Two years, 6000 kilometres and 500 portraits. Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Groblerare are about to publish a series of three books of the best 165 photos and stories from their personal journey, which was initially about studying cycling and commuting in South Africa.

Bicycles in South Africa has instead turned into a hybrid watercolour, word and photography project which has observed culture, class and urban planning in South African society with bicycles being the red thread. All set to launch after their kickstarter campaign came to an overwhelming positive conclusion in early December, the three books will be published with the long-term goal to be able to assist the underprivileged cycling community through the project: be it by teaching bicycle maintenance skills or providing necessities like helmets, tires, tubes and locks.

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I recently moved back to South Africa, having spent the last seven years in the UK, and am finding the art and design community here alive and kicking. A small business making a big horse kick is the newly launched t-shirt company called Noongun.

Their illustrations combine a ‘sick’ amount of humour and attitude, plus you gotta love the Gatsby (a French loaf with hot chips, salad and oozing sauce).

Two African kids living lonely adult lives in the city at night. Shot on location in Cape Town, South Africa.

MissYucki is an organically evolving character based narrative conceived by Alba Poretti and Kathleen Cameron. The MissYucki project has taken its core inspiration from experiences based on the magic and mayhem of Johannesburg, South Africa, and tells stories ripe with local symbolism.

Girls. All I really want is Girls. So, the Beastie Boys rapped it, and Cape Town’s been feeling it. Or her, rather. Meet Safiyya Bryce, aka Funafuji, a little lass with an English accent who is doing big things. Things that make us sweat and smile. Droppin’ it like the boys and throwing in some extra-cheeky femme fatale flare, she’s a ‘fourth year medical student who also plays bass-heavy, phat, wobbley dubstep muuuusak’.

It started with dance hall and reggae four years ago, and after a short interlude dedicated to long nights burning the midnight oil and text books, Funafuji is back to juggling a hybrid mix of beats ‘n books. Along with residents Binary, Fletcher and Ish, and ever- faithful hype-man, MC Blotchy Worker Boy, she started Step Up, a group project that brought the first dub step parties to Cape Town. And her ideal crowd? ‘Sunday morning at an outdoor festival dancing on the remains of their MDMA trip who just want to be massaged by slow, fat, ambient tunes’. My kinda’ crowd, too.

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Remember that grating sound that practically deafened us all during World Cup? How could we forget. Well, if you’re wondering what to do with your Vuvuzela now that the World Cup is over, WoZela has the answer: simply come up with a beneficial recycling idea, draw it, make it, film it or depict it in any other way and then submit it to their blog.

You could win R10,000 (roughly $1,500) for the best idea, as well as one of fifty exhibition spaces. Also, the most useful ideas will be handed over to underprivileged South African community craftsmen for them to generate their own revenue.

If there was any doubt that beer is the new wine, it can now be put to rest with the introduction of this new wine packaging: wine in a beer bottle. That’s right, we’re talking about a Swartland Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend out of South Africa cheekily disguised within a kitschy brown beer bottle with an equally cheeky title, Bob’s Your Uncle.

The concept comes from South Africa’s unique Boer & Brit winery and is the product of design team Fanakalo. Their goal is to see wine enter the realm of the after-work brewski where people can kickback with it around the campfire and drink it straight from the bottle. The old-school gold and brown colour scheme and amusing iconography of the packaging hint at humour, encouraging drinkers to take it all a little less seriously.

And don’t worry about the unconventional stopper – the beer top seal is touted to be more effective than the cork and screw caps. So to enjoy wine without all the pretence, grab a bowl of pretzels, crack one of these bottles, and Bob’s your uncle.

The brainchild of Harvard University engineering students Jessica Lin, Jessica Matthews, Julia Silverman, and Hemali Thakkar, sOccket is an ingenious creation that harnesses the kinetic potential of play. A soccer ball which uses inductive coil technology to capture and store energy for later use, sOccket has been provided as a solution to the day-to-day energy problems of people living in third world countries.

