Innovating is not easy for many reason, lack of funding and the lack of passion to see it through to the end. Most entrepreneurs will burn out and most corporates will have too much red tape to allow progress in innovation.
Wolkberg Casting Studios is an Industrial Design and Manufacturing business. Founded in 2015, as a young team of designers and creatives with keen and trained eyes for design and engineering, Wolkberg Casting are collaborators who constantly think outside of the box.
Their out of the innovation is a material that is a high performance concrete called Limesite and with this amazing material they are able to produce a number of amazing products such as Surfaces for kitchens, bars, cladding, furniture and their extremely popular range of handmade tiles. Their product offering is targeted to the architecture and interior design industry globally.
In an industry that is hungry for new and innovative offerings Limesite was embraced warmly. The material and process of manufacturing allows for unique aesthetics and one called Dimensions. It has beautiful organic movement on the of the tile and slab surfaces.
Their process for manufacturing the Limesite items as well as sealing of the items have been designed to work with each other and many years of R&D has gone into it.
“Typically, our products are used by some of the most prestigious interior designers and architectural firms, and they feature in the Gorgeous George Hotel in Cape Town, Life Unframed Ice Cream Parlour and Alice & Fifth Bar in Sandton. All of which was designed by Studio A Tristan Du Plessis and are award winning projects.
They have also caught the eye of Nando’s and form a part of Nandos portal to Africa making them a preferred supplier in Nandos stores.
There are many reasons their products are specified into projects and the number one reason up to now has been aesthetic, price and performance in its category however they have their eyes and hearts set of major improvements.
“Continuous improvement is a part of our moto and we will always endeavour to stay ahead of the curve in as far as our offering goes” says co-founder Ramielle de Jager
Reando Potgieter and Graeme Bramley are Industrial Designers by profession and co-founders of the business and have made it their mission to create a sustainable product. They are working hard to become a water positive plant and achieving their net Zero green rating is high on their priority list.
Reando and Graeme agree there is only one way forward and that is to live a conscious life, not be wasteful and think and produce sustainably. “We feel responsible for planet we will leave future generations and as long as we create, we will think and create as sustainably as possible” they expressed.
A large portion of their business goes to the hospitality industry and restaurants and we are all fully aware of how Covid 19 has negatively affected these businesses.
Being the empathic leaders and innovators that Wolkberg is they saw an opportunity to possibly give back to people in need.
They created an 81% recycled and 100% Local Range called Evolve. This was linked to a campaign they created called Revive our amazing restaurants “ROAR” 10% of all sales would go towards client on their books that were affected negatively by the lockdown.
Evolve is made from recycled Limesite waste and all other raw materials are sourced locally with an effort to support and strengthen the supply chain in a time when businesses are struggling.
With all of this going on they caught the attention of people and it is no wonder they were nominated for the BUILD 2020 Construction & Engineering Awards. They are proud and deserving winners of the award for:
Best Bespoke Tile & Surface Design Company 2020 – South Africa & BUILD Eco Award for Sustainable Design 2020
“We sincerely hope that we will be able to grow strength to strength in South Africa and globally so that we can create employment and contribute meaningfully to the recovery of our economy.” Says Ramielle de Jager
In effort to grow their presence globally they were supposed to be a part of Milan Design Week 2020 and due to Covid this was put on hold and will be exhibiting in Milan proudly as soon as it is allowed.
