Issue 32 March 2016

MARCH 2016 Issue 32

Recipe inside!

www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 32

ED’S NOTE

@FW_Concepts

FlatWhiteConcepts

March!

This year is already flying by and March madness is upon us. Of course, it’s my personal favourite time of the year - I celebrate my birthday right at the end of it. I also feel as if March is when you truly settle into the year, don’t you?

This issue has been a lot of fun to create - we even have recipes for our furry friends! Pg. 6.

If you want to get involved in Flat White Magazine, through articles or advertising, please contact me. We’d love to wel-come you to the Flat White family!

With love, laughter and a lot of coffee.Christinewww.flatwhiteconcepts.com

“Put ‘Eat Chocolate’ at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.”

Definition

Insincere or foolish talk : nonsense

Examples

I hesitated to voice my opinions, fearful that

my companions would deride my views as

bunkum.

www.merriam-webster.com

Word of the Month

BUNKUM


Tell me about BlackOwl...The BlackOwl UrbanCoffee journey is about two friends who share a passion for the perfect dou-bleshot and the desire to take coffee out of the cup. This journey draws its inspiration from the pioneering rocket days of space exploration, so does our adventure reflect these early space conquering endeavours. The rocket in our brand is a tribute to this spirit. BlackOwl's identity res-onates with the revival of Urban culture. The "Black" nomenclature is expressed in the com-plexity of our coffee and the "Owl" symbolises nocturnal wisdom. BlackOwl has a passion to make a difference through Urban Coffee.

... and the UrbanCoffeeOur coffee is an Urban African Story, this is why we only use Single Origin African Arabica. Our Ugandan single origin is named the "Urban-ite" - a City-Proud, Tech-Savvy, Culturally-Aware UrbanCoffee aficionado. This movement of the Urbanite within the architecture of the city, is re-flected via the imagery of the Jozi train station and the grey tabs on our packaging. This medium roasted Ugandan Arabica is full of body and has somewhat lower acidity than other East African coffees. The rustic fruit tones, deep huskiness

and mild earthiness create a unique flavour pro-file combined with hints of plum, deep red wine tones and bakers chocolate. Our Ethiopian single origin is named the "Erudite" - a Street-Smart, World-Wise & Well-Informed UrbanCoffee Aficionado. This well-Informed sta-tus of the Erudite, is reflected via the imagery of the Jozi communication tower and the pur-ple tabs on our packaging. This medium roasted Ethiopian Arabica is jam-packed with pleasant citrus notes with a hint of rich milk chocolate, it's smooth and has soft body with a very delicate clean finish. Our Tanzanian single origin is named the "So-cialite" - a Socially-Connected, Life of the party UrbanCoffee Aficionado. This socially-connect-ed aspect reflected via the imagery of Jozi and the yellow tabs on our packaging. This medium roasted Tanzanian Arabica is bright and vibrant, with a deep rich character. Full of body that is in-tense and creamy, sweet berry-like, fruity flavour with notes of cedar. Our barista's are Dr Who in the lab and The Americano in the office! Our BlackOwl UrbanCoffee is available online via our Facebook/Shopify page and at selected par-

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We chat to BlackOwl UrbanCoffee about the story behind their interesting brand...

Visit www.blackowlcoffee.co.za


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www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 31 www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 32

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LIVER & OATS ORGANIC DOG TREATS

Baking is more fun if you can lick the spoon and I can guarantee you that, in this case, it is true… I have made doggie treats that will send your fur kids into pure bliss!

Why organic? When Piglet (our Boston Terrier) fell ill at the age of 10 months we tried everything in our power to get him well. Plagued with vet visits and skin rashes we simply could not figure out what was causing him to be ill. We decided to do some intensive home-work on the root causes of the symptoms we were witnessing and boy, was it a revelation. The answers (and causes) turned out to be very much centered around what we were feeding him. My Partner and I tend to be so precious over what we put into our own bodies - yet, I’ll admit, when it came to Piglet, kibbles seemed ok.

Of course, they were the “top of the range” kibbles, but ultimately, when we started down the rabbit hole that is Google – we were forever changed.Once the journey of awareness began, and we were no longer ignorant to the giant con of the dog food industry we could never go back.

The summary of our GOOGLE discoveries? Kibbles were the equivalent of feeding Piglet MacDonald’s everyday. How could we expect his immune system to fight off disease with that diet? Giving him medi-cine was fighting the symptoms and not the cause. Right there and then we then decided to move him over to organic, natural, real, food. (I must admit, I am more than slightly embarrassed that I relied on preconceived ideas and inherited opinions about pet care).

