“Beautiful scenery surrounds us with a view of the Drakensberg mountains in the distance. We are located on a confluence of two rivers, and the constant flow of water gives tremendous energy and tranquillity.”
- HALSTED BERNING
H ere, a mischievous monkey and leaves take new forms as tureen hand grips, while the elegant head of a crowned crane makes a unique handle for the lid of a sugar bowl. Everywhere, there is a feeling of delight in the marvelous abundance and fantastical variety of nature. This is the wonderful world of Ardmore, where makers of sculptures, ceramics, and decor items infuse a sense of African joy and splendor into everything they create. The Ardmore journey began almost forty years ago when the brand’s founder and creative director, artist Fée Halsted-Berning, lived and worked on a farm named Ardmore in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. She began creating artwork collaboratively with her student and fellow artist, Bonnie Ntshalintshali, and the pair were soon producing remarkable ceramics that caught the eye of the South African art establishment. In 1990, they were jointly given the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award, which involved producing work for a commissioned show at the country’s premier arts festival. clambers up a chandelier; there, stately giraffes twirl their necks about a candlestick; and on a table in the corner, elephants form a graceful, sculptural pyramid. Flowers A few years later, tragedy struck when Ntshalintshali was one of the many promising young South Africans to contract HIV/AIDS, and she subsequently died from the then-almost inevitably deadly disease. In the wake of this tragic event, however, Halsted-Berning resolutely continued to produce work, training many other youthful artists and eventually moving Ardmore to its current location in the Caversham Valley, also located in the picturesque KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. “This area is very special,” says Halsted-Berning. “Beautiful scenery surrounds us with a view of the Drakensberg mountains in the distance. We are located on a confluence of two rivers, and the constant flow of water gives tremendous energy and tranquillity.”
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ABOVE: During the worldwide lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, Halsted- Berning and the artists of Ardmore had some unexpected time to play—and used it to enhance the garden at Caversham with a range of lifelike plant, bird and animal sculptures, including these guinea fowls caught mid-flight LEFTE Artist Njabulo Msibi at the beginning stage of painting a sculpture of a monkey using binoculars; here he is working on undertones. Behind him are concept ideas and designs from Ardmore Home’s new Thanda Collection.
The Ardmore sculpting studio, always a hive of activity, is linked to the painters’ studio beyond it. On the move on the left is sculptor Qiniso Mungwe, with Edwin Khomari at work on the front table; to his far right is Somandla Ntshalintshali
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