It’s a Saturday morning in May. The thickest mist I have ever seen has wrapped itself around the Cape Town City Bowl, snaking through the streets, stealing colour and re-rendering the world in hazy black and white. I’m on my way to Gallery F, one of the top photographic galleries on the continent, and as I’m buzzed through the little black door at 78 Shortmarket Street, I step out of one monochromatic world and into another, climbing a staircase bracketed by exquisite black

There is butter here that will ruin you for other butter. It is made by hand each morning by an Italian-trained cheesemaker, and it sits in cheesecloth on the breakfast harvest table in a large wooden bowl.You spread it on bread that was baked just before dawn from a sourdough starter that is nine years old, and the combination is so straightforward and lush, nothing else matters. Words: Rosa-Karoo Loewe This is Babylonstoren's particular trick: the extraordinary delivered wi

An Interview with Dr. Maureen Allem and Victor Snyders Few industries have evolved as dramatically over the past two decades as aesthetics, skincare and wellness. At the forefront of that transformation in South Africa is Skin Renewal, founded by Dr Maureen Allem and Victor Snyders in 2005. What began as a single clinic has grown into a nationally recognised brand. By combining medical science, advanced technology and a holistic approach to wellbeing, the group has built a r

Of all the choices an architect makes, the window may be the most revealing. It is, quite literally, how a home looks at the world. Stand in any room and look at the window. Not through it: at it. Notice its proportions, its placement, the way it frames the light. Notice whether it feels like a polite gesture towards the outside world or a confident embrace of it. Notice whether it interrupts the wall or completes it. The window, more than any other architectural element, tel

Strategic research is the single biggest determinant of whether a property development/estate succeeds or struggles. I've said this for years, and I'll keep saying it, because the property industry still underinvests in the upfront work that shapes everything that comes after. When we do research for developers, we're looking at the full picture: location fundamentals, product mix, depth of demand, pricing thresholds, competitor stock, absorption trajectories. That's the scie

I recently watched a documentary by the BBC about the search for Paul McCartney’s original 1961 Hofner bass guitar – the original Beatle violin-style bass. It was stolen out of a locked van in 1972 and the resources used to follow up on all the leads generated through a media campaign to find it were quite fascinating. The investigators eventually re-questioned one of the strongest leads they had who turned out to be the son of the man who stole it. Through him, they traced i

“I’d never made a doughnut in my life before we started the business,” confesses Johke Steenkamp, founder of Cape Town’s beloved (and famously persistent) vegan deli and doughnut shop Grumpy & Runt. When the ex-private chef struck out to do her own thing with her partner, Carla Gontier, it wasn’t about the product: it was about purpose. Words: Mia McCarthy “I was at a point in my life where I really wanted to open something of my own, filled with love and personality”, Johke

“I’m so bored with myself!” complains Manu Grace almost as soon as we start our conversation. She’s talking to me from her bedroom-studio in London, where she has been painstakingly watching herself over and over again while editing footage that had just been sent of her recent performance in Berlin - one of the first performances that she’s given in a very long time. She tells me that it’s dangerous to delve straight into the footage because it can quickly tarnish the memory