A LIFE ALOFT

A hand-built studio-esque space, tucked into a tree-filled mountain, proved to be the perfect home for South African fashion designer Jenni Button to rediscover her passion for painting  

- LORI COHEN

'My ultimate dream was to have a New York loft in a wild forest setting and I never thought it would be possible. It's like a big art studio,' says Jenni Button, her petite frame dwarfed by the incredible loft-like space she discovered, and made her home, on mountain slopes in Hout Bay, Cape Town. When house-hunting, the well-known South African fashion and interior designer was looking for a refuge where she could paint - Jenni studied fine art and has recently rekindled her romance with oil paint. She found it in this unique house with its immense proportions - handbuilt by the previous owner a decade ago.

'As I walked up that driveway, I knew this is where I wanted to live,' says Jenni. The gate, incidentally, sports a sign that warns visitors '4x4's only' - and reaching the house requires you to hike up 40 coarsely cut stone steps. With its dominating reclaimed factory windows and simple silhouette, the home doesn't reveal much of what you can expect inside when you arrive.

 

It's hard to capture the sheer volume of the space - but the word 'cavernous' comes to mind - partly because of the fact that it is secreted into the side of a mountain, and partly because the building is enriched with stone features, exposed brick walls, and rough wooden floors.