Anne-apolis

  I have had the privilege of two spring seasons this year, as I was in the northern hemisphere in late April and May, in the English countryside . Back in Johannesburg, my first sense of spring is through two quite distinctive and special smells: Brunfelsia (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow shrub) which grows outside my kitchen window, and white jasmine, which flowers very early at Wits University. Brunfelsia flowering in the garden of my apartment block This has set me thinking of smell in the context of buildings, something that influences all of us, wherever we are, yet is quite elusive and seldom plays a role in architectural design. (As an exception, I remember a Master of Architecture submission that looked at designing for visually impaired people which explored smell and touch as the design drivers.) Each of our homes (and often our offices) have a smell that is unique to us, a combination of the many decisions we make about food, cleaning products and air freshening options....

In January this year, a very special friend gave me a voucher for our favourite fabric shop, Arthur Bales , which happened to be having one of its awesome sales, including Liberty fabrics at absurdly low prices.  Some of my "stash" of Liberty fabrics I am a great fan of Liberty, as the quality of their merchandise is exceptional and the designs are absolutely beautiful. I have made quite a few garments over the years, including a shirt from a Liberty fabric that is printed with a William Morris design, which I completed last weekend. A recently completed shirt with a William Morris design Just as a quirky detail, I snipped the "Morris & Co" tag from the selvage to make a label for this shirt - proof of authenticity!  Ever since January, my friend and I planned to use her Liberty fabric that she had bought on the sale to make a replica of her favourite skirt, which she had bought in Paris many years ago, and has been mended and adapted several times. She wanted ...

  I was recently invited to an awards evening that was a "black tie" event, which posed something of a challenge to me as a person used to wearing almost exclusively jeans and "work" attire. I went through a brief phase in my mid 20s of buying evening-wear, partly because I was expected to attend functions as a young professional in a company dominated by colleagues who had a very refined dress sense, right down to matching grey shoes to the exact same shade evening suit! Fortunately, I have held on to clothes I bought many years ago, but what came through for me was a dress that my mother-in-law had worn to my own wedding in 1986! Fortunately her style and dress size match my present situation exactly, so no adaptation needed to this beautifully hand-tailored garment. I wonder how many people at the event realised they were looking at something that was the height of elegance 40 years ago. A 40 year old dress in a timeless design This led me to thinking about those...

  As a 'dyed in the wool' minimalist, it came as quite a shock to me to have to confront the realisation that I may have outgrown my very controlled home environment! Over the past year, I have had the good fortune to house-sit for my daughter on a couple of occasions, and each time I have had quite a re-adjustment when returning to my one-bedroom flat. Yesterday evening, I spent some time thinking about this, trying to pin down what I have enjoyed at my daughter's house and how her place differs from my own. After much thought, I hit on the idea that colour could be the answer. The first excursion into challenging my monochromatic colour scheme began back in early 2024 when I embarked on a gallery wall in my living room. Until then, my entire flat was dominated by greys and shades of brown through beige. My monochromatic colour scheme By contrast, my daughter's house is full of colour, especially greens, with a strong botanical theme throughout that complements the na...

 In many parts of the world, it is generally accepted that one needs at least a Masters degree to be able to be employable as an engineer. I n some countries it is even a requirement for professional registration.  This embeds the practice of engineering research in the discipline, and ensures a constant stream of new knowledge, techniques and understanding. In Africa, a postgraduate degree is less common among professional engineers, and the whole ethos of engineering research is far less developed, even in academia, where staff spend much of their time and energy in undergraduate teaching. A prototype structure nearly complete at Wits University This is completely understandable in a region that has a severe shortage of engineers, to the extent that it negatively impacts on the maintenance of infrastructure, the launching of new engineering projects and the development of industry. As soon as a young engineer has a first qualification, sufficient to register as a professiona...