Sistaaz of the Castle - Duran Lantink x Jan Hoek

Sistaaz of the Castle - Duran Lantink x Jan Hoek, highlight at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Amsterdam

Photographer Jan Hoek and fashion designer Duran Lantink present Sistaaz of the Castle, a project about the colourful looks of transgender sex workers that roam the streets of Cape Town, South Africa.
Together they created a series of photographs and a fashion collection around their fashionable appearances, and their ability to make the most exuberant creations of everything they find.
From 13 January till 20 January the project was on display at Foam.
The local sex workers’ organisation, S.W.E.A.T., gave Jan Hoek and Duran Lantink the opportunity to meet and collaborate with their transgender support group Sistaazhood. For this project, Hoek and Lantink zoom in on six girls from the community: Coco (25), Cleopatra (23) Sulaiga (30), Gabby (29) Flavinia (33) and Joan Collins (57).
Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge beside the castle of Cape Town. Jan Hoek photographed their lives and their outfits. The photos also serve as a lookbook for the collection of Duran Lantink. The designer was inspired by the creative ability of the girls to produce beautiful creations from found pieces of garments. He recognised a similarity to his own process, using different recycling methods and collage techniques.
The artists were also interested in how the girls would want to look like if they had unlimited possibilities. One of the girls would like to work in a luxurious Victorian brothel. The 57-year-old Joan Collins dreams of a wedding dress and a third wants to become Miss Africa. All these fantasies are translated into a dream-couture capsule collection by Lantink, which is also photographed by Hoek.

Duran Lantink (1987) is the wild child of fashion in the Netherlands. In 2013 he graduated at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and is now studying the Master Fashion Matter at the Sandberg Institute. His collections, styling and exhibitions often contain honest messages and are a dizzying remix of anything that inspires him. Similar to the South-African girls of Sistaaz of the Castle, Duran uses different recycle methods. His style is raw and colourful and dark at the same time. With his towering 3D printed shoes, he made national and international acclaim. The shoes are exhibited a.o. at the Louvre in Paris and the MET in New York. As a stylist and designer, Duran has worked for several magazines, such as Vogue, Glamcult and D&A Mexico.
http://duranlantink.com/

Jan Hoek (1984) photographs amateur models, mentally ill homeless people in Africa who look like kings, a girl with no arms and legs that constantly wants to be photographed, heroin addicts with a modelling dream, or people he found through an advertisement on Marktplaats. Jan Hoek graduated in 2012 at Image and Language at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. His work is exhibited in a.o. Foam in Amsterdam, FOMU in Antwerp and in St. Petersburg, Shenzhen and Lagos. Jan Hoek is represented by Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam. 
http://janhoek.net/

photography: Peter Stigter

The Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town

Located in Cape Town's hipster quarter Woodstock, The Old Biscuit Mill is one of the nicest places to hang out. Every Saturday there is a neighbour goods market where you can choose from a huge variety of food and local treats. On the other corner there are stands where local designers sell clothing, jewelry and accessories.

The Old Biscuit Mill

The Mill is home to day and night markets, dynamic office space, a range of workshops and designer stores, delicious farm stalls, decadent restaurants as well as an inspiring line-up of festivals and productions. Come and explore the Mill and meet some of South Africa's most talented, innovative designers, artists, photographers, and connoisseurs of fine taste and decor. http://www.theoldbiscuitmill.co.za/

Tour through Langa

In August this year I was three weeks in Cape Town and most of my time I have spent in Langa. In Xhosa Langa literally means 'sun', but the name of the township is actually derived from the name Langalibalele – a famous chief who was imprisoned on Robben Island for rebelling against the government.
Langa is the oldest township in Cape Town, established in 1927 in terms of the 1923 Urban Areas Act. Langa is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. During apartheid Langa was the location of much resistance.
In recent years, the township has started to be rejuvenated as the government has invested in improved infrastructure. The Guga 'S Thebe Cultural Centre was opened in 2005 and is now the site of many community and cultural activities.
It is in Guga 'S Thebe where our project takes place.
From Guga there are township tours  (Siviwe Tours) organized and it is something I can recommend as it is a good way to get to learn more about the community and history.
It was a pleasure to work in Langa and to meet the wonderful people. I hope that our project will make a little difference in their community. Cape Town is truly an amazing city working in Langa was something I will never forget.

