Menswear maker Sanele Cele is a self-made man. At 28, the designer heads a team of three, marrying high-end design principles to urban street fashion aesthetics at his small studio in Durban.His label, Tempracha, began nine years ago in Umlazi, when he sat down at the second-hand Singer sewing machine his mother had bought for him and made a tote bag."After that I took my old Levis apart and made a new pair from the pattern."Impeccable detailing is at the centre of Cele's design philosophy. He won't do what's easy when he can do what's interesting."I love menswear and it's the one thing I want to master. The construction involved is complex, the detailing has to be perfect. I love it when people find the little things in something we've made and go 'yoh, man, I wasn't waiting for that'."Shopping for the fabrics is one of his favourite pastimes."I never design first. I buy the fabric and then something comes from it. I love texture, I love colour. I could chill in the fabric store for hours."Every garment from his label is made in-house. Cele is attachedto the idea of having a hand in everything that comes out of his workshop.He also creates garments for clients on commission.Cele's clientele comprises mainly urban creatives - DJs, hip-hop heads, trendsetting cool types like digital maskandi musician Mashayabhuqe kaMamba.Orders come in from Johannesburg and as far away as Tokyo through his tempracha.com online store.Cele is an avid, longtime blogger. "People are always looking for cool things. I have connections in Japan, New York and London."When it comes to construction techniques, says Cele, "almost everything I know is self-taught".He spent a year in design school, but later dropped out to focus on making clothes full-time."I've never had a job. The machine my mom bought me bought everything I have today."Cele's father, Themba, was a model in the 70s, before the designer was born.His mother, Lindiwe Joyisa, a police officer, would take Cele and his siblings with her on trips to source stock for her sideline business."She would go to factories looking for rejects of high-end brands. I think sifting through them to find the ones with the least flaws influenced my lovefor detail," he said...