This week, Cape Town has been named World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid).

I am celebrating for Cape Town! I fell in love with this city while visiting, and feel like it has so much to offer in terms of design and architecture. Over the next few weeks, I thought we could take a look at some of the city’s artisans and designers. We’ll start off with furniture design.

{above} Vogel Design is headed by John Vogel who creates his designs right out of his Cape Town workshop. Vogel works to “..create simple and imaginative pieces which create connections between people and the natural world.” Some of the sales proceeds on the items go towards tree planting.

{above} Liam Mooney is a young designer who, in the past, has also been involved in promoting other young South African designers. He not only designs homewares and furnishings, but does interior design as well.

{above} The Tsai Design Studio is one of the most innovative design studios I have come across lately. They take unexpected sources and use them as inspiration for some very practical pieces. Like their award winning Nested Bunk Beds, which were inspired by the Russian matryoshka doll or the modular screen shown above which also doubles as a bookshelf or display case.