Le Roux Home "Kappertjie" Artwork
Featured in House & Garden Magazine, June 2015 Issue, p 102 & 114.
I was delighted to be contacted by well-known Visser Kapperer de Bruin architects to do a custom design for one of their client’s, Michiel & Cecile le Roux’s new home.
The brief was to design an artwork for the glass panels of a cabinet situated in the open-plan living area. The design had to fit in with the interior finishes, colour scheme and botanical theme of the decor inspired by the surrounding nature. The cabinet, a dual television and drinks corner unit, forms a key feature in the house mainly because of it positioning - it being a focal point as one enters and moves around the main living and entertaining area of the home.
It was important to me that the design was not going to be overbearing in the space but timeless whilst still engaging and appealing to the residents who has a particular taste for Realism. It also had to compliment the extraordinary architecture and interior together with other art pieces in the house and at the same time be relevant to its context which the owners have come to love - the beautiful Stellenbosch surroundings.
The Nastartium flower, “kappertjie” in Afrikaans, is in a sense true to Stellenbosch. Most of the locals are quite familiar with the orange river banks of the Eerste River during the summer months when the “kappertjies” are in full bloom. Although just a humble and common flower usually just passed by, it’s is nothing ordinary when observed up close. I tried to capture this through the work. The large scale of the artwork forces one to stop and take a closer look at what appears to be a gigantic real life “kappertjie” pressed behind the glass of the cabinet - its fragility protected and its noteworthy beauty forever preserved.
Here follows a short testimonial from Cecile le Roux:
“It has been such a pleasure to work with Joan. She took us on a heady adventure as she searched for an idea which would fit our brief to her. Her ideas were fresh and quirky. Her enthusiasm for the project was infectious. The end product, delivered on time, blew us away.”