What do I mean by real food? Simple – REAL FOOD. We moved over to a local brand that cooks organic real food and delivers to our door. All for the same price as the better qual-ity kibbles on the market – so price should not be a factor! It contains veggies, herbs and real meat. We add our own extras such as grated apples. Yoghurt, broccoli or carrots and top it off with cold pressed omega 3 fish oils, spirulina and joint supplements.

It sounds like a feast fit for a prince and it is. Prince Piglet.

So, in the spirit of knowing exactly what your pet is consuming and ensuring they get exactly what their little (or big) bodies need; I recently decided to make doggie treats here at home. I know what goes into them and Pig simply loves them!

The best part of this? He gets to lick the spoon with his friends Betty (the chocolate lab) and Basil (the labra-doodle).

Ingredients:• 1 ½ cups oat flour• 1 ½ cups brown rice flour• 230 grams organic free-range chicken liver• 1 cup oat bran• 1 ½ cups oat bran• 1 egg• ½ cup water


TASTEInstructions:Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Puree your liver in a food processor. Clean out your processor immediately afterwards as the liver has a tendency to stick and can be a real pain to clean up later!

In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly until dough forms. I used my hands and just got in there, as it is much quicker!

If you do not have a silicon dog treat tray, roll the dough into 2cm diameter balls. Place on a cookie tray that has been covered with foil, as this will make it easier to clean up later. If you do have doggie treat silicon moulds then fill the moulds with your dough.

Bake for 25 minutes and then turn your oven off and leave the treats on the pan/moulds in the oven over-night. This allows the biscuits to dry out and become crunchy!

Store them in an airtight container and don’t forget the “sit”

Meet the lady behind THIS

amazing article!And visit her blog!


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Hi, my name is Melissa. I love to bake, travel and take pho-tos. I live in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the most beauti-ful places on earth. I'm a straight up wear your heart on your sleeve kind of girl who loves to laugh. So if you are obsessed with food, travel and a good time you have come to the right place because you will find amazing recipes and stories of ad-ventures on my blog! www.thetrufflejournal.com

I haven’t always been a food photographer but I have always been in love with food. So the flow from photography to food photography and then my blog was natural for me. I wanted to create alchemy of all things food.

All the recipes on my blog are tried and tested (several times) by either myself, a loved one or have been handed down from generation to generation. You will find nothing but tasty reci-pes, amazing restaurants and the best travel spots on my blog!

Sometimes it's a haphazard affair. I occasionally make cakes that flop and boil my eggs too hard but I’m ok with that, it keeps me honest. I am lucky enough to come from a long tra-dition of home cooks and I want to share my knowledge and blunders, in hope that somewhere I can be a lifeline to a home cook out there wanting to be better! I like honest food that makes people beg for seconds and speaks for itself.

I love to travel and adventure as often and as much as I can. I suppose it the old saying of, have bag will travel. I also share my adventures on the blog. Be it around the corner in Cape Town or over the oceans I am always on the hunt for great spots to visit and to eat at. I'm no authority and my experiences are my own. Hopefully through sharing them you will gain something or even just have help picking out a great spot for lunch! Sign up for my newsletter or find me on social media!

I hope you enjoy my recipes and adventures. Always remem-ber, make memories, make love and make food. Whatever the season.

Melissa

www.thetrufflejournal.com


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CHOCOLATE & BLUEBERRY NICE CREAM

Yip, it’s dessert for breakfast again! Happy dance. Once you start with these, the lines between breakfast and dessert blur into blissful content-ment. Either way, just do it. Embarrassed as I am to admit, we (adults and kids), fight tooth and nail for the last chocolatey slick left behind on the blender blade! As if we’ve never seen ice cream in this kitchen before??

Before I get emails to correct my spelling, Nice cream is a thing. A real thing, actually. Made with frozen bananas, no cream or dairy here. To boost our antioxidants, I’ve added frozen blue-berries, acai berry powder and topped it with handfuls of glossy beaded blackberries. Acai berry powder is one of nature’s superfoods and a close relative to cranberries and blueberries. This is one healthy party in a jar. Key for a su-per-creamy texture is to ensure the fruit is com-pletely frozen before whizzing together in your processor. It’ll take a couple of scrape-downs to get the frozen fruit to combine, so just be pa-tient. It’ll be worth it.

Bibby’s Kitchen @ Thirty Sixwww.bibbyskitchenat36.com

Serves 2.

Ingredients• 200g peeled and frozen bananas, roughly chopped• 150g frozen blueberries• 2 tablespoons cocoa• 2 tablespoons honey• 1 teaspoon Acai berry powder, optional (I use Nature’s Choice)• Handful blueberries or other seasonal berries that you love!

