Style profile: John Jacob Zwiegelaar

TEXT BY KHOLEKA KUMALO

Interior designer, undercover cook, environment shaper

I was brought up on a farm in Elgin. My mom had the most amazing garden and house. She took us on trips to Europe to show me, my brother and my sister gardens and architecture, the most memorable of which was Chteau Villandry in France’s Loire Valley. I believe that your creative conditioning as a child can massively shape your future. My childhood resulted in my passion for what I do now. From 10 years old, I was seriously into cooking and then, at 15, my interest in landscaping grew and I’d spend hours drawing a pool design or obsessing over tree positions in the garden.

One of my favourite gardens is Hidcote Manor Gardens. It’s one of the earliest examples of formal garden design in England, and is based around creating rooms with planting and screening so that you are led into different and unique areas. Fewer ideas and more confident planting create impact and power. Like anything in life, when you distil and idea, it has more power. When you don’t know what to focus on and try to express it all, it has less power and clarity. My earliest memories of beautiful interior design are of our house.

My mom had talented people help her put it together, so I learnt simplicity and restraint. Choose one thing – like a painting or sculpture – and make it the hero of the space. Or if you introduce a pattern with fabric, give it room to shine. My design awakening happened when I was 11 years old. We went to see the fountains at the Palace of Versailles, and the scale and beauty of everything touched me. In the local interior design world I think Stephen Falcke, Cécile & Boyd, and Graham Viney are incredible. I always thought that I’d work in hotels or restaurants. During my gap year after high school, I attended Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. When I returned to go to the University of Cape Town, I realised I was passionate about what went into the look and feel of a hotels or restaurants as opposed to the actual running of them – I wanted to create them. My life is all about making environments for others. I treat all my projects very differently depending on my clients and the buildings I’m working on. I don’t define any single concept as being ‘me.’ It’s simply a passing idea for that project, and then I move on. I like to wear clothes that don’t wear me.

I find the notion of dressing to stand out and make a statement unnecessary. My go-to comfort food is anything clean and simple – Asian soups and Japanese dishes. My favourite restaurants in Cape Town are Villa 47, La Colombe, Saigon and Boschendal. I always travel with my camera. I love capturing and documenting new ideas. If money were no object I would build the most insane resorts and hotels, bringing together architects, designers and engineers from all over the world to realise some extraordinary concepts. I am currently listening to Keith Jarret. All I need to make me happy is the freedom to express myself and the freedom to say no.

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