The Master Sculptors
From tables hand-forged from copper and steel, to brasswork that echoes the flow of the Delta.
15 Sept 2020
In proud partnership with award-winning gallery Southern Guild, we present the master sculptors whose work we are delighted to showcase at Xigera.
Charles Haupt
Working closely with Otto du Plessis, Charles has spearheaded the functional design side of Bronze Age Studio, combining modern fabrication and digitally-driven design with traditional bronze sculpture-casting. His pieces for Xigera include the Num Num dining table, inspired by the thorns of the native South African Num Num shrub. Charles’ work fuses traditional and contemporary processes, using modern fabrication and bronze sculpture-casting techniques.
Conrad Hicks
An artist, blacksmith and tool-maker in Cape Town who specialises in hand-forged metal work, using only traditional blacksmithing jointing methods as he believes these are essential to the symbolic meaning of the finished form. His Implement Table I and II, to be displayed at Xigera, are a beautiful example of his hand-forged metal furniture and sculpture collection that ripples with a primal energy, captured in the hammered marks and archetypal forms that define his work.
Stanislaw Trzebinksi
Kenyan artist Stanislaw Trzebinski creates fantastical-sculptural works that explore human relationships with the natural world. Working primarily in bronze, his collectible furniture and sculpture express this intimate connection with nature, and in particular his fascination with marine life. We are proud to showcase Stanislaw’s Halio Archeopetro, a four-panel etched brass work that is reminiscent of the stunning aerial views of the Okavango Delta, alongside tables throughout our dining room with walnut tops and solid bronze legs, echoing the fauna of the surrounding riverbeds
Otto Du Plessis
Otto du Plessis is primarily a sculptor, specialising in bronze work. He is the founder of Bronze Age Foundry in Cape Town, which he built into the bronze foundry of choice for many leading local and international artists. Together with designer Charles Haupt, he has fostered a new regard for bronze as a modern material equally suited to furniture, lighting, functional design and sculpture. Otto will be responsible for creating bronze lily flower basins in each of Xigera’s suites, brass counter tops and the extraordinary lounge centrepiece, made out of hand-beaten copper in the form of a lily – a recurring motif which represents Xigera.
