Posts by Mareli du Toit

On the 12th and 13th of June 2019 our Creative Director, Neville Wills and I were invited to attend the first ever Visual Merchandising Festival in South Africa. VM Forward Festival, hosted in Cape Town by VM Central and Olive Studio it was an exciting Global Trend exhibit and interactive event. A one of a kind, exciting experience which showcased…

Experiencing one of the major design festivals of the world can often be overwhelming when one’s design sensibilities are so deeply rooted in the demands of the developing world. Simply put, we have fewer resources, and even if resources weren’t a problem, we have limited access to the latest materials and technology. So, we have…

  By Timothy Rangongo , Business Insider SA  Nov 13, 2018, 06:52 PM   “HomeChoice’s first ever brick and mortar store in Johannesburg on the corner of Fox and Rissik streets – right in the city’s shopping heart – is not easy to miss. Perched among some of Johannesburg’s iconic heritage buildings, the new store’s very…

Seeing how First-World design emerges is always an eye-opener, and so we recently embarked on a voyage to London, England (as they say Stateside) to explore the latest marvels of the design world at this year’s London Design Festival – armed with nothing but our wit, worthless credit cards and a desire to change the…

Our notion of design is that by the time we’ve laid eyes on a floorplan or a 3D mockup of a space, the work’s done. All that remains is to set a deadline, book the construction team and lay bricks to mortar, right? The answer is a resounding no. In fact, the details and technicalities…

Sailing is often seen as an exclusively masculine pursuit. The embodiment of man against the elements and a test of his brute strength; wielding massive sails bellowing in the wind, salt spray bearing down from all angles and a tumultuous ocean to command beneath the bow. Or so they thought…   “Not true,” says Heidi…

TDC&Co recently sent two of our top senior designers to scope out the retail design scene in London. The West End’s Regent and Oxford Streets alone boast some of the biggest brands in retail – from luxury brands and retailers like Burberry, Liberty, and Selfridges to more accessible stores like, H&M, Zara and Mango. And…

Celebrating Women’s Month – Part 01 Meet the cheerful, buoyant, confident, positive Pride. For anyone who has ever met her, this is what a Pride Maunatlala word cloud looks like. She’s an optimist driven by brands and their people – both those who create them and those they’re created for. Pride currently heads up the marketing…

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius Good advice is hard to find. There’s a lot of solid advice out there in the form of motivational guru talk and social media memes, but it all seems a bit empty without context. Even an often-quoted sage like…

Catch up with Neville As TDC&Co’s Creative Director for over a decade, Neville Wills plays a vital role in maintaining the quality of The Design Company’s creative output. Transitioning into interior design from branding, his deep knowledge of consumer behaviour and retail trends – and its shifting nature – means that Neville is instrumental in…