AMANDA DU PLESSIS AND MR PRICE HOME COLAB LAUNCHING MAY/JUNE 2019
REAL Life Magazine chatted to Mr Price Home's creative team about how their collaborations come about and how this project in particular unfolded.
Who is the latest talent to partner with Mr Price Home?
Amanda du Plessis is the second Colab project for 2019, a union that’s resulted in a range filled with unique pieces inspired by the landscape and vegetation of the Melville Koppie reserve – making it simultaneously a celebration of South Africa’s urban history and natural environment. Inspired by a green and ochre scheme, the pieces bring an outdoor-inspired depth to a room.
How does Mr Price Home select its collaborators?
We have two types of Colab – a full range and once off designs. Our ‘full range’ (such as the Evolution range we’ve just launched) would be across a selection of home products, and a ‘single’ design would apply to a product (a blanket for example). All designers need to be South African or from an African country. And to qualify for a ‘full range’ you have to be an established designer with products on the market. We have collaborated with Amanda before, a few years ago, and her range was really well received by our customers. So when Amanda approached us this time around, we agreed it was time to do another range, and the Melville Koppies collaboration was born.
Who is the latest talent to partner with Mr Price Home?
Amanda du Plessis is the second Colab project for 2019, a union that’s resulted in a range filled with unique pieces inspired by the landscape and vegetation of the Melville Koppie reserve – making it simultaneously a celebration of South Africa’s urban history and natural environment. Inspired by a green and ochre scheme, the pieces bring an outdoor-inspired depth to a room.
How does Mr Price Home select its collaborators?
We have two types of Colab – a full range and once off designs. Our ‘full range’ (such as the Evolution range we’ve just launched) would be across a selection of home products, and a ‘single’ design would apply to a product (a blanket for example). All designers need to be South African or from an African country. And to qualify for a ‘full range’ you have to be an established designer with products on the market. We have collaborated with Amanda before, a few years ago, and her range was really well received by our customers. So when Amanda approached us this time around, we agreed it was time to do another range, and the Melville Koppies collaboration was born.
The design process – how does the concept come about, is this a mutual decision where the designer works with the brand to develop the range?
The concept is developed exclusively by the designer, with our only brief being ‘Heritage’. Mr Price Home has an in house design studio that then creates all the surface pattern and the graphic interpretation of the brief. So the internal and external designers work together to reach the end product.
What’s the goal behind the Colabs?
The goal is to create opportunity for South African designers to showcase their work and engage with a larger commercial entity to successfully apply their craft to a range of products that may not necessarily be available to them as a small business. Colab also allows us to offer more diversity to our customers. We take design seriously as a business, so we are keen to build the profile of our creative industries in South Africa.
This Colab will run for four weeks in selected Mr Price Home stores while stocks last. You can shop the full range online and in selected stores.
The concept is developed exclusively by the designer, with our only brief being ‘Heritage’. Mr Price Home has an in house design studio that then creates all the surface pattern and the graphic interpretation of the brief. So the internal and external designers work together to reach the end product.
What’s the goal behind the Colabs?
The goal is to create opportunity for South African designers to showcase their work and engage with a larger commercial entity to successfully apply their craft to a range of products that may not necessarily be available to them as a small business. Colab also allows us to offer more diversity to our customers. We take design seriously as a business, so we are keen to build the profile of our creative industries in South Africa.
This Colab will run for four weeks in selected Mr Price Home stores while stocks last. You can shop the full range online and in selected stores.
This article originally appeared on REAL Life's website: https://www.reallifemagazine.co.za/evolution-x-mr-price-home/