MethodAdd all the ingredients, except the blackberries, to a blender and whizz for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and repeat the process several times until completely smooth and creamy. Spoon the chocolate and blueberry Nice cream into serving pots, pile on the blackberries and dust with a little extra acai berry powder. And, as Jamie Oliver says, happy days!


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BackgroundThe Munching Mongoose started as a result of a friend (Tamryn Dicks) of mine and myself having a similar idea, but on parallel paths, which we decid-ed to combine. Tamryn lives and works for herself in Barberton where she was a customer of a veg-etable box delivery service, which brought her an array of amazing fresh produce directly from the farms in the Lowveld. Tamryn travels to JHB ap-proximately once a month for work and thought that she could perhaps offer to work with the scheme to bring the produce to family and friends in JHB. At the same time as Tamryn was offering to bring the service she was enjoying, to friends and fam-ily, I thought that a more comprehensive and regu-lar service could be of great value to people, par-ticularly in JHB, who may be pressed for time to go to markets but still want to introduce healthier authentic options to their pantries. By including additional items such as fresh farm milk, crispy crusted artisan bread and gourmet cheese, it could cover a lot of the basics for people. We got chat-ting one evening over dinner when I was visiting Nelspruit and the two ideas began to snowball. As we bounced ideas off of one another and the ex-citement levels grew, we pretty much decided then and there to try and put something together. A cou-ple of weeks later after a number of giddy phone and email conversations, the Munching Mongoose was born. While we do work hard, we like to live up to what our brand strives for: enjoying life with

sustainable and tasty food and creating amazing, fun experiences for people. This combined with the fact that we thought it might help to distin-guish and separate ourselves from the general im-age of the sector and competition, we decided to take a unique and quirky approach to what we are doing, hence the Munching Mongoose, with our mongoose mascot Maningi (meaning “plenty” in Shona). We also believe in old school values such as honesty and integrity and we are passionate about helping people look after themselves and the environment, and we love the idea of getting families to spend quality time together centred on the preparation and enjoyment of great food and good times.

UniqueHopefully our quirky fun edge, attention to detail and personalised service. We are extremely pas-sionate about creating and being part of an expe-rience, not just being a grocery delivery service. Our model is also different to many out there and I think the way we are striving to give exposure to a number of small artisans through our weekly unique / surprise product has been a huge suc-cess. There are a number of vegetable box delivery schemes and there are also a number of full online food and organic stores out there, but no one else is offering what we do, and particularly not in the way in which we are doing it. It may not work for everyone or suit all lifestyles, but hopefully there are enough people who will appreciate and enjoy what we are doing. Many of our competitors of-

We find out more about The Munch Mongoose - a healthy and unique home delivery food service.

www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 32 www.flatwhiteconcepts.com | Issue 32

TASTEfer great products and service and we are all helping to grow the industry and make people more aware about the food they are eating and to be ethically conscious consumers, which is fantastic and I am sure there is enough room for us all to succeed. We at The Munching Mongoose just need to work hard and try make sure we offer something unique and hopefully a bit better than them.

AreasAt the moment we are based in Johannesburg, how-ever, we are very fortunate to have received some amazing feedback and as a result we have expanded our customer base, are growing and have decided to give it a full go in order to hopefully keep The Munch-ing Mongoose as a sustainable little business. We would love, and are aiming to, offer the same high levels of personalised and quirky service, amazing, fresh, wholesome and unique produce to far more people in throughout the country. We would like to set up “replica nodes” based on the business mod-el in different geographical locations – CT, Durban etc. within the next few years, but we first need to perfect (or as closely as we can) the model and en-sure that it is not only a sustainable business model with the correct back end and operational systems in place, but that we actually add value to our cus-tomers lives before we branch out. This would be in order to maintain our high and personalised service. Each one of our customers must know that they are important to us and will receive our full attention. Our ultimate business model is not built on selling to massive volumes of people, but rather to establish a sustainable business with a relatively limited cus-tomer base and ensure that we give them the best service and product quality available so that they will never want to leave.

Awesomeness awaits

For a monthly subscription fee we will deliver seasonal and healthy produce to your door weekly.

