My furniture manifesto

Haldane Martin's pieces say a lot about their creator. Here, their creator says a lot about his pieces.

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I strive to offer a sense of belonging to our world and the times we live in by creating contemporary pieces of furniture that strongly express our emerging South African identity and human-centred values.

As a contemporary designer I try to meet the needs of the whole human being by designing furniture that is simultaneously meaningful for the spirit, beautiful for the soul, and nurturing for the body.

Spirit

We need our environments and the objects that populate them to reflect our deeper intelligence and wisdom as human beings. Referring to our shared cultural history has been a way that I have incorporated meaning into my work. Personifying objects is another way of expressing myself as a creative human being. I believe that discovering this kind of intelligence in what surrounds us brings light to the human spirit.

Soul

We are all sensitive to a universal sense of balance, harmony, movement and proportion. We can be more easily at peace with ourselves when beauty is present in our lives. I seek to develop my personal faculties of beauty by spending time studying nature, art, architecture and music. Most importantly, I strive to cultivate a healthy inner life. It is an artist's soul that touches the world.

Body

Here I stretch my definition of the body to include the body of the earth. To nurture the physical body I explore the principles of ergonomics and lifestyle. To nurture the earth, I seek to understand the principles of natural systems and to encourage their application in our human systems. Our home should support life on all levels.

By striving to meet the needs of the whole human being in an integrated way, I hope that my work creates a sense of belonging for all those that come into contact with it.

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Watch the Talk with Haldane Martin