So many design studios, so little time… We find out how Stephen Wilson created a space for you to view and support them all.
Always Welcome first opened its doors in the middle of Covid in 2020 – when no one was welcome anywhere. Fast forward three years and the collective retail space for local furniture, homeware and decor designers has grown immensely, with four stores – two in South Africa and two abroad – as well as talk of expansion across Africa and Europe.
A design collective for owner-run studios, Always Welcome not only explores the quality of African craftsmanship, but it also creates a blueprint that recognises and celebrates Africans as designers. With a flagship store in Hyde Park, Joburg, and a more recent addition in Cape Town’s CBD, Always Welcome showcases the work of local designers – both established and up-and-coming alike – replacing the pressure of competition with the power of collaboration.
“We believe in creating jobs for Africans and taking African designs to the world.”
So, what does it take to start an African design movement? We sat down with the co-founder Stephen Wilson to find out.
What is the concept behind this cooperative?
Always Welcome was formed when my co-founders and I got together and launched a collective of southern African designers. The concept was to give a platform to local designers in desirable retail spaces, and in a way that hadn’t been done before.
Why is it important to showcase local designers?
We believe in creating jobs for Africans and taking African designs to the world, while providing an opportunity for people to buy products that are made in Africa. We only curate brands from southern Africa now, but we are expanding so watch this space!
We’re building an African design movement; there’s a burgeoning movement of self-confident African designers who aren’t looking to Europe for inspiration but are rather looking into their own cultures and their own methods of making and crafting – and that’s something we are excited about.
Also read: Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg designs textiles meant to be touched
What makes Always Welcome different from other retailers?
We are membership programmed; everyone shares the costs of the store, rather than a traditional retail store that requires a large mark-up.
How do you choose which brands or designers to showcase?
We have a curation board that meets once a month to consider applications from designers all over the country – and now we’re getting designers across the continent to apply.
Our main criteria: it must be designed and manufactured in Africa; the brand must have an original identity and be designed from scratch (and not copied); and the designs must be of the highest calibre. We believe we’re succeeding at that.
What do you think makes a good design?
It can present itself in a few forms, and for us what’s important is that the objects are functional, that they’re considered, have a unique voice as well as a good story. The thought and idea behind the design must have its own story; for example, Mash T Designs (one of our designers) has taken inspiration from African craft and used a traditional technique – but they made it current and put it in a new context, combining technology, designs, dedication, and craft into compelling objects that tell a story about heritage and culture, in a more contemporary way.
Tell us about your biggest challenges?
The project is entirely self-funded by the designers – it’s by designers for designers, so more than anything, the challenges have been financial. We don’t have some large corporate financing our growth; there’s no big fund behind any of this, and that puts our designers under a lot of strain as we have many small operators with very limited cashflow.
We’re exploring and looking for sponsorship… Since we’re contributors of our culture and economy, this is an opportunity for sponsors to get behind us and tell an amazing story of local African creatives who are using their small resources to make some amazing products that are now going all around the world.
How do you hope that the products you source will improve people’s lifestyles?
We did an exhibition called ‘Future Heirlooms’, where we challenged seven of our designers to create future heirlooms – objects that could be handed down from generation to generation – and tell unique stories from each designer’s point of view. That exhibition is being shown in Hamburg, Namibia, Joburg and Cape Town.
When you buy a product from us, you know it’s been made lovingly by somebody from Africa or South Africa, and you’re contributing to our economy. Our business model is built on longevity; we make and have selected products that last and can be passed on from generation to generation. In this way, you get heartfelt objects that have depth and meaning.
What’s next for Always Welcome?
We’re expanding across our borders. We’ve opened a store in Germany, Hamburg and another one in Namibia, plus we are looking at opening stores across Europe and Africa (in countries such as Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya, Mauritius, and Nigeria). We believe in connecting designers in Africa.
We are passionate about African people and the creativity we have in this continent, and we want to change the perception of Africa overseas. There’s a massive interest and hunger for our music, fashion and design. We’re hosting an exhibition in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of the year (The Contemporary African Design Exchange), which will be the largest exhibition of African contemporary design in Europe.
We’re also taking crafts from Africa to Germany, and trying to promote collaboration by presenting African designers from a designer’s point of view. We haven’t been invited by Europeans and there is no European curator; we are simply taking the space ourselves and going as a collective, to represent our own stories, right in the heart of Europe. We are there to tell our story.
Any thoughts on the future of SA design?
It’s bright! The time for African designers to make a mark on the rest of the world is now. We’re looking at opening three stores Dusseldorf and Berlin in Germany, plus we’re taking the Contemporary African Design Exchange exhibition to cities all over Europe, and looking at locations in Madrid and Lisbon. We believe that by taking our products directly to consumers in Europe, we can create jobs in South Africa (potentially 10 000), if we do this right.
Words by: Sindeka Mandoyi
Photographs: Images Supplied
