Conrad Hicks - Artist, Blacksmith and owner of the Bijou
Our Tenants
MercerBikes
In 2013 David Mercer built his first steel bicycle frame:
“I was tired of my professional routine and craved some creativity. I desperately wanted to leave something behind on the bench. Something to show for my efforts”
That first frame was supposed to scratch an itch but it ended up inflaming a passion and it wasn’t long before he was fully committed to the art of bicycle framebuilding. His previous professional career as a Veterinarian was all but forgotten.
In the last 10 years Mercer has built a reputation for beautiful, bespoke, one-off bicycles. They have been commisioned from all corners of the globe and he enjoys a worldwide following. His creations embody all bicycle styles and he builds classical beauties alongside the latest, modern designs.
“Steel has a heritage in Bicycle Framebuilding that is impossible to beat. It has a liveliness and feel that other frame materials just can’t match. And it’s sexy as hell.”
Besides one-off custom frames and forks, Mercer also repairs classic and vintage frames, builds stainless steel touring and commuting racks and offers one-on one framebuilding classes to enthusiastic students.
The Tool Room
HAND-FORGED IMPLEMENTS FOR YOUR KITCHEN
Using an approach of ‘If you use beautiful tools, you make beautiful things’, Conrad decided to develop kitchen implements so as to bring functional art into people’s homes.
Our first made objects were tools. We developed our values around judgements of function that became our instinctive sense of beauty. Ugly forms didn’t work. As a result of selective evolutionary principles, our driving force for development was and is a striving for beauty. Our generation is cut off from the tools and implements that keep us alive – we don’t know how to use them. The tasks we do are very abstract and unfulfilling. Early tools give us a strong sense of security and understanding. There is no design, only a feeling of “this is good”.
Chris Denovan
Chris Denovan is a South African visual artist whose work explores identity and the human condition through contemporary portraiture. He lives and works between Cape Town, South Africa, and Puglia, Italy.
Denovan’s work is characterized by his distinctive approach to portraiture and the human form—often conceptual nudes draped in fabric or adorned with surreal props that add symbolic and psychological depth. His paintings investigate the mechanics and metaphysics of identity, perception, and emotion, combining refined technique with rich conceptual layering.
Since 2015, Denovan has presented thirteen solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows across South Africa, including at 99 Loop Gallery, Ebony Curated, and the Irma Stern Museum. His work has also been featured at major art fairs such as the RMB Latitudes Art Fair (2023–2024), the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2023–2025), and the RMB Turbine Art Fair (2018).
In recognition of his work, Denovan was shortlisted for the Vuleka Art Competition in 2014 for his portrait Kouros, and in 2017 was a finalist for the Sanlam Portrait Award. In 2016, he became the first non-Danish artist commissioned to paint the portrait of the chairman of the IDA in Copenhagen—a tradition dating back to the 1800s. In 2019, he was awarded the Bosch and Simons Art Residency in Chelva, Spain.
Denovan’s paintings are held in several international collections, including the Hans Porer Collection in Switzerland, the Celvin/Uller Collection in Sweden, and the IDA Headquarters in Copenhagen.
Simone Verfaille
Simone Verfaille (b. 1995, Cape Town, South Africa) creates through the folds and layers of her life. After earning her BA(Hons) Fine Art from Stellenbosch University in 2018, she had a break from the art world, before returning in 2023 with renewed passion and perspective.
To Simone, art is not merely a product but a process that extends beyond the canvas. It mirrors the way we experience, navigate, and embrace life's ever-evolving nature. She believes that life, in all its facets, is best captured through the intricate layers that compose it. In all her work, she strives to capture the depth and richness of life, whether it be the present moment or memories. Each layer of paint represents a distinct memory, a fragment of time, or a moment of existence. To Simone, layers hold the power to create depth and dimensionality. Through layering, she’s able to process the multitude of narratives that shape our and her existence, both weaving together the personal and the universal.
Her works become a captivating interplay of colours, forms, and textures, where she hopes to capture the folds and layers of her own sense of self, life and expression. Simone uses her artistic expression not only as a medium for self-discovery but also as a means to find her voice and articulate the profound beauty and complexity of the world.
