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Indigenus planters: the people and the inspiration behind the designs
THE BRAINCHILD OF A VISIONARY DESIGN ENTREPRENEUR
Indigenus, founded in 2014, is the brainchild of Cape Town local, Peter van der Post. Peter noticed a lack of high design planters in the market and the vision to produce the most beautiful, original and desirable planters began to grow.
A FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY & QUALITY
The Indigenus team have collaborated with leading designers to create planters that are art pieces in their own right. The focus is on sustainability and quality luxury, striving to make planters for life and not just for a few seasons.
Indigenus supports the creation of jobs in Southern Africa where unemployment runs at around 30%. Many of their employees feed many more mouths than just their immediate family and every time a planter is purchased that secures employment.
HAND MADE AND IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
It has taken Indigenus years of refinement, many valuable lessons learnt and, ultimately, setting up their own world class factory for in-house manufacturing, to be able to ensure that the planters are of the highest quality. All materials are sustainably sourced and the planters are made by hand. Some take up to 20 man hours each to manufacture. It is this craftsmanship that puts Indigenus in a league of its own.
UNIQUE COLLABORATIONS WITH LEADING DESIGNERS
Indigenus is focused on collaboration with the world’s top designers and artists. Each designer’s range is unique and illustrates the impact that beautiful sculptural planters have on architecture and landscapes. The planters close connection to the earth is expressed through the design, made with beautiful natural materials and evoking an underlying story of our relationship with the natural world.
PETER VAN DER POST: A VISIONARY DESIGN ENTREPRENEUR
Peter van der Post is the visionary behind Indigenus, a committed design entrepreneur who saw the potential for considered, well-designed, contemporary planters which would elevate architectural spaces and landscapes. Since its inception in 2014, he has grown the stable of designs with a simple philosophy that the Indigenus planters should be ‘extraordinary, intelligent, and enduring’. To achieve this, from the outset he has collaborated with only the best.
ANDILE DYALVANE; PAYING HOMAGE TO HIS XHOSA HERITAGE
Andile Dyalvane is one of Africa’s most original and renowned ceramicists who has exhibited extensively in Denmark, France, the US and Taiwan. In 2016, he had a solo exhibition at the Freidman Bender Gallery in New York and has work in permanent collections in museums from Cape Town to Taipei. He is the designer of the Indigenus Bhaca planter:
“The Bhaca design is inspired by and named after Xhosa tribal, ritualistic incisions or markings used for clan identification, healing and spiritual protection. I’m proud to preserve my Xhosa heritage in this way.”
GREG TRUEN & STEFAN ANTONI: INSPIRED BY CAPE TOWN’S COASTAL CLIFFS
Architects Greg Truen and Stefan Antoni of SAOTA share a distinctive design vision that has shaped their partnership of 20 years. Based on a clear language of function meeting form and in the pursuit of true architectural design, their large practice is in demand across the globe. SAOTA have completed buildings in a staggering 86 countries.
These two are known for their uncompromising contemporary design with a philosophy of simplicity, restraint and refinement of materials. For Steen, which means ‘stone’ in Afrikaans, they took their inspiration from the dramatic boulders found on the coastal cliffs around Cape Town. The range features an unusual horizontal orientation in stylized forms which are powerful and bold, yet delicately poised.
LAURIE WIID VAN HEERDEN: ROOTED IN THE EARTH
Laurie Wiid van Heerden creates products and objects that can be seen as the interface between art and design – where materials are transformed into life-enriching durable products. With an extensive portfolio of work for such a young designer, van Heerden has won many accolades and has exhibited at Guild, 100% Design, Design Days Dubai, Design Miami and Design Basel.
Laurie designed the Indigenus Soma planters, an iconic part of the range, inspired by the ‘anchoring presence’ of trees. He combined this with his own distinctive, rounded sculptural style. The Soma design also celebrates the stone-like appearance of reinforced concrete and in various progressions of the design contrasts with organic elements in wood and cork.
Another design by Laurie Wiid Van Heerden, Terra is Latin for “earth” and the Terra brings weight and grounding to planters raised up on stands in the mid-century modern tradition. It is also square adding to the solidity and the wooden bases are contoured and sculpted into the planter making for a stable earthy interpretation that still feels light, modern and elegantly curvaceous.
HALDANE MARTIN: TAPPING INTO OUR CONNECTION TO THE NATURAL WORLD
Haldane Martin is a prolific industrial designer specializing in furniture and interior design. He believes that iconic design must marry innovation, beauty, relevance and timelessness. He seamlessly integrates indigenous craft, bio-mimicry and sustainable production with modern technology and digital design into his award-winning work.
Haldane crated the Tuber design, the strength of which is derived from individual cut pieces of wood bolted together internally with stainless steel pins and hand-assembled into a pleasing bulbous form. Haldane was inspired by nature when he created the design which, as the name implies, sits as if rooted in the ground:
“As humans we have an intuitive and deeply ingrained attraction to nature and a biological need for contact with the natural world, especially in our built environment.”
YARBU PUSHELBERG: CELEBRATING NATURE’S FORMS
Yabu Pushelberg have been named among the world’s most influential design studios by Wallpaper, Dezeen, Elle Decor, Hospitality Design and the Business of Fashion. Working around the world, the studio found it difficult to find quality, sophisticated planters to utilize in their projects. This need became the motivation to develop Pebble with Indigenus. The Pebble design is characterized by its soft organic form that follows an asymmetrical design with a beautiful play on negative space. Inspired by nature, the partnership between Yabu Pushelberg and Indigenus sought to honor this muse by celebrating the amorphous forms found in nature, translating the soft forms into a family of concrete planters. The Pebble contributes in abundance to the look and feel of any space.”
SEBASTIAN HERKNER: AN HOMAGE TO AFRICA
German designer Sebastian Herkner’s designs for the world’s top brands have won awards that are too many to list. He was awarded the Elle Décor International Designer of the Year for 2021 (Edida). His love for traditional craftsmanship coupled with a natural affinity for colors, authentic materials and textures, and his curiosity for different cultures, meant that this collaboration was a natural fit. Following his honeymoon to South Africa, Sebastian was inspired by all the aspects, elements and shades he encountered. The Aarde (which means earth) is a representation of this; of the layering that exists culturally, demographically and in the nature and light of Africa. The Aarde has subtly overlapping layers with different depths to create the play with light and minerality that Sebastian saw in the natural landscape and wanted to represent. The earthy colors (brown,red, sandstone) used in this range are very much part of the story Sebastian wanted to communicate.”
WHY WE LOVE INDIGENUS
We love that Indigenus planters are created by such a diverse group of designers, artists and architects. Each of them brings something special and personal to the collection. Understanding the inspiration behind the designs gives each planter its own story. These are more than just planters, they are sculptural pieces of art and architectural devices that can transform any indoor or outdoor space.
All imagery courtesy of Indigenus @indigenusplanters