Talking to Julia

Talking to John Zwiegelaar of John Jacob Interiors this month, I discovered his extraordinary eye for interior design and decoration, particularly within the neoclassical style. John’s ability to combine details from the past with refined new-age  clarity sets his work apart; it has in recent years elevated him into the upper echelons of the South African and indeed world design industry. I found learning about this ‘new classicist’ an intriguing experience.

Since establishing his Cape Town based studio in 2005 John Zwiegelaar has been busy with a number of stand-out projects; a European rock star’s beach villa in Cape Town, the luxurious penthouses and piazza at the Cape Royale, houses in London, Portugal, Berlin and Oslo, the restoration of residences in Graaff Reinet; and the gorgeous new guest lodges and sitting rooms at Samara Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape.

It is a remarkable listing – each worthy of a story in its own right. And this before John tells me about the redecoration and partial refurbishment of a southern African game camp every year for the Saudi Royal family’s annual African holiday …

“We do the entire process,” says John, “ from architectural design and landscaping to custom- made furniture and interior decorating”. From his office bookshelf, he begins pulling out  an array of beautiful coffee table references to show me.

Collected over the years, each book is significant and employed as a point of influence and inspiration. But while John is known to research extensively within a range of design styles, there is an overall classic-contemporary theme expressed throughout the work he does.

‘I love this garden courtyard look and how clever the design is,’ he says, as we page through a gorgeous volume of garden treatments.

‘See how it captures both classic and modern elegance; and just two or three garden plants chosen and repeated throughout…’

One needs to exercise this type of restraint. If you can suppress the temptation to over-embellish, go for less pattern, or use monotone colour schemes for instance. You begin to notice how certain design elements once hidden and disguised start to radiate out.’

John tells me he rarely buys furniture pieces for his projects, mostly designing them himself and having them locally made. For the exceptional new tasting facilities at Graham Beck Wines’ Franschhoek estate for example, every fixture, artwork and piece of furniture was custom-made as a ‘one off’, including works by renowned South African sculptor Dylan Lewis. ‘It’s far better to design specifically for a project because clients requirements are so individual, furnishings must be authentic, comfortable and both functional and aesthetically satisfying.

If projects do require it, furniture art and decorative accessories are sourced locally or further afield, wherever is appropriate for the job. John has formed various relationships with antique dealers, galleries and fabric houses and he’ll trawl markets and warehouses across the globe, always intent on finding things that can add value to his clients lives.

‘Its not simply going on a shopping trip, filling rooms with disparate objects. First and foremost, I evaluate the project’s context – the architecture and the surroundings – and then I subtly manipulate those parameters to create the lifestyle my client is seeking.’

The structure and setting of a building is so paramount to John’s tyle of work, one of his clients said, having worked with him “I always thought you could change a house to fit in with a particular interior style, but what I found is that often it’s a case of changing your style to suit the house.” A great example of this is John and his partner’s former home Queens Road overlooking Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard. “The house is Victorian in style so everything I did needed to complement that”, he explains. “I decorated the whole thing in black and white, completely modernising the space, but I did it in an architecturally sensitive manner”.

The Queens Road house was featured in Condé Nast House & Garden some time ago; since then it has sold to a new owner with John redecorating it in a new theme. This year we see the residence featured in a new book by overseas author Janelle McCulloch called Design in Black and White. The book showcases a fascinating collection of black and white interior from around the world. Queens Road is the stunningly chic example of this type monotone design and decoration in South Africa.

“Another exciting thing this year was my talk, in collaboration with Condé Nast and St Leger & Viney, on Neo-Classicism. I spoke of inspiring international architects, decorators and landscapers such as John Minshaw, Thomas Pinestant, Piet Boon, who are working, like me, with this ‘new classicist’ genre. I also point to my own travels and research, and my methods of conveying tradition in a new light, often within a South African context”.

Having had the pleasure of chatting to John I realise that modern reinterpretation of past styles is not a random thing.

It’s a very rational, ordered exercise of carefully picking out the right bits of classic detailing, combining them with just the right amount of contemporary edge.

“Yes, it is a complex, meaningful process,” John says. “The project I’m busy with in Fresnaye I’ve been working on for over two years now. But it is going to be amazing when it’s finished. The fusing of modern and classic, the use of monotones… What’s happened is that all the Georgian detailing, the lines of architecture and furniture,  have begun to speak for themselves”.

Read more John Jacob Interiors Magazine features here…