By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 12 March 2019)
If you’re
looking for ideas on how to decorate your home and don’t know the best place to
go, why not try Village Market’s Exhibition Hall where a home interiors show entitled
‘Contemporary Classics’ runs through this coming Sunday.
The show
features warm, richly-grained wood furniture by Marc van Rampelberg of Rampel
Designs and unbelievably elegant wall papers and fabrics by Rupal Rach of
Design for Living. Together they create such a cozy, charming and tasteful
setting out of their show that one almost forgets you haven’t walked into
somebody’s elegant home.
Marc's coffee table topped with Anthony Wanjau sculpture & backed by Rupal's elegant wallpaper
Using partitions
to separate each space and cleverly create a semblance of separate rooms, Marc
generated an entire floor plan for the hall. Initially, you walk into the ‘foyer’
and find an elegant chest of drawers (made with solid Mavuli wood) topped with
an original sculpture by a relatively unknown artist, Samwel Wanjau, Jr. You
need not be told that he’s the grandson of the great, late Kenyan sculptor,
Samwel Wanjau Senior since you can see echoes of the elder in his grandson’s
artwork. The mirror above the drawers is round and welcoming, also made from
Mavuli by Marc.
Sculpture by Samwel Wanjau Jr, son of Jackson who's son of Samwel Sr.
Then comes
the living (or sitting) room where in place of those over-stuffed
pseudo-Victorian sofa sets, you find beautifully upholstered sofas and chairs
created by Marc. But one sofa’s modeled after the French furniture designer
Chareau’s style. And what looks like the most comfortable seat in the room,
Marc says is a ‘French Club chair’ modeled after one by another famous
Frenchman, Follot.
“All the
other furniture in the show are my designs, but I prefer to credit my sources
of inspiration,” he says.
Marc and Rupal stand beside Marc's chests of drawers, chair with Rupal's wall paper
Meanwhile,
Rupal’s work is everywhere, especially as she and Marc use her painterly wall
papers to cover every partition as if to frame each room with a warmth and
beauty that’s gentle and joyful to the eye. For wall paper like Rupal’s has the
capacity to transform an ordinary space into one’s that exceptional and
memorable.
Trained as a
textile engineer at University of Manchester, Rupal only opened her company
eight years ago. But already she’s got clients like the Aga Khan, Finch-Hatton
family and Radisson Group. The reason she’s attracted such a high-end clientele
will be clear once you reach their ‘Contemporary Classics’ show. Her fabrics
and especially her wallpapers are exquisite. She makes every ‘wall’ in the show
look like it’s covered in a work of art since the sources of her wall paper are
literally classic. They range from traditional Chinese and modern Japanese art
to African geometric designs and German patterns drawn from all over the planet.
What’s more,
the term ‘wall paper’ is a slight misnomer since it might look paper-like, but
Rupal says today it’s actually made out of vinyl which she tops with a wide
range of fabrics. Her ‘paper’ comes in silk, linen, cotton and even cork which
she occasionally ‘pearlizes’ to create a relief-like textured effect on her
walls.
Rupal's Chinese print on wall paper at Village Market
Then beyond
the ‘living room’ (which includes a sweetly curved chest of wooden drawers and
tall ‘club table’ for when you have friends over for cocktails) is the dining
room. There, Marc displays his magnificent Mavuli oval dining room table with
matching benches. They’re surrounded by Rupal’s Japanese prints on the partitions.
The table is the kind you’d love to have in your dining room, especially if you
have a big family or love having friends over for meals. And with flexible
seating on the benches, you can entertain many or few and the table can suit
them all.
Finally, the
last ‘room’ to see is the bedroom with the chest of drawers, night tables and
bed made out of matching wood. The room itself is casually cordoned off. But
inside, Rupal’s wall paper enhances the warmth already generated by Marc’s wood
work.
Marc's writing table and chair topped with Naomi's glass art,backed by Richard Kimathi painting
Plus the
bedroom is where you can easily see more of the artistic touches that Marc has
made to the exhibition. They include paintings by leading Kenyan artists like
Peterson Kamwathi, Anthony Okello, Beatrice Wanjiku and others from his private
collection as well as sculptures by Gakunju Kaigwa, Morris Foit and two more
Wanjau’s, Anthony and Jackson both of whom, like Samwel Junior, clearly
inherited the elder sculptor’s gene since all their wooden works are beautifully
carved.
Peterson Kimathi reclining figures, part of Marc's private collection
The other
artist whose hand-painted glass art enhances the elegance of the show is Naomi
van Rampelberg, another artist who like the Wanjau’s has got artistic genes in
her marrow and bones.
Beatrice Wanjiku painting is also part of Marc's private collection
“Esther
[Wambua] was the first one to come. But after that, one girl would come and
bring a friend. The word has gotten passed around like that,” says Joan who’s
always created her art having fellow artists around. She’s worked with artists
at Dust Depo Art Studio with Patrick Mukabi and company. She’s shared creative
times with many graffiti artists. And when she’s had exhibitions at Alliance
Francaise or British Institute, she’s worked with artists from Maasai Mbili,
Kuona and elsewhere.