Tested in soccer-loving South Africa, sOccket worked effectively — allowing children to play during the day then take the ball home to light their houses, even if there was no electricity available. sOccket provides three hours of energy for around every ten minutes of play, and is an easy-to-use, low cost, eco-friendly solution to kerosene lamps, which are expensive to run and create many health problems.

Set in South Africa and billed as Africa’s answer to City of God, Jerusalema forgoes that film’s artistic flourishes and humour, opting instead for a more intellectual storyline. While there are still plenty of shots fired and cars stolen, and a rare insight into how life is for those in South Africa’s slums, the picture is built on a few cuttingly clever core ideas.

Inspired by a true story, Lucky Kunene sets up the Hillbrow People’s Housing Trust in one of Capetown’s most dangerous areas. All the residents agree to pay him the rent, so he kicks out the dealers, pimps and prostitutes, and then holds the rent in trust until the building owners’ make necessary repairs.

The owners end up having to sell, so Lucky purchases the buildings at bargain prices. Although the residents are ecstatic, his bending of the law isn’t popular with the police and the drug dealers. This is a surprisingly powerful film, also notable for the intense and cold violence that, for these people, seems to be part of every day.

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I was recently posted to Johannesburg, South Africa as part of a splendid media trip to cover the Smirnoff Experience featuring Tiësto and BLK JKS. Naturally, the video journalist in me decided to make a mini-documentary on the whole thing. I had the privilege to interview the big Dutchman himself, as well as play with baby lion cubs, bike around Soweto village, experience nights out full of excessive liquor. One moment to look out for: a South African journalist asking Tiësto why he’s following David Guetta’s production trends. Priceless!

I love bulbous heads and weird monsters, so South African artist Jordan Metcalf’s work is right up my alley.

With the World Cup officially kicked off in South Africa, it’s time to celebrate the country’s bold culture, art, and style. And if you’re in Cape Town, a great spot to get down with South African talent is at Afro Café.

This funky coffee shop showcases the urban, contemporary vibe and pop art nature of African design. The Afro Café’s coffees and teas (aptly named Afro Coffee and Afro Tea) are served-up here, but if you’re taking it to go, you’ll love the retro, bold packaging, inspired by the African spirit. Fashion, accessories, and art, which also rock the all too cool-for-school vibe, are sold here too.

I wish I could make it to the first solo exhibit of South African artist Nicholas Hlobo. His found-material sculptures confront issues of race, gender, and sexuality that still confound contemporary South African culture as it does the rest of the world.

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I’ve been following Smirnoff Experience events held around the world and never had the fortune to get to one. The volcanic ash halted my Berlin endeavours, so naturally I was absolutely ecstatic when asked to attend the Johannesburg gig as a VIP. DJ Tiesto co-headlined with South African big guns BLK JKS, and the result was something unique.

I must say, I’m not typically fond of Tiesto recordings. He just doesn’t do it for me “all-around”, like my favourite mouse Joel Zimmerman (AKA: Deadmau5) does. But experiencing a live set by the big Dutchman left me impressed and made me understand why he’s been voted the world’s number one DJ for the past 3 years in a row. Tiesto delved into the mainstream sphere and also stirred the crowd with dirty house and electro which is notably different to his signature progressive trance style.

His ability to feel what the crowd wanted to hear and consequently deliver an enduring three hour set full of wind-up breaks and teasy moments that flirted with the LED light show meant we all left satisfied. Overall, I was intrigued that these Smirnoff events are anything but your average music festival that all the while may sound great, but actually sounds the same. I admire that a company like this visits the finest global cities and adapts the culture of that particular country into their event by integrating it into the line-up via musicians, DJ’s, art, layout, genres and styles.

I can now say I am equipped with a greater understanding of South African ways and culture because of my experience. Essentially nothing makes me happier than interesting live music and drinking quality vodka in good company. You can watch an hour of Tiesto’s 3-hour live set here.

Honestly, Honest Chocolate seems more straight out of Los Angeles than South Africa. This is, after all, raw, organic, vegan chocolate. But indeed, these sweets are made by ‘a man, an apron, and a beard’, chilling in Cape Town.