Linda Graaff
Born in Cape Town, (1966) Linda studied Architecture at the University of Cape Town. (1991) She obtained a Post Graduate Diploma from the Architectural Association in London
(Environment and Energy;1994) and a M.Phil. in Architecture from the University of Cape Town (2008). Her M.Phil. referenced post -structural critical theory that focused on spatial practice in the post-colonial context and used ‘mapping’ as a tool to explore ideas on the representation of political power through Cape Town’s historical social and spatial development over time.
Her architectural practice, Linda Graaff Architects, has been registered since 1998. She has worked on single and development residential projects, winery design, and art gallery design, including the Norval gallery(dhk).
In 2017 she started painting at the Leith School of Art (LSA) in Edinburgh, Scotland, completing the full-time painting course at LSA in 2020.
Linda paints from her studio at the Bijou and is an emerging artist. Her preferred medium is oil paint, monotype and collage. Her subject matter varies through landscapes, figure and abstraction.
The Local Baker
After spending 20 years as a professional photographer Warren became fascinated with sourdough process as an antidote to the world of advertising and filled his free time bread baking, even installing a big deck oven in his study at home and honed his baking skills during the pandemic.
The Local Baker has been trading at The Oranjezicht City farm market for the past 4 years and is an accredited Pastry Chef. He has now expanded his trading to Wednesdays from the bakery at The Bijou and is offering top shelf sourdough and Swedish buns to the public.
Sean Wilson / Silver Light
Sean Wilson works primarily with Analogue Photographic processes. Over the last two decades he has also worked in various genres of commercial photography. Recently he has been working with the Nineteenth Century process Wet Plate Collodion, which has been an enormously challenging and enthralling journey.
His latest venture - Silverlight Cape Town - is a new studio and darkroom space which offers Ambrotype Portraits and other Analogue Photography services. Workshops on film photography, darkroom printing and other processes will commence shortly.
“I find the world to be fundamentally mysterious and I feel compelled to make photographs that attempt to reflect my experience. Beyond that, it’s difficult to articulate what it is that I’m looking for – but photographing seems to offer me the best chance of recognising it when I see it.
The photographs that come closest to satisfying me can act as a salve or even an antidote to the dissociation that haunts me as a result of traumas I’ve experienced. Through experimentation and especially the embracing of the Felix Culpa – Latin for ‘happy mistakes’ – of the processes that I’m drawn to, I hope to discover new ways of seeing and making sense of myself and my world.
Currently the world appears to have an unhealthy obsession with convenience and instant gratification and we are beset by a deficit of Wonder. It’s my hope that the experience of slow photography and the darkroom might offer some moments of magic to those who haven’t had the chance previously.”
Instagram : @silverlightcapetown www.seanwilson.co.za
Nabeel Monier / Billy Artis
Nabeel Monier A.K.A Billy Artis is a multidisciplinary artist from Cape Town mainly specialising in large scale mural paintings. His pieces inhabit the threshold between fantasy and reality — that elusive twilight zone where imagination and perception converge. Within this liminal space, he assembles elements of both worlds to create vibrant, ethereal scenes that pulse with life and energy.
Drawing upon memories of childhood and the rich terrain of dreams, Nabeel pursues a vision of beauty that is distinctly his own. His practice is defined by the dynamic interplay between instinctive, spontaneous brushwork and deliberate, considered layering, resulting in compositions that feel both immediate and deeply meditative.
Through his paintings, Nabeel invites viewers to reflect on the hidden connections between the constructed and the natural, the tangible and the imagined. His art offers a continual sense of discovery — a visual journey that evokes wonder, curiosity, and delight.
Hatua Kali Storytelling Studio / Tanika Paschke-Moloi
Tanika Paschke-Moloi is a writer, musician, multidisciplinary artist, and the founder of Hatua Kali, a dynamic company that bridges media and production with design, education, and social impact.
As a creative agency, Hatua Kali produces storytelling media, publications, workshops, and events. As a social impact organisation, it leads research, project design, communication, and implementation — coordinating collective support and fundraising to direct attention and resources toward improving the quality of life of marginalised communities.
Across all her work, Tanika centres relational healing — healing to self, to others, and to the environment — through multidimensional creative communication. With more than a decade of professional experience dedicated to storytelling as a healing modality, she supports individuals, partners, groups, teams, and organisations in crafting and expressing authentic stories that dissolve separation and invite connection.
