A home away from home

MATH: IDEAL GATHERING PLACE FOR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS

- Bonginkosi Tiwane

One of the first things you see when you walk into MATH restaurant is a painting commissioned by the owner, Puleng Mathabatha, which pays homage to his late father and his patrons.

The artwork

Mathabatha asked artist Dustin August to create a painting that speaks to how the MATH is a space where people can gather to break bread and enjoy as family and friends – essentially a home away from home.

On the far-left side of the wall are faceless human figures holding hands, with their heads facing opposite directions.

“It’s supposed to symbolise how our journeys are intertwined. Clearly the two people are walking apart, but they still have their hands together. My dad’s journey and mine were different, but it’s still in business,”

He adds: “There’s a heart between them, I don’t know if that was intentional.”

The rest of the artwork shows other human-like figures dining around tables.

The name of the artwork, When we gather, was adopted as the restaurant’s tagline.

“This is who we are, this is what we’re trying to create – a space to gather,” he said.

Born in business

The eatery at Waterfall has been operating since May last year.

Such is the entrepreneurial spirit in his family, that when the 30-year-old started working his “She was like, ‘why are you earning that much, rather come work for one of our businesses or open a business’,” he said.

He describes his late father as a quiet man who was intuitive for business and a visionary of sorts.

His family had a hardware shop in the community, a trucking company and an investment company that purchased land.