Cape Town, South Africa…the beautiful surroundings of this city has spawned a recent surge in up and coming and hip designers The hillside is full of magazine worthy contemporary homes that overlook the amazing beaches of Camp’s Bay and Clifton and now the city has an cool emerging design scene focusing on clothing and interiors with an ode to that amazing African color sensibility.

African style seems to always include an evocative use of color mixes. Art galleries, street art, and the new interior design hub of Bree Street showcase these ideas. Quirky interior design shop, Sarah Ord, seems to be getting acclaim for her melding of this aesthetic into a her own contemporary language for home decoration.

Long Street has a concentration of cool womenswear shops. A plethora of Vintage clothing that’s been reworked, great artisan jewelry, and contemporary young clothing designers. The focus is on the unknown brands and more artistic young talent as opposed to the international mega labels!

Adjacent to Long Street is also Greenmarket Square, which is a bustling open air market filled with African crafts using unlikely materials and colors. You can find some clever takes on classic crafts here.

I have also discovered the pop up shop concept here, a way to showcase an edgy new idea. SECRET is a gold clad emporium I stumbled upon that was totally chic with a mix of hand selected items.

Finally there is Montebello Design Center specializing in locally inspired and made products. There are loads of creative types in little nooks and crannies making one of a kind gems!

Creativity is so refreshing and I love being exposed to different points of views and aesthetics! I am inspired even by things that I personally wouldn’t wear or typically gravitate to!