All of our options at the moment include var-ied amounts of the following:

• Farm-fresh, free-range, grass-fed milk• Locally made organic and gourmet cheese• Free-range, pasture-fed eggs• Fresh & seasonal fruit and vegetables from ethical farms• Artisan Bread• A surprise product or two

Some examples:

http://munchingmongoose.co.za/


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The TeamSheldon and I met through my cousin many years ago. We become good friends through our adven-tures together as a group. Sheldon has a background mainly in finance and a deep passion for coffee and coffee culture… oh and beer. So it was a natural fit for the two of us to come together and create a brand that spoke volumes about what we love. Myself… Well as they say, the rest is history. Having started at Colombo in early 2008, I later moved and joined the team at Origin in 2011. By the time I had left Origin in late 2014 to join the guys at Deluxe, I had won 2 national titles, Barista Champ 2012 and Cup Tasters 2014 and coached the 2013 National champ. Deluxe offered me a great chance to travel overseas. I got to train people in Mauritius, Reunion and the Maldives. It was a truly great experience both proffesionally and personally.

The IdeaThe Portland Project was created as a culmination of everything that I had learnt from some of the best in the business. As well as a lot of my own experience in dealing with the day-to-day challenges of the coffee industry. Portland, the city, is well known as a coffee hub. Their food and drink culture is up there with some of the best in the world. I want our company to emulate that. To have that ethos constantly in our minds to create the most unique and enjoyable ex-periences for each and everyone of our clients. We also have aspirations beyond just coffee. We are very proud of our packaging carriers, the Dia De Muertos, commonly know as the Day of the Dead. This tradi-tion is signified by the sugar skulls and pays homage to their ancestors. In the same way I am paying hom-age to my coffee “ancestors”.

We speak to SA Barista Champion Wayne Oberholzer and get an inside glimpse into The Portland Project.


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The ClientsWe are a consulting agency first and foremost. We took the original coffee company model and split the core offerings of the traditional coffee model. We have 3 main offerings: Coffee, Equipment and Train-ing. However each one is freely available to all clients. We have our coffee, however if you want to create your own brand and version, we can offer that. We have equipment for either home users to established companies and new roastry setups. Our training so-lutions include everything from Home Barista, Shop training to competition training. As well as roasting training and roastry setup. Our current Wholesale and training clients include, Plant Café, Track and Rail, Run Rabbit Run, Cape Coffee Beans and a range of corporate clients across Cape Town and Johannes-burg. We also run a joint training venture with the amazing team over at Mischu.

The BeansWe have always believed in taste over all else. We try to rotate our blends and beans purely based on quality in cup. At the moment we have a rather cool range of coffee. Burundi, Dukorikawa as a COE Kiriy-ama. The Dukorerikawa is purchase through the great team at Long Miles Coffee. Costa Rica – Trojas. Our seasonal blend, Renegade, changes based on what we love at the moment. Currently a blend of Ugan-dan, Burundi and Costa Rica. Of course we cannot forget our award winning Ethiopian – Bebeka. This is the same coffee that took both the Western Cape and National titles in 2015. Along with Best Espresso and Best Signature. Some cafes that sell our beans are Plant and Track and Rail. With more to come on-line soon.

OnlineIf you want to buy online the best bet would be the guys from Cape Coffee Beans. Phaedon has done an amazing job in representing all the great coffee roast-ers in Cape Town. http://capecoffeebeans.co.za/

Wisky, Wine and Beer - your favourites?Whisky: Glenmorangie - Sherry Cask, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Smokehead, Johnny Double Black.

Beer: Riot – Valve, Devils Peak – Kings Blockhouse, DogfishHead – 120 IPA, Brew Dog – Albino Squid as-sassin.

Wine: Tokara – Wooded Chardonnay, Waterford – Heatherleigh, Warwick – First Lady and Black Lady. Just a few that comes to mind.

How much coffee do YOU drink a day? This really depends on what I am doing everyday. I try and not drink coffee on the weekend. But I would say anything from 2 - 12 cups a day. When training it goes up a lot!

Photo Credit: Jason McNamara

www.portlandproj.wordpress.comwww.facebook.com/PortlandProject/


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Rosetta Roastery in a nushellIn a sentence, we realised that "the band wasn't go-ing to make it". There were three founding partners, who, by day, earned their living as a journalist, a tour operator/logistics manager, and a software devel-oper. By night, we donned our capes and became a bassist, drummer, and guitarist for a wildly generic nu metal outfit, who's name is completely irrelevant, because no one cares! The point is that we came to the realization that our second shared passion (cof-fee) was a quantum more profitable than our aspir-ing music career. Also, none of us wanted to grow old working for the man (even though I am sure he's a lovely guy). So, we threw our combined life savings into a (very small) bucket, and used that to import a coffee roaster from the United States, and a few small bags of coffee from Colombia. That was the start.

