Pedersen+lennard
Industrial Design in Cape Town

product design, cape town design, furniture design, south african design.

Fast forward a few years of study, a few more years of travel and further study abroad and we found ourselves back in Cape Town with a lot of ideas about design and the future but no jobs. Without too much planning we decided to start designing a range of furniture that would help us define exactly what we saw as an opportunity for locally designed and manufactured furniture. This range went on to help us gain a lot of good exposure in the media and earned us our first few commissions. A few years pass in a blur of hard work, inspiration, support from friends and family, more hard work and clients who appreciated our way of thinking. Without realising it we were on our way to having an established business, gaining a reputation both locally and abroad and our new problems were all relating to how to manage growth. Owing to our hard-headed decision to do our own production we were forced to be immersed in every aspect of the business from design through to assembly, packaging and sometimes delivery on the roof of an old Mercedes. This approach, although quite painful at times, we see now as integral in our understanding of how our work should be considered throughout, that every detail is part of the whole. Nearly 10 years have passed and we now find ourselves with a strong team of dedicated people who each play an important role in getting a product from idea to something that we are proud of. Production will always have its challenges but we believe firmly in the value of our work and the growth of something bigger than ourselves. The beauty of not having a clearly marked out plan are all of the surprises along the way. Design is a very exciting place to be, being able to use creativity as a tool for change, being part of the lives of our team, clients and suppliers is a great privilege.