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Clout SA launches with design expo in collaboration with Hub
Clout SA launches this June with a mission to promote South Africa's creativity, craftsmanship and heritage, and create opportunities for collaboration between designers and makers.
Art curated by Hub, clockwise from left: Bodulo Bench by Khosi Leteba in collaboration with Wiid Design; floral light from recycled plastic by Heath Nash; blue sculpture by Jan Ernst; cork and mosaic tray - a collaboration with pattern by Glorinah Mabaso, cork tray by Laurie Wiid and mosaic by artisans of Hub; Terazzo table by Thabisa Mjo of Mash T Design; carpet by Bofred.
A purpose-first enterprise, creative agency and business-to-business (B2B) market-maker for South African design, Clout has been quietly working on projects for the last seven years, despite only officially launching this month.
Much of this work was done on the agency's founding project, the Nando’s Design Programme and eventually, the Nando’s Portal to Africa, an online shopping platform for designer furniture that has facilitated more than R60m worth of sales across 20,900 products since it was launched in 2018, making it one of the country’s largest exporters of South African design.
There are approximately 1,200 Nando’s restaurants located across the globe from Washington DC to Dhaka, and each space showcases bold, bespoke furniture items which are procured through the Portal to Africa.
As part of the Nando’s Design Programme, Clout SA has developed and facilitated one of South Africa’s top biennial design competitions, the Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search, which has launched and supported dozens of local design careers, including Mash T. design founder, Thabiso Mjo, one of the first winners of the competition in 2016. In 2020, Mjo went on to become the first South African designer ever to have her work collected by the Louvre’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, for their permanent collection.
At its core, Clout SA specialises in creating interior solutions for hospitality, retail, residential and corporate clients – its approach foregrounds a South African design narrative as a point of distinction.
For the next phase of the enterprise’s work towards growing the South African design industry and turning local design into a globally recognised category brand, Clout SA has invited corporate partners who share these values to join its mission by taking part in collaborations with its designer-maker partners.
Clout SA x Hub collaboration
As part of Decorex’s month-long Cape Town Design Trail programme in June 2021, Clout SA will open an exhibition of South African art and design curated by Clout SA creative director Tracy Lee Lynch, titled 'Right here, Right Now!'.
The exhibition will not only introduce Clout SA to the industry and invited members of the public, but also unveil a collaboration with Hub, a platform borne out of the Spier Arts Trust which has run the Spier Arts Academy since 2009, training artisans in the field of ceramics and mosaics, as well as supporting the development of visual artists.
The Hub platform works to create collaborative commercial opportunities for artisans and artists. While this is the official public unveiling of the Clout SA x Hub collaboration, there are already some sterling examples of what the two organisations have achieved together. Previous Clout SA and Hub collaborative projects include the striking serving counter of the Nando’s restaurant in Soho, London. This features artwork by Hub artist Henk Serfontein, that was rendered in mosaics by Hub artisans.
Another example is the Potjie Server by designer Thabisa Mjo. The beaded panels on the front of the server were designed by Mjo and created by the skilled Qaqambile beaders of Hub. The server was later featured as part of the Sacrosanct exhibition at Milan Design Week in 2019.
Invitation to trade professionals
As part of the opening of Right here, Right Now!, from 21 June to 25 June 2021 at the home of Hub, the four-storey Union House building in Cape Town’s eastern district, Clout SA and Hub are inviting architectural and interior design professionals, corporate procurement agents and facilities managers, to join their mission to support, develop, invest in and build the future of South African design.
The first three days of the exhibition will be opened to the abovementioned professionals, while the last two will be open to design learners and limited members of the public.
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