The name of our company has two inspirations; one is the Rosetta stone. It was a relic which, when discovered, became the key to uniting three of the dominant cultures of the ancient world by connect-ing their languages and allowing for accurate trans-lations, and therefore (more indirectly) communi-cation from the past into the present. Coffee has a

similar knack for starting conversations, enabling connections, and opening people up to each other. This was one of the things that drew me to coffee in the first place. As individuals in urban societies, we are pretty insular. We're individuals. And as a result, there are a lot of isolated and lonely people hoping for connection. Cafes are places where people con-nect. Perhaps alcohol in bars does this better than coffee, but at 8am, in the name of social convention, coffee will have to suffice ;-)The other inspiration is a little more literal. The fern leaf pattern that one often finds on top of their cup of flat white is called a "rosetta fern". Depending on how pretentious I'm feeling, I vacillate between which of these two inspirations is more worth shar-ing.

Company mottoWe have a few littered around our corporate mind-space, each pertaining to a different area of the busi-ness. I think the roastery and coffee sourcing arm of the business is defined by the fact that "we celebrate coffee's diversity, rather than its uniformity."

With regards to our cafe spaces, it would probably be that "We care deeply, so that our customers don't

We chat to one of the founding members of Rosetta Roastery, Jono Le Feuvre, who gives us a little inside look at one of our favorite roasteries!

have to". No one wants to be grilled over how they drink their coffee. Add sugar. Add milk. Hell, add mothballs if you must. We don't care how you drink your coffee, but rest assured that we have paid atten-tion to every last detail so that, no matter how you drink it, it will be pleasurable experience.

With regards to our place in the 9 - 5 humdrum of urban life, I would say, "coffee inspires art inspires life". We work in a tremendously creative neighbor-hood (Woodstock, Cape Town) and sitting in our cafe for a just an hour on any given day allows you to wit-ness countless ingenious creations, business ideas, concepts, products... all conceived of, or developed, or critiqued over a cup of coffee. It's an enormous privilege to be part of the life cycle of so many beau-tiful things.

But I guess the boring answer can be found on our homepage: "At Rosetta Roastery we're passionate about coffees that are as unique and character-filled as the people who drink them."

The coffeePerhaps I need to start with the assertion that coffee roasting is not rocket science. It's not even as compli-cated as being a great chef. But it can be done bad-ly. I believe that we do it well, not because of some special skill we may have, but rather just because we pay attention to the process. You'd be amazed at how many well known coffee roasteries treat the act of roasting coffee as just another item on their to-do list in between ordering more serviettes and taking out the trash. As opposed to seeing it as their primary reason for existence. We are in the company of only a handful of coffee outfits that really believe the value can be maintained (rather than obliterated) through the manner in which a coffee is roasted.

And leading on from this; because we know that cof-fee roasting is in no way a dark art or magical process, we can be sure that if we buy stale, generic, com-modity quality green coffee, then we will be forced to sell stale, generic commodity quality roasted coffee. So we view our process of selecting coffees from a large range of samples from each region, after each harvest, as amongst the most important things that we do. At every step in the production chain, from the time the coffee cherry is picked, until the cup of

coffee is served to the customer, inherent quality can only be lost. If you are to be purist in your approach (and resist the urge to add large dollops of nutella to each cup of coffee you sell) then you cannot produce something of a high quality, unless it was in fact a product of high quality to begin with. Usually a product turns out to be special when there is an unbroken chain of passionate and invested people who are proud of what they have produced, rather than merely concerned with its market value. I think we achieve that passion and investment. But only the customer can truly judge whether or not it translates into the end product.

Usually our most popular bean is the coffee that has just arrived in store. The team always gets really ex-cited every time a new harvest lands, and that excite-ment spills over into their customer engagement. So it only follows that that is the coffee that people take home with them. We usually land new coffees three or four times each year.

What is your role in the company and how much coffee do YOU drink a day?I am one of the founding members, and have many roles (on account of us having a ridiculously small team). I am involved in pretty much every aspect of the production, from coffee selection through to fi-nal roast profiles, as well as being the coffee roaster. I also spend quite a lot of time producing content for both client training and marketing purposes. On a roasting day, when I am roasting up to 6 different coffees, I need to have tasted each one of the cof-fees to make sure that we are in the right ballpark. So I will have at least 6 cups on a day like that. On a day when we are looking at sourcing new coffees, we may cup as many as ten coffees at a time, which can lead to you drinking the equivalent of four or five cups of coffee just during that 45min period. And we usually start that process at about 17:30. It usually develops into a long evening when you start drinking coffee after 17:00!

