'Pop vintage' style in Durban home

05 July 2015 - 02:00 By Candice Botha

All things considered Kim Longhurst’s eye for the unusual and talent for careful curation make her home a treasure trove of collections I would describe our style, both in our work and home, as 'pop vintage'," says Kim Longhurst. She has been carefully considering the best way to explain the juxtaposition of antique pieces with mid-century modern touches and contemporary iconography alongside traditional elements evident throughout the space she shares with her partner, Scott Robertson, and their daughter, Swan.Their house is full of eclectic items and collections of fascinating objects that Kim and Scott treasure. "It's quirky and bright with lots of sentimental touches, like the server, which stood in my granny's house for more than 40 years," says Kim.mini_story_image_vleft1When at work together, Kim and Scott are The Curators of Contemporary Craft; they create brand identities for businesses encompassing everything from graphic and web design and signage to trend forecasting, styling and conceptualising, retail installations and creating stands for big international shows."Scott's main area of interest is typography and I am primarily an illustrator and interior stylist, which I'm currently expanding on," says Kim. "The feel of our work tends to be nostalgic and we prefer to do as much by hand as possible. We are inspired by vintage typography and graphic design which has been updated, as well as traditional craft used in a contemporary way."Granny's server is a good example of this philosophy at play: because it was looking a bit tired, Kim had iKhaya, a decor store, strip off the old veneer and spray it with automotive paint, giving its classic lines a contemporary character. Other examples of this abound throughout the 1938 Durban house they have lived in for nine years. "It had good bones but needed considerable work and as it's quite small, we needed to come up with creative solutions to allow for all the tasks we need to accomplish here," they recall. In keeping with their philosophy for contemporising the traditional, they have kept the aesthetic of the facade while adding details like a wooden gangplank over a drain, which was obviously essential for drainage but a complete eyesore, and have begun replacing the louvre windows (added at some stage in the home's history) with mock-sash windows that are more sensitive to the feel of the house.mini_story_image_vright2Their workspaces are essential areas and their office, recently redesigned by Wendy-Lee Douglas of Douglas & Douglas, displays nostalgic artwork and objects alongside geometric patterns and a trendy pegboard wall. The "messy studio" where Kim works on her painting, ceramic and mixed-media artworks is a departure from the digital world and an opportunity to create something with longevity, which is imperative to Kim."We like things to be perfect, or we won't do them at all," they say. "We are obsessive in our attention to detail and even when creating a bathroom for the studio, which hardly anyone else will see, searched high and low for all the elements - like the copper fittings - which would be just right. The treasure hunting is part of the fun!"This magpie tendency is evident in the collections on display in every room: everything from artworks, toys and ceramics to enamel kitchenware, moulded candles and nesting dolls has been given Kim's talented touch, which invariably turns a group of disparate objects into installations far more interesting and attractive than the sum of their parts."I have an intuitive feeling for how objects relate to each other," says Kim, and the items she places together have been gathered for their evocation of a time, place or memory - just as entering this home immediately calls forth the personalities of the people who inhabit it. nbsp;..

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