Hot hot hot!

Local art and design is cooking at Central Kitchen, Nando’s newly revamped main office campus in Johannesburg.

An aloe in bloom against a backdrop of the mural rework of John Murray’s artwork.

The open-plan workspace is designed for hot-desking, and though remarkably productive, is a very quiet and inspiring space. Woven ceiling panels and Nguni bar stools by John Vogel, pendant lights by Laurie Wiid, coffee counter by Goet Furniture and Design. In the background is an artwork by Serge Alain Nitegeka, as part of the incredible art collection curated for Nando’s Central Kitchen by Yellowwoods Arts.

The sun-dappled restaurant for staff and visitors in Nando’s Central Kitchen features Nguni bar stools by John Vogel, tables by David Krynauw and Din chairs by RAW Studios. Lighting is by Goet Furniture and Design (foreground), Abode (back left) and Mara Fleischer and the Du Noon Urban Weavers (back right).

The bold reception desk and the black Sweat lamp are both by Dokter and Misses. The tapestry on the back wall is by Durban artist Cameron Platter and is from a curation of artworks by Yellowwoods Art. The Haywire light in kiaat wood is by David Krynauw.

Table and chairs in the Nando's Central Kitchen Restaurant. Pictured here is a table by David Krynauw And Din+ ™ chairs by RAW Studios.

The outdoor meeting area takes advantage of Joburg’s incredible climate and is very popular. Table by James Mudge, Nguni outdoor bench by John Vogel and potplant stands and holders by Thingking.

Many buildings on the Central Kitchen campus open out onto the sun-filled courtyard. Source Woven chairs in yellow by Haldane Martin, Kanteen tables by Doktor and Misses. A mural recreation of an artwork by South African artist John Murray forms a backdrop to the garden, with views of leafy Johannesburg beyond.

Sarah von Hone of Garden Gallery Landscaping designed the indigenous garden. There are always wildflowers in bloom, according to the season.

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Advertorial Posted 24 Feb 15 By Louise McCann African Design • Art & Photography Creative Work / Design News Comments

From the Series

Best of Design Indaba Festival 2015

The home of Nando’s corporate and administrative operations, dubbed “Central Kitchen”, is a newly revamped space in Lorentzville, Johannesburg, that raises the bar for office design on a grand scale. Every surface, from floors and walls to custom-designed furniture and art installations, is infused with a zingy sense of colour and character – a veritable showcase of South African artists and designers at their most innovative.

The revamp, completed at the end of 2014, was conceived as a physical manifestation of Nando’s commitment to fostering the best of local creativity. The result is a highly resolved design with architecture by Albonico Sack Architects and interiors by Tracy Lee Lynch that pays loving homage to the campus as the place where Nando’s first bottled its famous PERi-PERi sauces.

The buildings were first bought for their vicinity to the very first Nando’s restaurant that opened in Rosetttenville in 1987. Now, almost three decades later, it has become a hotbed of creativity in keeping with Nando’s growth from local start-up to international success story. Central Kitchen is where Nando’s bases its creative and strategic think-tank and administrative support. It is only fitting for a chain that imbues every single one of its global restaurants with an individual design identity to pour that much love into its home base. Hence, Lynch’s concept of Central Kitchen as a “Heartfelt Celebration of South African Design”.

Jeanetta Blignaut and her team at Yellowwoods Art had already been briefed to curate a South African art collection for Central Kitchen, so conceptualising the entire interior to have a forward-thinking, home-grown South African aesthetic elevated that mission to another level.

As the curator and lead collaborator on the Central Kitchen project, Lynch brought together a team of more than 50 South African designers. Over the course of a year she worked with them as they independently designed and crafted every single piece of functional design for the space, from scratch and at source in South Africa.

Aside from the regular work spaces, receptions rooms and cafeteria, Central Kitchen has 28 meeting and boardrooms across the campus. The scale is vast and yet the attention to design detail in the revamp was on a micro scale. By the end of 2014, every bespoke desk, chair, table, light fitting, wall mural, landscaped garden, soap dispenser and water fountain was in place.

The proportions and dimensions give a feeling of being in a gallery or exhibition space. The gardens by landscaper Sarah von Hone of Garden Gallery Landscaping are a tumbling free-flowing indigenous combination of mixed-up grasses and wildflowers. The backdrop to the central courtyard garden is a mural recreation of an artwork by South African artist John Murray.

And everywhere, inside and out, are perfectly at-home pieces of South African design at its most unique and forward-thinking best.