About Us
Haldane Martin is a pre-eminent South African designer and brand, renowned for iconic furniture and high-concept interiors.
For Haldane, a design is intuitively recognised as iconic when it marries innovation with beauty and captures the zeitgeist of the day in a timeless fashion.
Seamless integration of indigenous craft, sustainability, cultural identity, biomimicry, geometry and digital design has seen the iconic Songololo sofa and Zulu Mama chair – among others – become highly sought after by design collectors and connoisseurs worldwide.
The Haldane Martin brand is also growing a name as an interior design consultancy. Haldane’s 20-year experience in furniture design has set him apart as an interior designer.
His keen understanding of how things are built lends a higher level of innovation. His honed skills enable him to create and execute high-concept interior elements that capture and express each client’s unique identity at the same time as solving complex functional design challenges.
In this new adventure into interiors, Haldane works closely with his partner Alison Gray Thomson. Classically trained in fashion design and architectural draughting, Alison brings a sensual and tactile feel for interior finishes and an avant-garde sense of style to her role as researcher and interior designer. She is also a highly organised project manager, which ensures that projects are built on time and within budget to the highest level of quality possible.
The brand’s first large-scale commercial project, Truth Coffee’s steampunk-inspired HQ in Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, was named “world’s best coffee shop” by MSN Travel in 2013. This concept interior with its unique bespoke elements is exemplary of their ability to tap into the essence of the client’s brand identity and express it through objects and space. This ability, coupled with a close working relationship with their client, has contributed to the huge cult following that Truth Coffee is currently enjoying.
Awards
- Best Chair Design House & Leisure 1995
- Designer Of The Year Elle Decor - EDIDA 2003
- Furniture Designer Of The Year Elle Decor - EDIDA 2004
- DISA Award SABS 2007
- Green Innovation Award (Design) Real Simple SA 2008
- Designer Of The Year Elle Decor - EDIDA 2010