Fairlady April 2016

The cardboard tent If you’re married to a camping, hiking, happy hillbilly-type like I am, then you’ll also know that packing away a tent at the end of a weekend in the boondocks is most definitely not the best part of the outdoor experience. So, although I’m still a bit undecided about the ethics of making even more stuff disposable, at least the KarTent (www.kartent. nl) is recyclable too. And apparently it can also withstand a steady downpour for three days…. DNA scarf I love the way this scarf looks in any case, but it’s much more than just a scarf: it’s a data visualisation of your actual DNA! How amazing is that?! Made by Dot One (www.dotone.io), all you have to do is send in a swab of the…

WINNING LETTER Your article ‘Family Holiday Traditions’ (December 2015) really caught my eye. My boys, who are 19 and 20, have been out of the house since 2015. I love Christmas and was so excited to have them home. A family AGM really appealed to me. My husband was open to it and the boys sort of humoured me (my one son said he was in as long as there was finger food). While the idea was still being mooted I got a bottle of champers and snacks ready, got pen and paper out (to take minutes) and we posed for a selfie. Our ‘meeting’ was such fun. We heard stories we hadn’t heard from the boys, and we bonded! My son insists it was the sausage rolls, but I’m…

“I hate failing but I’d rather just take the risk and go for it than have someone beat me to it while I’m sitting thinking about it.” Lorna Lukhele Prima ballerina, choreographer, presenter, entrepreneur Lorna is probably best known as a Top Billing presenter, but there is much more to this Joburg glamazon than her ability to beam for the cameras. Lorna is a former prima ballerina (‘I was the first black ballet dancer in the country to get a lead role in a full-length ballet’); she helped choreograph the World Cup opening ceremony in 2010 (‘still one of my biggest achievements’) and she was a judge on SA’s So You Think You Can Dance. Lorna also runs her own events company. ‘I definitely take after my dad,’ she says.…

Before you know it, old age plunges your parents into frailty and illness. And now it’s your turn to look after them. Whether they like it or not – and very often they don’t – they need the help of their children. You’re probably juggling a busy career with the demands of bringing up your own children. You’re part of the sandwich generation – caught between caring for your parents and your children, and often your finances come under additional pressure from your parents when their retirement funds haven’t taken them the distance. It’s such a pervasive phenomenon it even has its own term: Elderly Parent Responsibility Stress Syndrome. But there’s yet another factor to compound matters: most…

“I kind of liked the idea of bringing vintage glamour to the modern fashion world where things are so flippant…” JLaurence Designs Owner: Hazel Scrimgeour Start-up cost: R18 000 Profit: The profits go back into the business, to keep building the brand. IN three short years, Hazel Scrimgeour (25) turned her knack for scarf design from hobby to budding brand JLaurence Designs. The name is her grandmother’s. ‘She just epitomised style and class – that old-school vintage glamour,’ Hazel enthuses. Her granny played an important role in helping her to mould her brand identity, which Hazel describes as classic, imaginative, bold, sophisticated, whimsical and timeless. ‘I kind of liked the idea of bringing vintage glamour to the modern fashion world where things are so…

My view to the left of the peninsula stretched out to another tiny island jutting out of the sea, which I imagined I could kayak or swim to. Maybe I could have. I never got that far. Too mesmerised by The Red Pool, the ocean and the fresh coconut I was sipping. Then there were the sunsets like impressionist paintings, the happy holiday-makers, locals carrying monkeys and bearded dragons like accessories for tourists to hold and photograph, beach vendors selling anything from lilos and sarongs to jewellery and fireworks, and braaied mielies, or freshly cut mango and pineapple. By night some sections of the beach were transformed into magical fairgrounds dotted with fire dancers and lanterns. But I could just watch these comings and goings from the quiet of The…