SAADA Instawalk – the first of its kind in SA
SAADA, the South African Antique, Art & Design Association, have set a new record this September by hosting SA’s first-ever Antique Instawalk. In anticipation of the upcoming SAADA expo being held at The Wanderers Club in Johannesburg from 2 – 4 October, SAADA rounded up some of the city’s top bloggers and media to join them for an Instawalk through the streets of Jozi.
On 10 September guests met SAADA CEO Paul Mrkusic at Vovo Telo in Parkhurst, where they enjoyed a light breakfast and learned a little bit more about SAADA, before wandering off down the street, and popping in at an array of carefully selected shops.
The shops they visited are not your average stores, but rather treasure troves of trinkets and antiques, each carefully curated and guaranteeing all visitors will be transported to another era. The stores included Unicorn Antiques, who stock a fine selection of museum-quality treasures of a European and Oriental origin and Take It For Granted, who cleverly show how to display massive oak antiquities in a contemporary and upto-the-minute manner.
The bloggers enjoyed drinks and nibbles at every shop, while they learned a little bit more about what each outlet has to offer, directly from the owners.
This SAADA Instawalk is a precursor to the SAADO expo, which will officially launch on the evening of 1 October with a gala evening, where guests will be able to view the expo collections ahead of time and rub shoulders with top exhibitors and collectors. The night promises great cocktails, entertaining live music and delicious canapés, complimented with wine and Steenberg Farm MCC. Tickets can be purchased from the SAADA website for R150 a head.
Further to this, along with SAADA’s regular attendees, the association is hoping to appeal to a younger crowd this year too. Paul comments, “at our expos we are trying to reach a much younger and more culturally diverse audience, both in terms of who visits our shows and also who exhibits. Antiques are not amusing oddities that folk of yesteryear made because they didn’t have Modern Family to watch; they were useful elements of design that precisely inform the world in which we live today, and ours will inform tomorrow’s – this is the truth we are engaged in communicating”. In addition, this year’s event will also include an amazing ‘Find the Fake’ competition. Paul explains, “The first rule in collecting antiques is that they must be authentic and original… but can you tell the difference? We’ve decided to test that by placing a forgery somewhere within the exhibition hall and seeing who notices that this is simply counterfeit. Answers as to which is the fake art piece can be placed in a box at the entrance desk, and those who answer correctly will stand a chance to win a two-night stay at the extremely luxurious Tintswalo Atlantic Lodge, which overlooks Hout Bay in the Western Cape, as well as various other sought-after prizes”.