Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man blends art and mathematics, the exquisite balance of proportion and form. Imagine this then, in an interior in which you immediately sense the subtle algorithm of symmetry in architecture, interior spaces and the art placed in it. KoKo House is genius in its design concept and unsurprisingly, the work of owners who are two veteran London designers.
In this space rooms are designed around firstly some extraordinary pieces of furniture that anchor them, including a six-metre sideboard from a school circa 1930 (which dictated the room’s proportions), a sideboard in reclaimed 19th-century yellowwood, a gazelle-legged dining table by James Mudge and a hall table by metal artist Gregor Jenkin.
But no sooner has your eye settled on the grand presence of these pieces, it is off on an aesthetic meander to the walls and floor areas to discover the homes’ permanent “residents”: David Ballam’s striking photograph entitled Himba Boy, portraits by John Murray or Leonard Matsoso’s oil on pastel The Struggle. And quirkiness. Two life size ink-black sheep, strays from a collection of 13 by Sanell Aggenbach, “guard” the one living room and the home’s own angel – look for Uwe Pfaff’s delicate interpretation of a divine being.
You stand, tour, return, gaze and then are captured once again by the owner’s collection of masks from decades of travelling in Africa, Otto du Plessis’ delicate bronze Zebra; Eduard Louis Laden’s ’51 bronze that looks rather like a miniature silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock and Anton Smith’s stone sculpture that surveys the garden. And while we are here, the symmetry and order continues in a wonderful external expanse of greenery and herringbone-brick pathways with the Dassenberg range as a distant background – often tipped in snow in winter. In summer a lap pool, swing seat and loungers will tempt you out into that golden Franschhoek light.