Here is a little picture report of Langa.

Cape of Good Hope

yes yes yes 

Cape Town is known for it's spectacular surroundings and nature. During my stay in Cape Town I did had some days off to enjoy see the beauties this part of the earth has to offer. We drove to Cape of the Good Hope via Simon's Town which is also the home of the African Penguins. No visit to Cape Town is complete without visiting the Cape of God Hope. The nature is splendid, you can actually see ostriches, kudu's, baboons, flowers, ocean and more.

Hiking Table Mountain in style

One of the advantages of doing a project in Cape Town is the exquisite nature that surrounds. Table Mountain is an undeniable landmark that you just can't miss. The squared rock is the the first thing you see when you land and when you are in Cape Town it feels like everywhere you the mountain stares at you. So I took the hiking challenge, pretty naive as I dressed 'too stylish' for the 3,5h climb up and 1,5h heavy climb down. However I managed without ruining my outfit and shoes. It was worth the effort; the nature, the views and the clear blue skies are breathtaking.

Although pictures don't really express the real experience I share you some snaps.

FASHIONCLASH Cape Town

In Performance - Building a Theater 
Langa - Cape Town 

Since last week I am in Maastricht again after spending three weeks in Cape Town (South Africa). Although I am already back in my regular working routine Cape Town is still fresh in my thoughts. 

Project background

The starting point of the project is the development of a children's theatre in Langa and Cape Town World Design Capital 2014.

In a cooperation of the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Cape Town, the architectural faculties of RWTH Aachen (DE), PBSA Düsseldorf (DE) Georgia Tech Atlanta (US), the support of UCT (SA) and the local community, a children's theatre is being built in the township of Langa, Cape Town. The building is mainly built by architectural students and local participants with a completion date of October 2014.
During Cape Town's hosting of the World Design Capital 2014, Langa has been chosen as one of the project areas of the city. The focus will be on the theatre as key design project as well as a venue for events during the Design festival.

Therefore the project „In Performance - Building Theater“ links the process of building to the anticipated utilization of the space. Before the official opening of the theatre, a performance developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration between architects, textile as well as fashion designers and performers as representatives for the future users, will thoroughly explore the endless possibilities of the space and structure.

FASHIONCLASH in Langa / Cape Town
Arriving in Cape Town felt like a trip down memory lane, bringing us back to the roots of FASHIONCLASH. As some may know FASHIONCLASH was initiated after a developing project in Palmeiras township in the Brazilian city Fortaleza. 'FASHIONCLASH Brazil' dates back in 2006/2007 but still remains a source of courage and inspiration to connect people, cultures and artistic disciplines.

Ever since Brazil we have been longing to do a project like this again. So there we were in South Africa. 

The project in Cape Town takes place in the Guga 'S Thebe Cultural Centre, located in the heart of Langa township. Langa is the oldest township in South Africa and has a rich historical background. Compared to other townships Langa is rather friendly and safe. 

Shortly after our arrival we went to visit the children of the Happy Feet Youth Project in their own neighbourhood and their tiny dance space. This was truly inspiring and touching to be surrounded with so much energy and positive vibes in a place where dreams seems to be far away. Their living condition are far from ok and Happy Feet project is a huge encouragement and motivation where they can express their childhood and creativity. 

first encounter with Happy Feet

We were very joyfully welcomed and treated with various energetic performances in their too small rehearsal space. Sure they got the moves and the rhythm. Although Cape Town is a marvellous city with many stunning nature attractions visiting Happy Feet was one of the highlights. Two weeks later we went once more to visit them. 

