Travels in South Africa

I was recently lucky enough to meet my lovely suppliers when we took our annual family holiday to South Africa. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be telling the story of my travels....

Hot off the flight into Cape Town, we went to visit Jesse Breytenbach. Having checked into our accommodation in Seapoint in Cape Town we had to head back across the City Bowl to visit her studio in Observatory; a suburb whose name derives from the location of the Royal Observatory, which was constructed in the 1800s.

Caught up in the most hectic traffic I've ever experienced in South Africa, where the usual rules of the road just went out the 'car window'; it was only later we discovered that One Direction were also visiting Cape Town that day and that the city had gone just slightly nuts! After much honking of horns and gritted determination, we finally made it to Jesse's part of town.

Observatory and the nearby Salt River district have a long tradition of textile and clothing production and Observatory, known affectionately as 'Obs' by the locals, has a character all of its own; it's a studenty, alternative area with vibrant restaurants and bars, set amidst quiet streets of historical houses with wrought iron railings and restful 'stoops' (verandahs to you and me). Jesse's studio was nestled in one such street.

She shares her work space with an illustrator and the whole building buzzes with creativity. Her studio was immaculate (and seriously puts my own office to shame), but I could understand that such order is required to keep the fabrics pristine during the printing process. It was great to spend some time with Jesse and get a sense of the time and effort involving in making her beautiful prints.