I’ve recently been thinking back to our whirlwind Design Indaba experience earlier this year. We saw SO many awesome things and met SO may awesome designers, including this talented local boy’tjie…

Capetonian furniture designer Jared Odell has been making some serious design waves since the launch of his first furniture range last year. The Fulbrite Range playfully combines bent powder-coated sheet metal with gorgeous solid Scandinavian birch plywood. It has an elegant simplicity and quirky fold-out and slot-in look about it that in some slight way reminds me of flat-packed furniture. The beauty of the range is the option to choose your favourite colour for powder coating, giving you the option to create something truly unique.

Jared, who studied Industrial Design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology alongside the Pedersen+Lennard whiz kids (sho, that year sure turned out design diamonds), is a Mid-century Modernists enthusiast. Just like the Modernists, he attempts to balance aesthetics, function, and simplicity while staying true to his chosen materials.

In an interview with Jared last year, Visi posed the question: “Does South Africa inspire your design at all? If so, how?” I quite like Jared’s answer…

“Yes, I think the relaxed culture of South Africans has inspired me to create furniture that’s fun and not too pretentious. European design is beautiful, but it’s often so serious. South Africans like beautiful yet practical things, so I’ve tried to create a range that’s usable and practical. I’m designing furniture, not making art.”

Check out Jared’s website: here.

Related articles

• Mid-Century Furniture Finds (thedesigntabloid.com)