welcome Design Challenge, a partnership with The Beach Hut Trust, turns reclaimed Muizenberg beach hut wood into collectable furniture — sustainability rooted in heritage, with proceeds supporting local causes.
Designers like EE Meyer, Haldane Martin, and the duo Joe Paine & Nathan Gates push boundaries. Their ‘Now Now’ clock (R60,000 – R70,000) doesn’t just tell time — it tells stories, echoing chimes, jackals, and lullabies, all customisable with personalised soundscapes.
Casamento’s Ella Meadow Armchair (R45,000 – R55,000) blends traditional techniques with natural materials, embodying African heritage in form and function.
Clay, Wood, and Fibre: Stories in Texture
From the Ukhambas of Nesta Nala and daughter Thembile to sculptural ceramics by Digby Hoets, Ian Garrett, and Andrew Walford, the sale showcases how clay and form carry cultural and emotional depth.
Conrad Hicks’ Bowl Avec Hole (R140,000 – R170,000) and Rodney Band’s hand-turned wooden bowls underscore the expressive power of metal and timber, revealing the raw beauty of the earth’s materials.
Even paper — often seen as transient — takes centre stage with Quazi Design’s Sheba Table Lamp (R1,200 – R1,400). Made from waste newspaper by women artisans in eSwatini, it proves sustainability and luxury can co-exist beautifully.
Culture and Ceremony: Beadwork with Meaning
Objects like the Ndebele Bridal Apron (Jocolo) (R10,000 – R15,000) embody cultural heritage through glass seed beads, goatskin and sinew. Bold and vibrant, these ceremonial works continue to inspire contemporary design aesthetics.
A Living Heritage
“the versatility of materials – metal, glass, clay, wood, fibre – and how artists and artisans have transformed them over time into works of wonder.”
As Strauss & Co’s Jill Van Dugteren explains, this auction unites design epochs through
‘South African Design: Past & Present’ offers more than objects — it offers a tactile history of a nation’s evolving creative spirit. It’s a celebration of both the functional and the fantastical, the historical and the hopeful.
Browse the full catalogue and register to bid at www.straussart.co.za
