For Extra Ordinary, Southern Guild invites a group of artists to go beyond the usual confines of their practice by experimenting with new ideas or materials, shifts in scale or other design disciplines. The artists were commissioned to produce new work especially for the show – resulting in the launch of 36 new pieces of collectible design, each one a springboard to the future that will seed new bodies of work and expand the possibilities for their makers. Through varying degrees of experimentation, the work is at turns surprising, playful, otherworldly and mysterious.

Atang Tshikare, for example, begins a futuristic landscape with sculptural, tubular forms containing unconventional storage compartments, while Chuma Maweni’s hand-thrown ceramic table and stools are a timeless evolution of his meditative vessels. Meanwhile, Ferdi B. Dick overlaps the digital with the tangible to create character-driven bronze sculptures evoking a dystopian cartoon world, and celebrated fashion designer Rich Mnisi makes his debut in collectible furniture with two sculptural pieces inspired by the memory of his grandmother. Equally intriguing are Xavier Clarisse’s hand-carved lights that form a futuristic cityscape while paying homage to labour-intensive craftsmanship, as well as Zizipho Poswa’s colourful ceramic totemic forms that symbolise the daily ritual of fetching water and celebrate the strength of Xhosa women.