Photographs Greg Cox
Text Holly Durcan
Interior Designer Extraordinaire Etienne Hanekom
Former magazine editor Sumien Brink has created an inner-city oasis: a veritable greenhouse and personal library, artfully styled with favourite objet, a photographic collection, and sentimental market finds gathered over the years.
It was a busy day in the heart of Cape Town when Sumien Brink – a former magazine editor with an unerring nose for recognising the potential in a space – bravely entered the incongruously named Impala House with its modest but beguiling pink marble foyer. The lift opened directly into the space, literally stopping her in her tracks. ‘I was simply flabbergasted – I had no idea proportions like this still existed in the city,’ she said.
The building itself didn’t deter, nor did interior designer Etienne Hanekom bat an eyelid when most of us might have run a mile.
Images of a collection of ethnic jewellery gifted by Sumien’s close friend Dr Sue Robinson hang above a lifetime’s collection of much-loved books that continually inspire, but the pièce de résistance is the olive green, deep-buttoned Chesterfield from Loft Living.
The dining area is entered through two carved bone horses bought on Koeberg Road near the Milnerton Market. The elegant metal dining table is by Gregor Jenkin. Drawings by Lucie de Moyencourt, a favourite artist, and an old poster of the ‘The Butcher Boys’ by Jane Alexander line the back of the display dressers dividing the room.
Two Gregor Jenkins tables seat at least twelve friends and are the opportunity to style for special dinners. Ever the stylist, Sumien has used bold flowering amaryllis to dress the table, and Etienne Hanekom Interiors devised an easy lighting solution for the lofty space.
The photo wall in the main bedroom above the desk features the work of Sumien’s favourite photographers, illustrations from Tina Berning’s book 100 Girls on Cheap Paper and a panorama of Table Mountain taken in the early 80s by her brother Corrie Hansen.
Botanical installation next to the bookcase in the living room with photograph by Clinton Freedman and ceramics from Ceramic Matters and a Jane Alexander in the glass dome.
A striking work by Guy Tillim, Avenue du Président Léopold Sédar Senghor, Dakar, Sénégal (2017), was blown up as wallpaper by Robin Sprong. Vintage chairs covered in grey linen and carpet bought from Milnerton Market.
The industrial feeling of the kitchen area is softened by the use of many plants, making this a little inner-city garden and a calm sanctuary.
Collection of handmade tableware from ceramicists Mervyn Gers, Ceramic Matters, Frauke Stegmann (the gold lustre tea cups), Hemelhuijs and Mud Studio.
Collection of wooden kitchen utensils and boards, from carved butter moulds to a vintage grater from a Taiwanese fishing trawler used for nutmeg and ginger.
Part of a collection of tea strainers that a friend, Braam Theron, made for his partner Aida Uys over the years.
Etienne Hanekom installed corrugated dividers to create two bedrooms: an easy way to divide a huge space previously used as an office and reminiscent of the yellow corrugated walls he used for the first time in the World Design Capital offices in Cape Town. The original space was a blank canvas, with only rudimentary bathrooms and a tiny kitchen.
Main bedroom with poetry throw from Karien Belle, and Sumien’s guardian angel tapestry that ‘keeps me safe in the inner city’ and a portrait of Braam Brink painted by his old friend and architect Arno de Villiers.
Entrance to the bathroom, now a clean white space filled with unexpected naive paintings found at Milnerton Market over the years.