A shorter answer would be:• Minimum: 2 cups• Maximum: up to 8 - 10.• Average: 4.

www.rosettaroastery.com

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create

Watercolour HeartThe concept of Watercolour Heart was born out of many different inspirations. Creating is a language for me, it is how I express gratitude or affection or use it to discuss issues in everyday life and how they can be solved through crea-tive direction. I absolutely love family, personal-ised gifts and the beautiful moments in life that should never be taken for granted. Therefore the inspiration to start Watercolour Heart came from a very family-orientated place. I had re-cently lost my grandmother who had taught me how to paint and I was left with her watercolour paintbox, at the time I had also had an accident injuring my left hand so Watercolour Heart be-came my language for finding a positive solution out of a difficult few months. I started using a fine liner and the paints to create a unique illus-tration style and decided I would see how peo-

ple would respond to a personalised illustration business where I illustrated their photographs. The name came really naturally as I began to share mine and my grandmother’s love and pas-sion for creating with her “Watercolour” paint and then “Heart” seemed so right because of my love of special moments, creating and how these illustrations would offer people a unique way to capture and share their most loved and treasured moments and memories.

Jessica Antoinette DoréI am a 21 year old Fine Art Student living in Cape Town. This is my fourth year living in Cape Town and it feels more like home than anywhere I have ever lived. I grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal with an incredible family. My parents and siblings are all talented in their own fields and are very en-

We get to know watercolour artist, Jessica Doré...


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trepreneurial. We grew up in a home where hard work and determination were key, coupled with the teaching that if our dreams didn’t scare us a little, they weren’t big enough. I started painting when I was about 6 years old , and my grandmoth-er was the woman who handed me the brush. She was a phenomenal artist, teacher and friend who had coached me in my curiosity and aspira-tion to create. I started studying an economics degree, after a year I felt that although I was very interested in business I still found my joy and tal-ent to be in my artistic pursuits and made the big decision to change degrees. I couldn’t have made a better decision as studying Fine Art has given me the confidence and refined skills in my ability to be able to start a business.

The creative process Each piece is totally unique, in order to do this I work purely on a commission basis as well as it allows me to give customers something com-pletely special and personalised. What I love is that the creative process involves the customer as much as it involves me. Customers choose the photograph they want illustrated, if they want a personalised wreath where they choose their own colours and elements and if they would like to add text. Then I do my absolute best to translate all the little details into one final piece, working first with fine liner and then bringing in the watercolour, carefully hand-painting each element. I then scan all the personalised hand-drawn designs and elements into my computer

where I digitally refine and resize them for the best printing quality. This combination of hand-drawn and digital illustration gives you the best of both worlds; the authenticity of an original with the quality of digitalisation.

Favourite artistI have no single favourite, there are too many awe-inspiring artists across eras and mediums. However, the type of artists I like work delicately or in a slightly unusual way…I like works that have depth, that use a beautiful aesthetic to convey a deeper truth about people and their relation-ships with binaries like joy and hardship. One of my favourite quotes the sum up the artistic ex-perience for me is “The happening of art renews, replaces or renames the tired old cliches of the obvious. Love changes us. Art changes us” - Jean-ette Winterson

CoffeeBecause I am still studying, you would most likely find me at the Hiddingh Campus coffee shop, I’m very much a coffee-to-go type of girl because I’m dashing from one place to the next, but when I’m off campus I definitely enjoy a sit down cappuc-cino in one of the many little gem cafés around Cape Town.

www.watercolourheart.com


CREATE

Small art for big peopleVin d’Easel was created by Christine and Warren Bernard, a husband and wife team.

Together they joined forces to create a project that’s all about art, photography, and having a bit of fun.


CREATE

They wanted to produce artwork that didn’t cost a fortune and that was small enough to dis-play anywhere in the house or office. Great gift ideas for others or even yourself!

Get yours now!Visit www.vindeasel.com


create


create

When did you first know that you wanted to be a photographer?I bought my first camera just 5 years ago while living in China, a couple of months later I backpacked around New Zealand, which is a landscape photographers dream, for six weeks but I still had a lot to learn about photography. It was a year later while on a 10 day camping trip in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that the wildlife photography bug bit. I have always loved spending time in the African bush but being able to capture this beauty and share it with the world has made it even more enjoyable.

What do you shoot with?I currently shoot on a Canon 5D MKIII with a 50mm f1.4 as a walkaround lens, 24-105mm f4.0 for travel and a 400mm f4.0 telephoto lens for wildlife.

