Women Shaping Design: Mpho Vackier

Mpho would love to be remembered for creating products that are thoughtful and innovative whilst solving problems and telling our African stories to the world, and more importantly, as a voice and a vessel that champions the creation of products that connect people.

She is the creator of TheUrbanative, a multi-award winning contemporary African furniture and product design company based in South Africa.

H&G: You’ve had a very interesting career trajectory; can you tell us about it?

Mpho: I grew up watching my mother make amazing garments and I fell in love with fashion design; however, after matric, I couldn’t really go and study fashion design and instead received a study bursary to study extraction metallurgy and I took that opportunity and committed to engineering. Whilst working as an engineer I always had a nagging feeling to explore the design call and when the opportunity for me to go back to school presented itself, I took it.

Whilst I was busy with my interior design degree, I knew halfway through it that I would like to go into furniture design and manufacturing. I then received an opportunity to have a small, sponsored stand at DecoreX in 2015 and had to design some pieces on the fly - I think that was when TheUrbanative was born. We’re ultimately a design studio that always endeavours to design products and furniture that tell a story through multifunctional and problem-solving products and furniture made from considered materials and technologies for the urban native.

H&G: How do you think that you have shaped, or are shaping, design?

M: I feel that our input in shaping design in South Africa or the continent is as a result of our work being a constant exploration of the role of culture and heritage representations. Along with those concepts of visibility & representation of African cultures in modern societies our products are differentiated by the juxtaposition of abstracted African heritage inspirations with the functionality & aesthetic qualities of modern furniture silhouettes, materials & technologies; whilst guided by the philosophies of story-telling, craft, collaboration and design evolution.

H&G: What women in design have inspired you?

M: I love Kelly Wearstler’s fun geometric aesthetic & the bold and fearless way she approaches design, there’s freedom in her work & I also love how multi-faceted she is as a designer and she’s a girl boss!! I also love Patricia Urquiola, she’s a prolific interior architect and product designer. Locally I love the work of designers The Ninevites, Loza Maleombho, Renee Roussow, Adele Dejak; I love how their collective work is constantly pushing boundaries of what African design is and more importantly I find that the stories that they are is telling through their designs resonates with most people which is really the important bit, that connection is why most of us do what we do.

H&G: What are your best leadership qualities?

M: I strive to create a team/ tribe that works collaboratively as a collective. This creates an atmosphere of inclusivity & enforces ownership. Every member of my team is team TheUrbanative at their core and realise that we are more than just a furniture design & manufacturing studio but we’re part of a tribe that aims to tell stories and celebrate African culture/ history/heritage through furniture and product design.

H&G: You’ve stated before that your products are about connecting people from different backgrounds and moving away from this generalised African aesthetic of beads?

M: I am driven by innovation, storytelling and authenticity. So it begins with; what story am I telling and because I am a contemporary designer what new innovative technologies, materials and ways of thinking can I employ in order to have the work relevant to the modern client/user/viewer? Through the TheUrbanative I/we aim to tell stories inspired by African culture through furniture and product design guided by the philosophies and beauty and importance of the craft movement, functional design and how the functionality of the pieces, we create to inform the forms and shapes. The beauty of cultural constantly inspires us and heritage tales and we infuse all these seemingly opposite and different inspirations to create pieces that are a conversation in the relevance of culture and designing with today’s problems and end-users in mind.

I feel that design that is attentive to cultural diversity inherently appeals and connects with a larger and equally diverse group of people, additionally such a design does not only do lip service to cultural influences, but hopefully in its approach results in an authentic outcome.

H&G: When it comes to design, what are you inspired by?

M: I am constantly guided by practicality, functionality and purpose when I design. I love the visual tension created by contrasting elements/ materials/ideas and the result thereof. I am also inspired by patterns in everything and I love translating those patterns into functional 3D products that are not just functional but also tell a story. I also believe that you have to be plugged into the world around you - the conversations happening both on a local and global scale.

When I started TheUrbanative, I wrote down the guiding core values of what I was trying to achieve with our work, one of the first being: ‘We BELIEVE in authentic design’ so when I approach any of my work, it is always a personal opinion or standpoint of what I think or feel about a specific subject; be it Ndebele graphics or the magic and politics of African hair, that creates authentic work because the approach is not about what everyone is doing the approach is that we have a valid point of view and we add to the conversation. I also feel that everyone I have collaborated with comes with their own unique way of looking at the world that when we add all these viewpoints together it creates work that is truly unique and special. I strive for authenticity, connection as well as collaborative working.

H&G: What do you love the most about locally designed products?

M: I think this can be said of most South African designers: I love how we are taking our varied cultures, stories and backgrounds to tell amazing stories about ourselves through design. I love the stories and energy behind locally designed products, there is vibrancy and authenticity in the way that African designers approach the creative process, there’s also a culture of community/ village wherein designers come together and feed off each other’s the energy which results in original products that have a unique global appeal. I also believe representation that there is value in seeing yourself whole or in part represented in the world, it elevates you and we as TheUrbanative love being part of that story.