For their winning entry, .Nikhil Tricam and Nindya Bucktowar looked to South African flora and desert landscapes for inspiration. Picture: Supplied.
Johannesburg - Design duo Nikhil Tricam and Nindya Bucktowar have been announced as champions of the 2022 Nando’s Hot Young Designer Talent Search.
Together, Tricam and Bucktowar are the owners of Kalki Ceramics, a design studio based in Durban specialising in bespoke handcrafted ceramic tiles.
For their winning entry, they looked to South African flora and desert landscapes for inspiration.
Their Cactus Server draws on the duo’s combined experience in ceramics, product design and architecture to create a rich and textural functional art piece.
“Utilising Kalki Ceramics tiles in unique glazes reminiscent of fynbos, succulents and flowers endemic to South Africa, the Cactus Server blends contemporary form with organic materials and motifs to create a uniquely South African design,” said Tricam.
Being named as winners of the Nando’s HYD 2022 will open up new business opportunities for Tricam and Bucktowar, including having their piece prototyped and included on Nando’s Portal to Africa, an online ordering and purchasing platform utilised by interior design studios locally and globally to source South African designer items to include in Nando’s restaurants around the world.
The winners will also receive ongoing mentorship and development support from the Clout/SA team designed to help fast-track their progress in the industry.
The Cactus Server was chosen from more than 120 entries in the fourth iteration of Nando’s HYD competition, which saw young designers from across the nation answer the call to conceptualise a condiment unit to display the brand’s acclaimed peri-peri sauces.
The challenge was to do so in such a way that these sauces and their piquant ingredients, which form an intrinsic part of the Nando’s experience, remain visible and accessible to customers throughout their visit.
The multiphase judging process saw members of the design and creative communities from various countries assess entries over two rounds.
The entries were narrowed down to a shortlist of 20 and then edited further to the top 10 finalists, from which the overall winner was chosen. The prestigious panel of 17 local and global industry judges included the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in New York Ngaire Blankenberg; Sophie Douglas, director of Fusion Design and Architecture, UK; Paul Thrush, co-founder and director of STAC Architecture, UK; and Karen Brumfield, head of Buying at @home, and others.
Nando’s HYD aims to unearth saucy new designs for Nando’s restaurants around the world and fire up the careers of emerging local creatives. As such, it plays a key role in this ongoing industry development by functioning as a launch pad for fresh young talent.
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