Retailers News South Africa

Hyde Park's new furniture and decor showroom salutes SA design

Hyde Park Corner is now home to a 'dreamhouse' of South African design thanks to local co-operative Always Welcome. The inspiring retail space will feature an evolving selection of furniture, homeware and lifestyle objects created by some of the country's most talented designers.
Hyde Park's new furniture and decor showroom salutes SA design

The Always Welcome co-operative was founded by leading South African designers and manufacturers, in collaboration with Garreth van Niekerk and Alan Hayward from creative consultancy Coraltree Projects.

Comprising a retail gallery and events activation programme, Always Welcome travels to retail environments enlivening and activating unused shopfronts and spaces with contemporary South African design for limited periods.

Always Welcome has now taken a bold new step into a showroom space at Hyde Park Corner (located in the upper mall of the shopping centre, opposite Tasha’s) where various furniture makers, weavers, ceramicists, and photographers will display their work as a collective in spaces designed to emulate living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and the like.

Hyde Park's new furniture and decor showroom salutes SA design

The interiors of the Always Welcome Nomadic Retail spaces will be realised in partnership with luxury retail designer Stephen Klein of Klein Concepts, with branding and art direction by Vincent Truter, and in partnership with key local design groups such as Earthcote, Real Paint and River Fabrics.

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Always Welcome’s new showroom aims to represent the possibilities of a ‘dream house’ built exclusively from South African design.

The following design houses will be showcased in the first Always Welcome Nomadic Retail Collective: Houtlander, Dokter and Misses, Mash T, The Urbanative, Trevor Stuurman, Joe Paine, Gone Rural, Wessel Snyman, Orlando lighting, Lothar Böttcher, Okra Candles, Indigenus Planters, SMTNG Good Studio, Coco-Mat, Coral Stephens Handweaving and Vorster & Braye.

Hyde Park's new furniture and decor showroom salutes SA design

“It’s been an incredible journey working with some of the country’s most inspiring design minds to realise the dream of Always Welcome. The intention is for Always Welcome to take up residence in their Hyde Park Corner space for a minimum of seven months, beyond that we would love to be in a position to consider making this a permanent space, but we will cross that ‘welcome mat’ when we get to it,” says co-founder, Garreth van Niekerk.

Hyde Park Corner’s general manager Jacqui McGeehan says the centre is thrilled to add this creative design collective to the HPC offering: “We truly believe that Hyde Park Corner is a perfect match for the type of consumer Always Welcome would like to reach, and we are truly delighted to provide a platform which can showcase the work of what really is some of the most creative and proudly South African designers.”

Visitors can also look forward to Always Welcome Events, which are designed to bring life into the space and engage new audiences for the work of these carefully selected designers. Visitors can look forward to product launches, event collaborations with other retailers in the same environment, as well as meet-the-maker talks and in-store family lunches.

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