Nyoka

Southern Guild is thrilled to announce Rich Mnisi’s first solo exhibition of collectible design, titled Nyoka. The body of work – comprising seating, a console, a chandelier, a large-scale rug and other art objects – is a bold exploration of shape and fluidity, brought vividly to life in a rich array of materials including bronze, wool, resin and glass.

Like Mnisi’s most recent fashion collection, Ku Huhama, Nyoka finds its origins in a dream as he explains:

“This started with a nightmare. My mother dreamt of a snake on her back. When she turned to look at it, she saw an intense green creature, frightening and fluid, dangerous and beautiful. My journey started here and led me to Congo’s Bushongo mythology and its creator god, Bumba, the god of vomit. He vomited up the sun, Earth, moon and stars, and then the rest of the natural world from that acidic pain and discomfort. Unlike most of our world’s origin stories, this one proposes that the beauty and life of our world could be purged instead of birthed.”

Nyoka wrestles with the idea of beauty distilled from darkness. “To live is to embrace this duality. To accept that joy and tragedy, light and darkness, dreams and nightmares are connected, orbiting and defining each other,” he states.

Mnisi’s broad design vision – encompassing fashion, creative direction, film-making and furniture – is underpinned by an aesthetic and philosophical fluidity. His visual vocabulary is defined by strong shapes, organic forms and snaking lines, from the anthropomorphic curves of his Nwa-Mulamula's Chaise to the swirling patterns of his textile designs. His design process is intuitive, and his fashion collections are free of gender and seasonal prescriptions.

A sensuous dynamism runs through Mnisi’s designs for Nyoka. A curved console is punctuated by the winding form of a bronze snake, its storage cavity concealed by a richly patterned beaded curtain. A large, asymmetrical rug, woven in karakul wool and mohair, combines voluminous tufts with intricate flat-woven areas in the clashing of colours synonymous with Mnisi’s iconic clothing. Twisting sinuously down from the ceiling, the twin branches of a bronze chandelier hold resin bubbles of light and the sheepskin pelts covering a pair of low-slung seats are articulated by a continuous line of black leather that traces the rise and fall of the seats’ forms.

Mnisi worked closely with Southern Guild to realise his vision, collaborating with several artisan groups including Monkeybiz, Coral & Hive and Bronze Age Studio, in close alignment with the designer’s mission to promote craft and South African handwork in his practice.

Click here to read RICH, the once-off magazine published by Southern Guild in cooperation with BMW South Africa on the occasion of Nyoka.