Image: Supplied
Mother City Hardware co-founders Marco Simal and Justin Rhodes have filled a gap in the market for locally manufactured, functional design with their revolutionary collection of lockers, shelves and furniture. We salute them for giving functional items a high end, considered approach with kick-ass industrial style. Why should you keep an eye on them?
1. They won the award for Best Product Design at this year’s 100% Design show:
The celebrated product is their modular steel Kitchen Island, which is a sexy loose unit featuring drawers and open shelves, a stainless steel top and luxury elements such as Blum soft close fittings and integrated sockets by Le Grand. We love that they’ve tapped into the need for modular units (as opposed to fitted) and have done so in their signature urban-industrial aesthetic. The space saving unit comes with a host of options including 2, 3 and 4 bay sizing as well as beautifully curated extras like their self-designed cork cutlery drawer and brass knurled knobs.
2. They’ve reinvented the humble locker:
Their product line consists largely of lockers in a variety of iterations, thanks to Simal’s self-confessed love of these school era staples. But with their design savvy, thoughtful colours and luxe additions like integrated cable management slots, adjustable feet, soft closing doors and even polished stainless steel which doubles as mirror, they’ve taken an ordinary item and given it designer status.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
3. For the love of functional design:
The brand is all about utility and urban functionality and takes inspiration from everyday essentials in and around their hometown, Cape Town, hence the name Mother City Hardware. First and foremost their products, which include side tables, cabinets, servers and storage units, are about functionality and approachability, but there’s a level of sophistication that comes with the range that makes it utterly lust-worthy.
4. Deliciously covetable colours:
If it wasn’t already cool enough using a steel locker as a bedside table or medicine cabinet, you can also choose from an array of incredible colours that we can promise you never saw in your school change rooms. Mint, royal blue, mandarin and canary yellow are all part of the colour palette.
5. This talented duo also masterminded Cape Town’s downtown-cool co-working space Tiny Empire:
This beautiful office space has the same utilitarian, industrial feel to it (thanks in part to its heritage) but has a very on trend, stylish interior to boot. And if the names Neighbourgoods Market and Whatiftheworld mean anything to you, you’ll know that Rhodes was (and still is) behind both. It’s safe to say that the pair knows what they’re doing in the design sector and have a great future ahead.