Tanika’s reputation as a communication designer, facilitator, and teacher/coach is rooted in her ability to create psychological and emotional safety across diverse personalities, identities, and cultures. This enables collaborators and students to grow into their inherent creative potential. She combines this gift with innovatively designed systems, processes, and adaptive frameworks that guide people from idea to fully realised work — ready for showcase, performance, or publication.
Her own writing spans music, culture, history, and geopolitics. She holds a deep love for poetry, long-form fiction, performance writing, and narrative journalism. Her literary influences include Gabriel García Márquez, Lydia Davis, Haruki Murakami, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, William Finnegan, and Cheryl Strayed. Her musical influences include Norah Jones, Nina Simone, Erykah Badu, Maggie Rogers, Hania Rani, Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste. She has been mentored by Justin Fox (writing) and Bheki Khoza (music), integrating transformative aspects of their approaches into her own mentoring practice.
To read more, visit www.thetanikajournal.com
Follow: @kassiepaschke @hatuakali and @pnp_musicmag_
Attie Esterhuizen
Born in South Africa in 1988, Attie is an internationally acclaimed composer of classical music and musical theatre. His works have been performed by world-renowned orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Salle Colonne, and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
He finished his formal music training at age 17 at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, USA, furthered his studies in Boston at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and was a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. In 2009, Attie moved to Paris, where he was a student of Bernard de Crepy at the National Conservatory of Paris. Attie also holds a degree in script writing from EICAR.
The Arnold Schoenberg and Richard Strauss operas Two Operas Pierrot Lunaire and Ariadne auf Naxos, performed by the ensemble Le Balcon, and the animated movie Lady of the Night, starring Tony nominee Adam Pascal, were both coproduced by Attie’s entertainment production company AttieStudio, which is based in Paris. The latter was nominated and won over 50 international awards.
Attie wrote the musical adaptation of the international best-selling book Spud with author John Van de Ruit.
In 2019, Attie wrote the music for the critically acclaimed MP’s New Suit, staged at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Attie turned to the visual arts, and following 3 sold-out solo exhibitions, he continues to paint.
In 2025, Attie collaborates with Grammy winning musician Bob Mintzer on tenor saxophone, playing his piece Midnight Friends, composed originally for piano solo. Attie has also taken the words from ‘Oh the Places you will go’ by Dr. Seuss and turned it into a mega song of 10 minutes to be performed by the Cape Town Philharmonic and a special singer to be named later.
Claire Linder
Claire Linder was born in South Africa and is now living and working in Switzerland.
She studied at the University of Natal Pietermaritzberg and thereafter spent 30 years as a botanical illustrator, working in Pretoria , Cape Town and London.
Since being in Switzerland her work has moved from precise watercolour illustration to digital photo collage, photography, oil painting and some textile work.
Toby Attwell / Twoshoes Design
Twoshoes is a creative studio based in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. Founded in 2008, we are a deliberately small & nimble team that have created award-winning communications for clients both locally and abroad.
Together with a network of creative collaborators we offer full-stack solutions, from digital design output to brand design implementation across industries, including startups, SME’s, festivals and events.
Past and current projects include design innovation and brand systems for Levis, Goethe Institut, Steps, DSTV, Deloitte, Moonlighting Films, The Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, The United Nations, GSMA, Mobile World Congress, and Penguin Books. Our awards include a handful of Loeries and a One Show Pencil.
Monique Schiess
Most of Monique’s career has centered on co-created events, interventions and projects with a particular focus on community building.She wrangled the Mother City Queer Projects for nine years, co-founded, incubated and nurtured AfrikaBurn (at the Bijou) and Steetopia, she has midwifed countless creative, collaborative and civic projects into being, including her own sculptural pieces and has had an incarnation as a game ranger. She studied Environmental Science (Hons) and Social Anthropology at UCT.
As a systems thinker and creative doer, navigating the nexus between idealism and pragmatism for the greater good is catnip for Monique.She is a collaborator and co-creator, synthesizing disparate information sources for many years from renegade artists to government officials. She loves the integrity of decentralized and open-source models, healthy communication ecologies and utilizing creativity and play as change agents within any project.
At the Bijou, she is currently hatching new plans and working on a documentary.