What is your favourite genre to shoot?Undoubtedly wildlife, I love being in the bush, away from it all and searching for "that" shot. I also re-cently took up scuba diving and now go in search of wildlife below to waves too.

Is photography your full time job? If not, what do you do?Sometimes I wish it was but I am also aware that doing it Monday to Friday could ruin my passion for it so for now I enjoy it passionately as a hobby. When not in the bush or underwater I do freelance finance work.

Meet Photographer,

Rory Alexander


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What has been your best city/country to photograph?There are so many places I'd like to revisit since taking up photography but in recent years I would say New Zealand for sheer beauty and Dubai as a city because of it's unashamed opulence and unique buildings.

What photo are you most proud of?This is a tough but I would have to say one of my first ever wildlife shots. While out on a morning game drive, a bird flew across in front of the car clutching something in its talons and it was only as I lifted up my camera and focused the 400mm lens that I could see the legs of this mouse still moving and I just started snapping away. Within minutes the goshawk had de-voured the mouse and flew off in search of another victim. Only then scrolling back through the photos I discovered this shot where you can clearly see the faces of the two creatures - a juxtaposition of life and death.

Lastly, if we were to find you at a coffee shop, which one would it be?Deluxe Coffeeworks at the Yard, it's just around the corner from my apartment and an irresistible stop on my way back from the gym in the morning.

www.roryalexanderphotography.com


TASTEcreate

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EXPENSIVE AD CAMPAIGNS ARE A THING OF THE PAST.

www.sledgehammerstudio.co.za


createWe chat to designer

Michelle van Reenen, who tells us a bit more about the Room 13, the company she runs with her sister.

www.room13.co.za


Tell me more about Room 13... Nina and I are sisters who both studied graphic design. We come from a family of entrepre-neurs and it was just a matter of time before we joined forces to start our own business together - about 13 years ago. Our mom owned a guest house at the time and we occupied the 13th room in the house (Room 13 in the hospitality industry is often skipped for superstitious rea-sons). We knew it was the perfect name for us!

You work with your sister...?Yes. We sold our parents’ trinkets on the side of the road when we were quite young, so I guess the business thing has always been in our blood. We’ve always been close friends so it was quite natural for us to want to work together. It has had its ups and downs, but 90% of the time we really feed off each others’ energy and we have very different skill sets.

What are your individual skills? I run the business and client side of the business - making sure all deadlines are met and clients are happy. Nina heads up the design depart-ment. We are both strong art directors with the same creative vision. Nothing leaves the studio without both our stamps of approval.

Tell me a bit more about the Room 13 collection? About 3 years ago we wanted to do something different and because our mom is a decorator we decided to branch into interiors - designing patterns for fabric and wallpaper. It’s been a huge labour of love! We are now converting our digital designs into flatbed and rotary prints, so watch this space.

Most daunting part about starting your own business?Cashflow is quite hard to manage in such a small business. It can really be very stressful. We are proud to still be relevant 13 years later and we have a lot of fun.

Your proudest project to date?I would say the Room 13 Collection Product range. Strange how one is most proud of your own creations when you’re the client. The col-lection was a creative collaboration (read com-petition) between all our designers to come up with designs that we would buy for our own home spaces. It’s been a passion project that we have been busy with for over 2 years and we’re very proud of the result. We’re also quite proud to have been commissioned to do the 2016 desk calendar for the V&A Waterfront (http://room13.co.za/work/va-waterfront-calendars/)

Any exciting projects lined up? Yes! We’re currently designing a lavish birthday invitation (40 page book) with all the foils and finishes a designer can dream of. We’re also looking forward to designing the “Dancing in Other Words Spier Poetry Festival” campaign for the third year in a row. Our Collection will be showcased at the Homemakers Expo in Cape Town in September.

Which coffee shop would we most likely find you at? We work from home and practically have coffee plungers on a conveyor belt. We enjoy Origin, Loading Bay and Yours Truly when we want to escape the confines of the home office coffee shop.

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Meet artist and cartoonist, Willem Myburg!

Tell me more about yourself...

I am a Graphic Designer by day and tend to get lost in my day dreams quite often. My achilles heal is salted caramel ice cream and I do love the cliché of long walks on the beach. I studied Desktop Publishing way back when there was no smart phones and barely the internet. I have always doodled but have recently made a decision to pursue it with more dedication and see what happens.

How did you get into creating cartoons?

I have always had an appreciation for the art form, as it such a special way of storytelling. I think it is a great medium to express humour and I wanted to tell stories that are fun, quirky and charac-ter driven. The process is challenging but with each project I learn something new and it is exciting to see how the story comes to life with each panel.

