Services
African Art reflecting the life of a room
February 27, 2017
If you are lucky enough to have acquired a beautiful piece of African art then you will understand the importance of it taking pride of place in your home. The richness of the colours often reflects the melting pot of culture and stories that make up our mighty continent. Our artefacts are ornate, our fabrics are vibrant and our visual artists are incredibly talented.
African style deserves to be under the spotlight
So you’re staring at your gorgeous new artwork wondering how to avoid drowning it out by filling your room with furniture and furnishings?
The African interior design trend, inspired by the rich warm tones of the sometimes wild and incredible unique environment has been popular for a long time, but the most successful African-inspired looks come from a room decorated around a single acquired piece of art. Fortunately, it’s not a difficult task at all to pull the look together. You just need to walk outside for all the décor inspiration you could possibly need.
The first thing you need to do is decide which colours “pop” when you look at it. Often the instinct will be to use as much of this colour as possible in the room, but this can be a mistake. Too much of a good thing will shift focus from anything else happening either in the artwork or in the room. This colour already has your attention, so just enhance it with some soft furnishings, like cushions or an occasional chair covering, in similar colours.
For larger furniture items use more muted colours to draw them out of the artwork. Colours of the earth already blend well together, so avoid unnatural colours and any large focus pieces that might detract from the feature artwork.
Colour and depth shouldn’t just come from textiles. Textures like handwoven baskets, wooden carvings and fun beadwork and faux animal print rugs can add warm and inviting accents.
The African style interior design should be exciting without being overpowering and cluttered. The best part about it is that it suits any style preference, be it minimalist, contemporary, traditional or old colonial. Decorating a room around a piece of artwork is one of the best ways to reflect who you are and what you love to anyone who enters it.
Share on Socials
Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light. For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
A safari theme never really runs out of viewing time and is particularly popular for interiors at the moment. The warm, earthy tones give a sense of comfort and the accessories offer the anticipation of travel and adventure.
Stay protected from mosquitoes with top quality mosquito nets. Buy online in South Africa for the best deals. Shop now and sleep peacefully.
