From the Mushroom Tunnels to the National Stage: Alkaline Wins Maker of the Year
A very proud moment for The Old Mushroom Farm.
There are moments when the things we believe in come beautifully into focus. Alkaline, one of our resident makers here at The Old Mushroom Farm, has been named Maker of the Year at the Scape Awards of Excellence MMXXVI. And we couldn't be prouder.
Selected as the best of 14 incredible South African makers, Alkaline received the award at an extraordinary evening at Quoin Rock estate in Stellenbosch. The Scape Awards brought together thousands of submissions across more than 20 categories, with more than 70 internationally acclaimed jurors from across the globe. To be recognised in such an exceptional field is an achievement worth celebrating.
For us, it's also a reminder of why we do what we do.
Making space for makers
The Old Mushroom Farm began with a different kind of growing. Once a working mushroom farm, the property has been reimagined as a place for people to gather, create, discover and make a living from their ideas.
TOMF’s vision for the repurposed mushroom-growing tunnels has always been to give creatives a place to work, to grow their practices and to find community alongside others doing the same. We believe in the value of exceptional craft, considered design and the people who actualise good ideas into the world through their hands.
Alkaline is a wonderful example of creative people making the space to do what they do best. Since 2021, the studio has been developing a distinctive design practice rooted in curiosity, material exploration and a thoughtful approach to making.
To see one of our resident makers recognised nationally as Maker of the Year, on a stage celebrating the very best of South African architecture and design, feels particularly special. It's a win for Alkaline, of course, but it's also a moment that speaks to the creative community we're proud to be part of.
Alkaline wins Maker of the Year by giving building rubble a second life
The Scape Maker of the Year award recognises WAYST, Alkaline's conceptual collection and the work the studio is proudest of.
WAYST has emerged from Alkaline's creative use of discarded material close to home. Gathering demolition brick rubble from the refurbishing of old farm buildings happening right here at The Old Mushroom Farm, the studio echoes the farm’s ethos of transformation, giving rubble new life in lighting and furniture. Familiar remnants of the built environment are given a second life, becoming objects that carry the memory of the walls they came from.
It's a compelling example of how thoughtful design can shift our relationship with the materials around us. What might otherwise be considered waste becomes something beautiful, worth living with and looking at.
The collection's clean, brutalist forms caught the attention of the judges, but it was the thinking behind the work that made an impression.
As Lukas Persakovas, co-director of A-Nrd in London, put it:
“The clean brutalist forms immediately caught my eye, but it was Alkaline's values an approach to using construction waste that really won me over”
It's the kind of recognition that makes us especially proud: a celebration of not only what has been made, but the values, curiosity and care that inform the making.
A community worth celebrating
Alkaline's journey is a reminder that good design doesn't happen in isolation. It grows through experimentation, transformative thinking and the support of people who believe in the work.
To everyone who has bought a piece from the factory shop at The Old Mushroom Farm or from the online shop, created alongside Alkaline, or followed their journey since 2021: thank you for being part of it.
And to Alkaline, congratulations. We're so proud to have you here, making thoughtful, beautiful things in our old mushroom tunnels and showing the world what South African makers are capable of.
Here's to the people who make things, the places that give them room to grow, and the communities that make it all possible.
Design built on curiosity.
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