Arts Desire. Around Cape Town

INTRODUCTION

This is a route of beautiful things – be it oil on a canvas, a swirl of beads on a designer dress, or the sparkle on handcrafted silverware.

With the emphasis on local is lekker, we rounded up the fearlessly fashion conscious and the doyennes of the deeply desirable, to help find the most satisfying emporiums of covetable goodies, from art galleries to gift shops, from fashion designers to master crafters.

Call it retail therapy, call it the pursuit of beauty – whatever it is, it’s not for sissies.

We’re packing in a lot here: be warned that this route is aimed at committed shoppers ready to go the distance. So slip into your most comfy pair of shoes, and keep up!

TIME:
One day

DISTANCE:
25km, round trip

BEST TIME TO GO:
Whenever you’ve got money in your pocket (and especially when you haven’t) – nothing like a little light shopping to perk you up.Rainy days rule out the open air markets, otherwise anytime. Bear in mind early closing time for the city shops over weekends, so Saturday mornings and weekdays are great, with the bonus of the Groot Constantia antiques market on a Sunday.

THE ROUTE:
Shop – yes, till you drop – for beautiful things in galleries and other emporiums of the deeply desirable, in De Waterkant, Long Street, Kloof Street, Newlands and Claremont. Breakfast and browsing around the Cape Quarter and De Waterkant. A quick zip into the city centre, Shortmarket, Church, Long and Kloof streets. Lunch at Montebello Craft and Design Centre, Newlands.The afternoon at Cavendish Square, Claremont.

Reading list

Get hold of the House & Leisure Arts & Crafts Cape Town map, with maps and listings of galleries and shops in the city centre and the Cape.
For absolutely every outlet offering a discount, consult Pam Black’s A–Z of Factory Shops in the Western Cape (Pam Black Publications).

Don’t miss the markets

Pan African Market – go from Cape to Cairo in one building (76 Long St)
Greenmarket Square – for clothing and curios (Burg St)
Church St Antiques Market – clothes, crockery, coins and more (Church St)
Green Point Flea Market on Sundays – a car-boot sale on a massive scale
Blue and Red Sheds at the Waterfront – for everything under the sun.

Waterfront to De Waterkant – 4min

From the Waterfront turn right into Buitengracht. At the second lights turn right into Somerset Road. At about 500m, turn left into Dixon Road and left into the Cape Quarter.The lift from the underground parking delivers you into a delightfully different world – at the heart of the Cape Quarter is a piazza, complete with sparkling fountain and café tables, ringed with an enchanting variety of shops. Fortify yourself with a good breakfast on the square (or there’s the fabulously French La Petite Tarte, with hibiscus and mallow teas, facing the street) before the shopping spree.

Siyabona Africa Travel recommends Cape Town Luxury Holiday Apartments.

Make a point of popping into Africa Nova – all original African contemporary handmade art, including beautiful beads, fabrics, paper, jewellery and ceramics, and not a curio in sight. East of Eden is an eclectic mix of Asian kitsch and cool, with funky Icuba clothing as well. For the sheer majesty and scale of the pieces, have a look at Private Collections (part of Old Colonial). It’s a huge shop of mainly Indian antiques and ‘architectural pieces’, like entire doorways, which must have come from maharajahs’ palaces.

Walk out at Vos Lane and cross the road to India Jane, for spangled fashion from various designers (all beautifully grouped by colour), gorgeous shoes and some lifestyle gear, with A Suitable Boy above it – more of the same but for the boys. Keep going down Waterkant Street (towards the city) for about two blocks (it may well look as if you’re heading into car mechanic land, but keep going!) to the 3rd i Gallery of modern contemporary art – ‘it’s what people are creating now’, say owners Sharon Peers (photographer) and Chantal Coetzee (artist), who exhibit their own and other artists’ work.

Head back to the Cape Quarter, cross through it (or pick up your car) and go along Jarvis Street to De Smidt Street. Inside Hill House is the Michael Stevenson Contemporary Gallery, one of the must-sees on the Cape Town art route, which hosts changing exhibitions from award-winning artists. Turn right into Somerset Street to get to the city centre, but be sure to stop at Plush Bazaar on the right – a splendidly whimsical place of antique glasses, mirrors, chandeliers and lovely Victorian garden things.