Before we started designing we first had to install our temporary studio in

Guga 'S Thebe. Furthermore we visited various companies who where so generous to contribute in the project. Show Tex will provide us with fabrics, Cape Town Sewing with sewing machines, Aga with sewing yarns and so on. People are friendly and willing to help when they hear about the project. 

Thanks to all the help and materials we were able to start designing and making prototypes for the costumes.

In the weekend of 16 and 17 August, the new 'in the making' theatre at Guga S'Thebe was transformend into a playground for various disciplines. In connection to Open Design Festival various activities were organized including workshops by Saskia Oidtmann, Jolijn Fiddelaers (IXX) and FASHIONCLASH. FASHIONCLASH workshops involved kids of the Happy Feet Youth Project. All kids were given the opportunity to design and create their own 'vest' that carried Happy Feel logo. Although it was an intense experience to take care of a large group of excited kids. However, the result was more than we could hope for and there are now 45 unique vests. It was also great to see the potential of the theatre for the Langa community.  

After the this weekends our focus went on development of the costumes and this went quite well within the short period of time. We very much enjoyed working in our pop-up studio in Guga and all the social encounters that happened along the way. 

Before departure we handed over our work, costumes prototypes and patterns, to a very kind lady Zola. She will take care of production of 43 outfits for boys and girls of Happy Feet. What pleases us in this process is that she will make the costumes in Guga S'Thebe and also include local sewers to assist her. The costumes will be worn by Happy Feet dancers and on display end of September during the Fringe Festival. Saskia Oidtmann will develop a brand new choreography for this presentation.

The costumes we designed are resulting in two outfits. For the girls a fabric with a african print and for the boys and smaller kids an overall (Zola and some others call it a 'Wanzi'). These overalls are in blue or yellow. In the process we have carefully tried to include wishes of Happy Feet in the costumes as well maintain their signature look worker overalls. For the girls we where looking for a more feminine look and they where in love with the african fabric so that explains the choice.

For the boys overalls we where inspired by Langa street styles where we noticed that hoodies where popular so we created an overall with a hoodies.

Past three weeks where truly empowering and inspiring due to many encounters. The beauty of this project is that many goals and ideas cross each other in the process, just as it is in the name 'In Performance – Building a theatre'. For now our work was done although we would have liked to stay longer. We just have to make sure we come back. This project has already cleared new pathways and showed potential for new projects and perhaps continuation of this current one.

Saying goodbye to all the lovely people we met was not that easy but somehow it really feels as we will come back.

For more information about the project: http://www.inperformance.net

Also worth taking a look is this website where you can follow the development of the new children's theatre: http://designdevelopbuild.com

Take a look at my visual report below, including the children's theatre. 

Common Methods - Cape Town

Common Methods
First Edition

From August 15 to 24 Common Methods held an exhibition in Harrington Street 75 in Cape Town. Common Methods aims to bring together designers to uncommon territories and to stimulate new developments through collaboration.
In its First Edition the progress and products created in collaboration between South African and Dutch designers was on display.

"Common Methods is an on-going venture with a collaborative design and culture experience. We want to establish growing relationships between designers, locals, craftsmen, manufacturers and the public. We want to bring designers to uncommon territories, to stimulate new developments through collaboration that promotes knowledge exchange and personal development. "

Participants: Lio de Bruin, Mathew Nielson, Phil Procter, Natalie du Toit, Bronze Age, Matblac, Design Afrika, Woodheads.

http://www.common-methods.com

Some impressions from the opening 

In Performance - Building Theater

Guga Theatre Langa (Cape Town)

In Performance - Building Theater

FASHIONCLASH is going for a development-oriented project to Langa, a township of Cape Town, SA, this fall. For that we welcome and appreciate any donation you can make.

The project “In Performance - Building Theater” is mainly on a voluntary basis. It is in connection to the opening of a new children theater in the township of Langa in Cape Town, which has been voted for as the World Design Capital 2014. The building is being built mainly by architectural students and local participants and volunteers. Therefore, we are hoping to get your support to enhance the outcome of our efforts.