ÖVERALLT DIY at the Design Indaba Festival

“When you put your mark on something, you’re much less likely to throw it away,” IKEA designer Mikael Axelsson explains as he casually sits in the ÖVERALLT chair designed by him in collaboration with architect, Issa Diabaté. The chair, composed of untreated plywood is assembled without any screws or nails, making it the perfect piece to personalise. “It takes less than a minute to assemble,” Issa points out.

And so the workshop can begin! Selly Raby Kane immediately gets into the zone, grabs a marker and starts scribbling on the backrest of the chair, as Mikael and Issa begin sawing the base. Issa shakes a red spray-paint can and exclaims, “It’s time to make this chair rock!”

On the other end of the stage, Andrea and Tristan, two students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, are twisting a rope around the armrests. Next to them, two fellow students, are carefully marking out where to saw into the plywood. New chairs are slowly beginning to form on the stage of the ÖVERALLT pre-launch space.

“A big part of daily urban rituals is expressing your identity. We found that throughout this process, DIY without limitations is a great way to show the world who you are,” Creative Leader, James Futcher describes. “This workshop is such a great way to inspire and spread the opportunity to make your mark on furniture.”

As the final pieces are propped on the stage in all their glory, Andrea describes their thought process: “We really liked its architecturally simple structure and decided to keep that and instead focus on decorating it. The rope on the seat itself works almost like a cushion, and then we kept the sides black so that it wouldn’t take over too much.” Tristan nods and says, “This was such a fun experience, to be able to step in an personalise someone else’s design, it’s something we’ve never done before.”

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