Made from raw (unroasted) organic cacao, organic Blue Agave nectar, organic virgin coconut oil, and organic vanilla pods, these hard on the outside, soft center bonbons promise to be full of intense, chocolatey goodness. The cacao is bioethically sourced and the chocolates hand made by the company’s creator. It’s an honest, simple story, just like the bonbons themselves.

While some vineyards work hard for high ratings, others are working to empower individuals. South African-based Thandi Wines wholly embraces the latter. As the first ever all black owned and operated vineyard in the world — not to mention the first Fair Trade-certified vineyard, too — Thandi fights to strengthen previously disadvantaged communities.

It is these communities of mostly poor farmers who not only serve as the operators on the ground for Thandi, but as a collective vineyard, they are all part owners too. With passion and will, these dedicated workers are changing the face of the industry. They also happen to produce quality wine that is growing an increasingly positive reputation throughout the world. So whether you go for their cabernet, chardonnay, or shiraz, you can be confident that in drinking Thandi you’re supporting and sharing in something powerful, well beyond the length of your glass.

The Black Heart Gang are a group of South African artists who have created a fantastic hand drawn animation, visually inspired by eastern art. The Tale of How is a story about a giant octupus whose desire is to consume every dodo resembling bird there is in sight, until Eddy the Engineer — a little white mouse — saves the day.

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When I found my way to the Artists’ Press last year, there was a forest fire raging dangerously close to this sleek, yet casual studio tucked in the rolling hills of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Despite flames visible just a few miles away, the charming Mark and Tamar calmly showed me around their space, where they just happened to be doing a special print commission for William Kentridge, an impossibly complicated replica of torn layers and ink washes. As we moved from table to table, drawer to drawer, Tamar pulled out endless treasures — prints and artist’s proofs from the likes of Claudette Schreuders and Dumisani Mabaso, as well as the incredible emerging artists that the Artists’ Press represents — that I began to run out of new ways to ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ over the works they shared.

I left the Press fighting the urge to ‘rescue’ Mark, Tamar, their adorable children, and the amazing repository of art they possess from the fire that was even closer than when I arrived. (The assured me they’d be fine, and they were.) Ever since, I’ve been dreaming about buying up dozens of prints, but unfortunately, my art budget hasn’t exactly been where I’d like it to be recently.

Until now?

It seems it’s true what they say: when America sneezes, the world gets a cold. So while the much-discussed economic crisis is sitting heavily on America, it’s settling in even thicker on the many nations who tie their economies so closely to theirs. So perhaps now is a great time to show those nations some support by forgetting the stock market and treating yourself to a real investment — in your art portfolio.

The Artists’ Press is an ideal first stop to broaden your artistic horizons or find a great gift for the artie on your holiday shopping list. And, with the exchange rate currently hovering around ten rand to one American dollar (where last year’s average was between six and seven rand per dollar), there are bargains to be had, even when you factor in shipping and insurance, which, of course, Mark will happily to arrange for you.

There’s a lot I could say about South African artist Robin Rhode.  But to simply say that he’s endlessly cool pretty much sums it up. In fact, he’s so cool that Nike’s been accused of ripping off one of his pieces for a television ad (can you say plagiarism: just don’t do it?) His photographs and performance art feel a bit like the intersection of comics and graffiti, often suggesting motion through a series of street-based stills or by borrowing from the graphic language of comic books (think a looping arc to suggest a bouncing ball’s trajectory). And yet, Rhode’s deceptively simple representations, low-brow materials, and neutral urban settings camouflage careful staging and precise execution. So while it’s largely Rhode’s sense of humor that makes his work so appealing, that humor belies a technical sophistication and composition that’s incredibly beautiful. Smart, funny, and good looking? I think I have a crush.

You too can start sentences, ‘I had a farm in Africa …’ Zenkaya, an innovative architecture firm based in Johannesburg, is bringing modern design and the ease of pre-fab construction to South Africa. French architect Eric Bigot claims that his company’s studio, one and two bedroom models can go from the factory to the building site in just five to twelve weeks. It may not be the thatch-roofed Africa of Karen Blixen’s coffee plantations, but it just could be the future. [see also the Prefab houses of architectural firm Brio 54]