Top Billing visits UK fashion designer, Vanessa G's home in Pretoria.
About the house:
This home is truly inspiring, and is a wonderful combination of the saying: “real beauty is on the inside”, for this home is a gem inside and out.
This Waterkloof home was created to fulfil a number of purposes. It is a home where contrasts meet on equal playing fields – Asian meets Western, Traditional elegance meets contemporary flair; all in a mould of functionality. Aesthetics are a vital part of the home, and breathtaking artworks, materials, textures and colours fill every room. All of these whisper threads of the owners' personalities into the interior spaces, and create a vastly stylish ambience that is comfortable and welcoming.
The owners wished to create a home that embraces effortless entertaining with spacious living areas. Introduced by the grand entrance hall, with elegant upward-curving balustrades, the home welcomes visitors with a flourish.
Simplistic yet sophisticated furnishing in the large rooms adds an open and airy quality to the home at large. The décor theme draws from the classical period, married with a contemporary fusion. Support was obtained from a decorator, however the concepts, designs, and the final selection of furnishings was made by the home owners themselves.
Furnishings are down to earth, yet splashed with lively colour and tremendous comfort.
The living rooms are truly inspiring, and are flanked by folding glass doors that overlook the pool. More so than this, the incredible view is emphasised through the glass, and one can relax with a cup of coffee in the mornings and enjoy a panoramic view of the union buildings, the greater Pretoria are and the enclave of embassies in Waterkloof.
The owners mention the pool with special favour. As avid swimmers, the long laps allow hours of training or leisurely paddling in the hot summer days. By night, the ambience changes and hues stream through the multi-coloured lights that light up the pool.
Holding a special place in the home owners' hearts, are the many artworks that grace the walls throughout the home. The majority of these artworks were custom-created to fit in with the personalities and lifestyle of the home owner, as well as the colour palettes of each specific room. The baby grand piano is also an elegant item, special to the home owners, as are various statues of Buddha that have been collected from travels around the world.
The home was built for entertaining, and sitting out on the patio enjoying a truly South African braai, one is drawn into tranquility that is the essence of this home. (SA Home Owner 2007)
More about Vanessa G
Vanessa is a formidable entrepreneur, with business interests spanning Africa, Europe and the Asian subcontinent. She is arguably one of the most successful business woman in the mining sector on the African continent and her other interests include Healthcare Services, Financial Services and Lifestyle and Leisure.
Vanessa’s story is truly one of a life well lived. Her grandparents left India for the shores of Africa in the late 1800’s to work as indentured labourers on the sugarcane plantations in South Africa. Vanessa’s early childhood memories include helping her family, on their small holding, and cutting and preparing roses for sale to the florists, in the district.
Vanessa’s extensive travels have exposed her to a wide array of art forms ranging from community based art through to young emerging talent. This exposure, together with her strong belief that dress sense should reflect ones inner beauty and confidence, has led her to venture into fashion. Her brand “Vanessa G” is aimed at the contemporary woman of today that has an appreciation of the arts and wants her clothes to reflect her sensibility. Through “Vanessa G”, Vanessa communicates the emotions of upwardly mobile women, whilst at the same time capturing the untold stories of unsung artists.
