26/08/2026
Cape Town's Creatives
With their company Design Safaris, the German-South African couple Micha and Tom provide insights into studios and show rooms in which Cape Town shapes its creative identity.
Anyone who visits Cape Town first moves through familiar images. The line of Table Mountain, the beaches, the wide light over the Atlantic. But the city gains depth as soon as you turn. Ideas, objects, shapes and stories that shape the character of Cape Town are created in former industrial districts, small backyards or inconspicuous houses. This is exactly where aēsplore's work comes in. Micha and Tom, founders and partners, rarely talk about tourism. They talk about access. About rooms that you can only enter with an invitation and about encounters that make a place read differently. Tom puts it simply: "You get to know many cities through their visible highlights. We are interested in what lies behind them. What shapes a city from the inside out."
This attitude gave rise to her Design Safaris format. They are curated daily experiences that do not focus on program items, but on relationships. The two have built up a network over the years that consists of architects, designers, artists and other designers. People working in their studios and willing to share their processes. They call these partners “Originals”. The term describes less a label than an attitude. Micha says: “It is people who shape a city by acting, not by appearing.”
Relevant Encounters
The tours do not follow a standardized process. Every encounter is different because every “original” works differently. Sometimes you stand in a studio where the smell of wood fills the air. Sometimes in a room with architectural designs scattered across the floor. Sometimes in the middle of a conversation about material origins, urban development or identity. Design safaris are observation rooms, not guided tours. The fact that the concept works particularly well in Cape Town is due to the city itself. The creative scene is international, agile and at the same time deeply rooted locally. Many work with materials from the region, other cultural traditions or new ecological methods. Anyone who designs here automatically engages with the place. And it is precisely this context that makes the encounters so relevant. You not only see works, but also attitudes.
For Micha and Tom, aesploring (aesthetic exploring), as they call it, is a way of traveling that creates connections. Between guests and the people behind the projects. Between the city and its hidden spaces. Between what is visible and what only emerges in conversation. It's an approach that doesn't have to be loud or spectacular to have a lasting impact.
Sustainable Moments
Sometimes at the end of a day there is a smell in your clothes, a color in your head or a sentence that resonates. Sometimes it's just a look from the “original” that says: Something begins here. And perhaps this is exactly the moment when you understand why aēsplore proposes a new way of traveling. Travel that connects and continues to have an impact.
This movement creates portraits that don't read like descriptions, but rather like encounters. Stories of people who shape Cape Town and were shaped by Cape Town. Their studios, their materials, their thoughts. They show what it means to understand a city through its creative minds.
BRETT CHARLES SEILER
There are artists whose presence already forms their own work. Brett is one of them. Anyone sitting across from him in the studio immediately understands that the boundaries between his life and his art are fluid. His skin is covered with tattoos, many of his own designs, small visual notes that have become a kind of personal archive. Lines, words, symbols. They tell a story that doesn't want to be loud, but is precise. Just like his work.
Brett is considered one of the most exciting young voices in the South African art scene. International galleries show his works, and yet his working method remains surprisingly quiet. Wooden panels, sheets of paper, wax residues and small found objects are piled up in the studio, the function of which only becomes clear in conversation. His art is created from reduced materials, but never from reduction in expression. There is an attitude behind every surface, a consideration behind every line.
His themes revolve around closeness, identity and memory. Q***r realities of life appear in his pictures, often only as a subtle hint. Words appear, disappear, are superimposed or sanded down. Nothing seems staged. A lot of things are deliberately left open. Brett rarely states clearly what a work means. It leaves room for reading, for feeling, for misunderstanding. This makes his work accessible and at the same time deep.
Typography plays a central role for him: short words, fragments , half-sentences. They sit somewhere between drawing and painting, like messages read by chance. It is these in-between spaces that make his works so compelling. One feels as though one is entering an internal dialogue—one that is never spoken aloud.
A sense of the unfinished pervades the studio. Older pieces hang alongside new ones; some are propped against the wall, others remain completely raw. Brett speaks about this with a composure that reveals how, for him, the process matters more than the result. Here, art is not a finished gesture but an ongoing rhythm. His own demeanor reflects this: tattooed, understated, clear-eyed. He comes across as an artifact of his own practice—not an object, but a living document.
Perhaps this is precisely why Brett is considered a rising star. His works are at once precise and restrained. They do not dictate; they open up. And they invite us to slow down our own perception. In an art scene that often clamors for attention, his strength lies in a quiet urgency.
ONESIMO BAM
Onesimo is one of those creators who instantly generate a distinct atmosphere. Even before you see his clothing, you sense the clarity of his thought. His gaze is attentive, his movements calm, yet everything he does carries an underlying tension. This energy also shapes his work, which moves effortlessly between fashion, art, and performance.