How would you describe your style?

My style is a combination of cartoon-ing, doodling and line art.

Your favourite subject to draw?

I love drawing odd little characters, usu-ally animal ones with human traits.

Your favourite place to draw?

At my desk in my bedroom. Everything has it place and it is my spot where I daydream and sketch out new ideas. I also carry a sketch book with me to doodle down ideas or inspirations I stumble upon.

Dream job?

I would love to be part of a team creat-ing an animation film. I think it must be a very challenging yet rewarding expe-rience. Locally Triggerfish Studios is def-initely a place I would like to work at.

Your favourite artist?

This is a tough one. I have a few at present. Daan Botlek from the Neth-erlands. I love his weird and beauti-ful characters.Kerby Rosanes from the Philippines and his intricate drawings which just blows my mind. Locally I am big fan of Jack Fox. His style is unique and drawings that is bold and quirky at the same time.

What coffee shop would we most likely find you?

I'll be honest I don't tend to sit in coffee shops. I'll most probably buy a coffee and go sit in a more public spot where I can do people watching. Much more interesting.


DISCOVER


DISCOVERI love Hermanus. It’s the perfect place to take overseas visitors when you want to brag about all that Cape Town has to offer. Only a two hour drive away from my home in Blouberg and we were there. Hermanus is the best of all worlds, offering the mountain, the beach and wine farms (well hello there perfect life). I took my parents who were here for a few days from Australia and they fell in love with it.

We were lucky enough to find great accommodation - which for once was exactly what was promised on their website. Periwinkle is part of the Firefly Getaways and was perfect! It offers two big rooms, a living room area, a kitchen, a bathroom and a great outside area with braai facilities. Also, it’s in walking distance to all the main areas of Hermanus. And if you’re looking to do some wine tasting (who isn’t?) then it’s just a five minute drive away. The only negative of my whole trip was that I didn’t stay longer.

I love sharing about places that I enjoyed. So if you’re ever looking for a place to visit in Her-manus then contact Elaine Skinner and visit her website on www.fireflyvillas.com

Where to stay in Hermanus!


Time to win some competitions!

Winners announced 28 March 2015

win

Win a R250 voucher from Salushi

Comp 1


DETAILS:

One lucky reader can win a R250 Voucher from Salushi in Claremont.

HOW TO ENTER:

FACEBOOK:Visit www.facebook.com/SalushiCT and comment with: I want to win with Salushi and Flat White

Magazine.

TWITTER:Or comment on Twitther with: I want to win with @salushi and @FW_Concepts

Entries close 28 March.

Salushiwww.salushi.com

Set in the heart of Claremont’s commercial hub and silhouetted by the spectacular backdrop of Table Mountain, Salushi offers quality dining, value for money and friendly, efficient service in a relaxed,

homely and aesthetically appealing environment.

win


Win a Mini Bag delivery from The Munching Mongoose.

Comp 2

DETAILS:

Win a one week mini bag from The Munching Mongoose. Winners MUST live or work in their delivery zones in Johannesburg (http://munchingmongoose.co.za/how-we-work/)

HOW TO ENTER:

Simply post your favourite HEALTHY food tip or post a picture of your favourite HEALTHY meal to www.facebook.com/munchingmongoose and say, ‘I want to win with The Munching Mongoose and

Flat White Magazine.’

Entries close 28 March

The Munching Mongoose - www.munchingmongoose.co.zaThere is a growing awareness today of the benefits both to us and the environment of eating sustainably

produced, healthy and fresh food. However, sourcing the fantastic produce that is available at many smaller farmers markets is not always easy. This is how The Munching Mongoose can help you. Mongooses are happy

and healthy little animals that run around all day making sure they get a varied and healthy diet! They for-age and ferret and fuss until they know they’ve got the meal they want. So, we at the Munching Mongoose

source great, fresh food, produced using organic principles and deliver it straight to your door – no chemicals, no fuss, no worry! We forage for you. For a monthly subscription fee we will deliver a box of seasonal, healthy

and delicious produce right to your door on a weekly basis.

WIN


Win a coffee gift box from Rosetta Roastery

Comp 3

HOW TO ENTER:

Email your full details to [email protected] with the subject line: ‘Rosetta’

Entries close 28 March

Rosetta Roasterywww.rosettaroastery.com

At Rosetta Roastery we source single-origin and estate coffees, micro-roasting each one to best present its unique personality. We offer free bi-weekly deliveries within the Cape Town area.

WIN


DO yOu WANT TO ADVERTISE WITH uS?Email Christine on

[email protected]

the end

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Issue 32 March 2016