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Elephant Safari

November 19, 2024

By Louise Irvine

Our new Elephant Safari exhibition at WMODA features luxurious home furnishings created by the Ardmore Design Studio. For over a decade, Ardmore has been reimagining motifs from their iconic ceramics into textiles and wall coverings to transform our living spaces. Celebrate the beauty of the natural world rooted in African style and culture by choosing pillows, poufs and table linens from the Ardmore Design Shop at WMODA.

The Ardmore Design collection has continued to develop with increasing success ever since the launch of the Qalakabusha sofa in 2011, which means “new beginnings” in Zulu.  Ardmore’s collaboration with Hermès, designing luxury silk scarves and apparel, brought the studio international recognition and inspired new directions in textile design. Their first Hermès scarf featured a majestic African elephant and calf surrounded by the animals of the great Zambezi River.

Elephants take center stage again in the Sabie curated design collection of soft furnishings. The sensual velvet Sabie sofa stars a whimsical elephant couple dancing beside the Sabie River. Elephants are also portrayed in the verdant Sabie Forest, Palm Parade and Thanda Toile lifestyle collections of table linens, pillows and fabrics by the yard which can be purchased at WMODA.

Jabula means to be joyful in Zulu, and it is the name of Ardmore’s wallpaper collection, developed in collaboration with Cole & Son of London. Elephants are featured in several vibrant wallpaper patterns, including Safari Dance, Safari Totem and Letaba March. Letaba means “river of sand” in Sotho, and it is a popular rest camp in Kruger National Park that is renowned for game viewing, especially for elephants.

Thank you to Kravet Inc., the home furnishing specialists, for donating samples of Cole & Son’s elephant wallpaper designs for this WMODA exhibition. The Ardmore wallpaper collections can be reviewed in the pattern books in the Elephant Safari exhibition and orders can be placed through the Ardmore Design Shop at WMODA.

Ardmore Design – WMODA | Wiener Museum

Jabula · The Joy of Living with Ardmore – WMODA | Wiener Museum

Fall in Love with Ardmore – WMODA | Wiener Museum