ARCHITECTS TAKE STREET ART INDOORS
In a move to inject creativity into the corporate workspace, architectural firm SVA International has taken street art indoors – and in the process disrupted traditional boundaries between urban art and design.
The striking 12m artwork, which runs the length of the Eastern Cape headquarters’ open-plan office in Central, was created by local artist Steven“ Joff” Carter, who is responsible for giving new life to abandoned structures around the city.
SVA International associate, Ilse Danev, said the work – created using spraypaint on wood – called to mind the colourful, heavy lettering of early graffiti styles typically seen on New York city streets. Danev said graffiti was often mistakenly associated only with“ defacing” inner city buildings.
“ Graffiti is also a form of self-expression through design and, in many ways, offers a new‘ face’ to old buildings, which is absolutely in line with our philosophy,” she said.
The Eastern Cape’ s largest architectural firm has been steadily renovating its office space and building a new eye-catching entrance on the corner of Park Drive since relocating to Central in 2016.
“ We believe in the urban renewal that is happening in the city and it’ s important for us to collaborate with and be a part of the design community here. Joff has done some great work and we were very excited to have him involved with our project,” she said.“ Our team have responded very positively to the finished artwork. It’ s a unique backdrop that helps to inspire creativity and provides a pleasant visual‘ relief’ during long working hours.”
OLYMPIC PAINTS: INNOVATING THE WAY PAINT IS APPLIED
Sejal Purbhoo, the director of Olympic Paints and member of the Master Builders Association North, believes that there is often a better way to do things. That’ s the kind of thinking that impelled him to tackle the problem that all painters have lived with since anyone can remember: the tricky decanting of paint into a painter’ s tray.
This method has a number of disadvantages. It’ s easy to spill when pouring, and we all know how many times people trip over paint trays on the floor – especially when there are lots of workers on site. There’ s also the time it takes to decant the paint into the tray, and then to clean the tray at the end of the working way. As well as all the wasted time, a lot of paint gets washed down the drain – a waste of material and an environmental problem.
“ We developed a rectangular 20-litre bucket with a lid that flips back to give you a built-in, ridged roller tray – hence the name Flip‘ n Roll,” Purbhoo explains.“ That way there’ s no paint tray to fill, clean – or trip over. And, when you’ re finished, you simply close the lid and the wet paint drips back into the container.”
Like all good inventions, it seems unbelievable nobody ever thought of it in the first place. It’ s no surprise that Purbhoo was a finalist in the FNB Innovation Awards for 2018.
He says that everybody who has seen the Flip‘ n Roll product wants to use it, so now it is a question of making the construction industry aware of it. That’ s where membership of the Master Builders Association( MBA) North comes in, he believes.
“ Contractors are the major users of paint and the MBA offers suppliers like us a good way to engage with them, and showcase this innovation,” he says.“ Good for us, but also a good way for contractors to find out about the latest developments.” www. olympicpaints. co. za www. mbanorth. co. za
10 News Watch