His fashion possesses an architectural rigor: lines, volumes, and silhouettes are carefully considered—almost structural. Yet this rigor never conflicts with the softness of his narrative approach. For Onesimo, clothing is a medium of communication. It reveals a sense of self rather than a staged persona. A q***r perspective quietly resonates through his work, without ever being explicitly labeled or explained. It manifests in openness and flexibility—in the way his pieces do not define the body, but rather accompany it.
A central element of his practice is a deep interest in collaboration. *Progression 1*, one of his recent projects, clearly demonstrates this. Photographers, performers, musicians, and designers work together on a process that transcends the concept of a mere collection. It is about exchange, community, and a certain reciprocity that is palpable in his garments. They feel like wearable reflections on identity, the city, and the future.
His inspiration often stems from the streets of Langa, a township near Cape Town. Gestures, movements, encounters—he observes how clothing is worn, altered, and combined in everyday life. From these impressions emerge pieces that are both locally rooted and globally resonant. Onesimo describes clothing as a reaction—a response to environment, mood, and history.
His studio is a place where fabrics and patterns sit side by side, yet never haphazardly; every design follows an internal logic. At the same time, the space remains open and permeable—almost like a laboratory. One senses that his practice is never truly finished; it evolves with every conversation, every project, and every new collaboration.
Onesimo is one of Cape Town’s most important creative voices—not because he creates divisions, but because he fosters connections. His fashion is not merely a display, but a stance. It creates space for identity and expression without pinning them down. And that is precisely what makes his work so contemporary.
MICHAEL CHANDLER
Michael is a designer who blends history, craftsmanship, and the present into a unique visual language. His studio is located in the heart of the colorful Bo-Kaap district, nestled in a neighborhood that feels like a living archive. Chandler House serves as a studio, a shop, and a cultural hub all in one. Stepping into the small shop means finding yourself instantly immersed in stories. Antique prints, botanical illustrations, ceramics, and textiles feel like carefully curated finds, transforming the space into a kind of visual diary.
A distinctive feature of Michael’s work is his large-scale ceramic murals. They have garnered international attention and can be found in places such as Cape Town, Marrakech, Miami, and California. Each mural is a precisely composed piece that blends flora, fauna, and historical references. The handcrafted tiles create images that appear monumental yet retain a warmth in their materiality.
Anyone strolling through Bo-Kaap will quickly recognize Michael’s signature style. Small ceramic house numbers—designed by him and gifted to the neighborhood—adorn numerous facades. This gesture speaks volumes about his philosophy: for him, design is not about creating distance, but about fostering connection—something that becomes visible in everyday life and strengthens the community.
In the studio, Michael works with a clarity that defines his designs. Every object, line, and color is placed deliberately. He is deeply interested in the cultural history of Cape Town—a history he does notpreserves, but rather carries forward. In his work, tradition and contemporary design language meet without overshadowing one another; they complement each other.
Michael creates objects and murals that are not only aesthetically compelling but also reveal how stories live on within materials. His work makes visible how design can shape a city—not through loudness, but through care, intimacy, and permanence.
JOEL MAMBOKA
Joel possesses a distinctive elegance. His attire—often inspired by the Congolese SAPE movement—appears as a deliberate extension of his artistic practice. He views style as an attitude, a form of self-assertion, and a reflection of the cultural history that has been with him since his childhood in Kinshasa. Today, he lives and works in Cape Town, blending both worlds into a visual language that is at once personal and universally resonant.
In his works, Joel combines oil paint, fabrics, found objects, and wallpaper fragments into multi-layered compositions. Worn patterns and overlapping layers of fabric—which only acquire meaning through their interplay—create a visual depth akin to memory. His portraits depict people in moments of joy, tranquility, or connection. The figures appear focused and present, as if holding onto a thought just before it slips away.
Textile techniques from Kinshasa—specifically the principle of patchwork—are central to his work. For Joel, identity does not appear as a smooth surface, but rather as an intricate weave of individual parts. The elegance of the SAPE movement—and its concept of style as an expression of dignity and cultural self-awareness—serves as a key point of reference. This fusion of aesthetics, history, and attitude runs through his entire body of work.
His studio in Cape Town is bright, with a view of Table Mountain. Scraps of fabric, sketches, and small artifacts lie on a large table, gradually becoming part of his paintings. The room is quiet yet charged with energy. When Joel isn’t here, you’ll often find him downtown at Open Wine; amidst live jazz and conversations with fellow creatives, he gathers impressions, movements, and moods that later find their way into his compositions.
Joel’s art portrays identity as something living and multifaceted. His works speak softly yet powerfully, lingering in the viewer’s mind long after they are seen.
www.designsafaris.com
