It is amazing what makes one stop and take a second look at an exhibition stand.  There were three Cape Town Interior Designers that exhibited to the public their craft and talents.  The most intriguing part was that each of them presented a completely different interpretation of an interior style.  Each styled room made me stop and take note – they were quite ‘out there’ in their boldness of design coming out of the designer’s years of experience in the trade.

The theme for Decorex was ‘Basic and Beauty’ – here are two designers who took this theme to heart, playing with their favourite design elements.

Adriaan Lochner is someone I have met a few times and have chatted in depth with him.  He is a very authentic person with many years in the interiors trade.  His style is timeless, venturing across the board in terms of being able to meet whatever genre of style his client’s brief gives him.  However, he selected to present a timeless setting of a dining room, which embraced antiques, rich warm colour palette, infused with a touch of the orient by way of a beautiful Chinese lacquer panelled screen.

The depth of room setting was further enriched by spectacular floral art – one of Adriaan’s hobbies and specialities.  The tonal warm was further made palatable with the inclusion of a display of pomegranates and autumn leaves – detail after detail adding depth and warmth to this timeless setting.

Adriaan sums up his personal style preference as embracing stylish class, sophistication, finesse, always a reflection of good taste. As I said – he is authentic thus not allowing trends to set his pace. And that is just what he achieved – a timeless, infused, innovative interior setting.

I noticed that Adriaan was standing amongst the exhibit winners – Well done.

Salome Gunter on the other hand, presented a completely different exhibit – one that was so magnificently daring in totality – one that I was radically attracted to due to the fact that she presented the trendy, industrial relaxed and eclectic style so evidently ‘Now”.  The strong sophisticated, industrial country style was so inviting, that all I wanted was for everyone to leave, freeing me up to nestle into that red leather wingback and do what I love – read.

She exposed us to her innovative, bold yet very intimate style with a bedroom and study room setting, packed with details that made full use of modern technology. We found that the digitally printed wall paper of a bathroom image from one of her projects; pages from a Louis Vuitton book – made into wallpaper panels – really just show how wallpaper can be anything you want, using any image you fancy.  (She tells me she is a Louis Vuitton junkie)

The ‘basic’ elements were to be found from the floor up – a rustic scaffold structure held the room setting within its confines and together with the untreated solid wooden floors planks.

Salome grew the interior setting layer upon layer, until the complete beauty of it unfolded, revealing Salome’s ability to keep pace with the global trend to include the past into the present, intimately.

We give her the “Royal Seal of Awesomeness”

Images, as noted: Visi & Decorex

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