Peter Mabeo – designer and master craftsman
There’s a humanity to Gabarone-based Peter Mabeo’s custom-made furniture that makes the contemporary designs coming out of his studio both compelling and highly collectable. Collaboration is crucial to the design process for this self-taught designer who first started working with Botswana artisans in 1997. “Then, as now, I wanted to do something meaningful,” says Peter. “So I started working with like-minded people who, in addition to understanding form, materiality and proportion, also brought their own distinct cultural expressions to the creative process.” His mission to produce strong, interesting, quality pieces that honour the collective talent that spawns them has proved successful beyond measure, and has resulted in a slew of awards for his design studio, Mabeo Furniture.
Established in 2006, Peter’s studio has been a regular participator in international fairs such as the Salon del Mobile in Milan, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York and the London Design Festival. From early on he has collaborated with internationally renowned designers. ‘As much as we may strive to a universal aesthetic, our influences are regional and international collaborations do not dilute this,’ says Peter, whose work always reflects the expertise of the African craft economies that it supports. ‘Saying that, our primary reason for working with a designer is based on a connection that we feel to them and their work, rather than an overt desire to extract cultural value. In the end, good work is simply good work.’
He could have been describing the striking simplicity of the Sefefo Colour Series Dining Table and four stools, designed by Spanish architect/designer Patricia Urquiola and produced by his studio in 2013. Launched at Milan’s Design Week last year to rapturous acclaim, the Sefefo (meaning whirlwhind in Swahili) is an elegant round table made from sustainably harvested Panga Panga wood, decorated with hand-carved vertical ridges overlaid with lines of vertical and diagonal colour. Also in Panga Panga wood, the Maun Windsor Chair, designed by Canadian Patty Johnson and produced by Peter, is a contemporary version of the classic Arts and Crafts Windsor Chair. The Kalahari bench, designed by award-winning Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune is another example of how Peter’s collaborations effortlessly marry African craftmanship with an urbane design sensibility.
His most recent collaboration, with award-winning South African artist Porky Hefer, entitled Seemo (meaning situation in Swahili), was shown at this year’s Guild Design Fair in Cape Town. “Peter is a master craftsman, not an egoist,” says Porky. “And as such he took my drawings and concept of a furniture nest and modified and made it better through the expertise of his craft and knowledge.”
It stands to reason then, that Peter’s artisanal furniture manufacturing ability, combined with his commitment to high-quality contemporary design, is giving him the kind of international gravitas that makes for an authentic yet modern brand. “The local craftsman remains central to our designs as I believe it is much more interesting to do things we feel connected to,” says Peter. “So that what is real can be felt in the end product, and that we never stop striving for quality in simplicity.”
Words by Kerryn Fischer
Images – Mabeo Furniture
