[Behind the Selfie] with... Trevyn McGowan

Taken at the launch of ‘launch of WORK I SHOP I NEW I TOWN.’

1. Where do you live, work and play?

McGowan: Live: Constantia.
Work: Southern Guild Gallery, Woodstock.
Play: Everywhere in between, and along the way between international exhibitions. This year my husband and business partner Julian played in Cape Town, Joburg, Dubai, Switzerland, London and the US, and will soon be visiting Australia as invited speakers at a conference on the future of design. We've just returned from a camper-van trip up the West Coast with our kids - now THAT'S the kind of play we love.

2. What's your claim to fame?

McGowan: Raising five children while running all of the above businesses. We are also very proud of all the design collaborations we've facilitated in SA.

3. Describe your career so far...

McGowan: Originally from South Africa, I lived in London for 20 years and, although I started life as an actress, by the mid-90s I had started a design practice employing architects and designers and creating a bespoke remodelling service for London-based clients. I started importing South African design so when I returned to South Africa in 2003 I started Source, an agency for the export of SA design and realised that a platfrom was needed to provoke and propel the extraordinary handmade, unique work that didn't fit our standard export/retail model, and in 2008 we launched Southern Guild. Source has now grown into the primary route for the export of South African design.

Last year we launched GUILD, Africa's only international design fair, which was the result of all the incredible galleries and designers we'd met while exhibiting with Southern Guild internationally at shows like Design Days Dubai, Design Miami and NY NOW.

Because of our immense passion for local craft and design, and our committed involvement to this industry, last year we were chosen as curators of the Watershed, tasked to select the tenants and continue keeping the space animated. Now we're in the process of working on WORK I SHOP I NEW I TOWN, another innovative local retail concept we're curating at Newtown Junction, Joburg.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

McGowan: Wine, chocolate and Cydwoq shoes.

5. What do you love about your industry?

McGowan: It's filled with people who aren't just designers, but make their own products too, so the whole designer-maker idea is really big here.

6. What are a few pain points your industry can improve on?

McGowan: Business skills! Designers are experts at design but not all of them are brilliant at running a business. That's why we founded the Business of Design conferences to help them along.

7. Describe your average workday (if such a thing exists)!

McGowan: Julian and I get to the office around 9am, and from then until 5pm we are constantly on the go! No two days are ever the same: Designers pop in to show us new pieces they've produced; Skype meetings with international curators looking to exhibit our work; putting out fires when goods don't arrive on time for exhibitions; dealing with sales queries; creating presentations or proposals for new curation jobs; planning product development for Design Network Africa's participants; negotiating with the American retailers to whom we export local design; planning future gallery exhibitions; reviewing Watershed tenant requests; assisting with collaborations between local and international designers; and drinking a lot of herbal tea.

8. What are the tools of your trade?

McGowan: A strong knowledge and interest in design; being able to think fast on your feet and multi-task.

9. Who is getting it right in your industry?

McGowan: We deal with so many exceptional designers that it's hard to single them out, but someone like Laurie Wiid van Heerden is brilliant at marketing his business; Otto du Plessis from Bronze Age Foundry is an extremely talented sculptor and always open to collaboration; Gregor Jenkin just gets it right with everything he produces; Porky Hefer never fails to surprise us with ingenuity; and then the young guys like Atang Tshikare, Ebrahim Assur and Jasper Eales are names to keep an eye on for their passionate determination and energetic design language.

10. What are you working on right now?

McGowan: We've just been selected as the curators of WORK I SHOP I NEW I TOWN in Joburg, a project similar to Watershed, where we'll be curating a space in Newtown that will be filled with local designers, including their workshop spaces, with a very strong focus on fashion. We're also busy planning our speaker line-up for Business of Design Spring 2015 (our third conference to date); planning for New York NOW, where we'll be taking the product of several SA design companies to sell at this trade fair; and Julian and I are heading to Australia in September to present at Parallels, an international symposium discussing the future of design. We're also in the process of planning our stand for Design Miami in December, and waiting eagerly to reveal the pieces that Porky Hefer will be showing in an exciting solo show in our gallery later this year.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

McGowan: Vodka martini - I'm always asking 'how many vodka martinis does that buy?' when we're given a costing for something.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

McGowan: EVERYWHERE! Especially when brainstorming with Julian.

13. What's your secret talent/party trick?

McGowan: I can fold my tongue in multiple folds.

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

McGowan: You decide.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

McGowan: Obscure photos and videos taken by my kids.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

McGowan: Don't confuse magazine coverage with success. Keep working!

17. Plug your contact details, punt yourself - list all the places people can find you/your work online...

McGowan: Websites:

Southern Guild
Source
Guild Design Fair
Business of Design
Design Network Africa

Facebook pages:
Southern Guild
Design Network Africa
Source
Business of Design
Southern Guild Design Foundation

Twitter handles:

@SouthernGuild
@Source_SA
@busofdesign

Instagram handle:

@southernguildgallery

YouTube:

Guild International Design Fair
Business of Design

Read more about McGowan and Southern Guild by clicking here.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.