World Class

A multifaceted expression of the heart, EACH PIECE OF contemporary art and design IN THIS FRESNAYE HOME reflects the owners’ GLOBAL SENSIBILITY and finely tuned aesthetic.

- Sally Rutherford

Self-described ‘internationalists’, the owners of this Fresnaye house hail from Belgium and England, and first came across the Cape Town abode six years ago. Strong, segmented and sleek, the home itself is sculptural, with each plane and volume clean-lined and essential to its overall success. Bearing the hallmarks of architect Philip Olmesdahl of SAOTA, the glass-and-concrete house plays with your sensibilities from the outset. Once you cross the footbridge into the entrance hall, the building’s spine, which is earthed to the steep upper slopes of Table Mountain, gives way to an endless expanse of blue sky as the glass facade opens on three levels to the Atlantic Ocean over which it hovers. Behind you looms fynbos-clad Lion’s Head; in front, Sea Point’s pulsing cityscape and the seascape, punctuated by Robben Island, expanding into the distance. The setting is all rather dramatic.

Enter the interior, however, and you’ll find a seamless flow from the mountain to the ocean, from outside to in, and – surrounded by the couple’s collection of global and local contemporary art as well as vintage and modern furniture – from the public to the personal. ‘We love being here,’ say the owners, ‘because South Africans give a lot back to us in cultural terms and the lifestyle is easier and more relaxed than our formal backgrounds. The wonderful thing about this place is you see that everyone and each piece of art is a fusion of something.’