Co-founded by husband and wife team Azadeh and Kermit Westergaard, Woodward is home to a small community of writers, artists, designers and entrepreneurs who work out of a limited number of private and shared workspaces. The Westergaards set out to cultivate an intimate space in which creatives from across various disciplines can spend an extended period of time re-energising, forging connections with like-minded individuals, and most importantly, pouring undisrupted time into their work.

“We are thoroughly enjoying the wonderfully welcoming and serene environment that seems to be built with both creativity and community in mind,” says Taplin of the residency experience so far. “Our time here will be focused on retrospection, introspection, and developing concepts for new work.”

Since relocating to the States over a year ago, the Dokter and Misses team have been committed to finding a new flow as they navigate working across two continents. “We feed off both cities – it is our intention to exist between JHB-NYC with our feet firmly in both,” explains Taplin. “New York technically will be our new home base going forward, but we want to keep our ties to Joburg strong, especially with clients and production based there,” she says. “Spring sure is springing in New York and so far, it feels like we're going through a bit of a creative re-birth as we find new ways of working together as well as with our team back in Johannesburg.”

Dokter and Misses plan to take part in New York Design Week between 16 and 23 May 2024 – further details to follow.