Renzorodriguez

Next step

Bring a family member along to the next studio visit

Parents, siblings and partners often end up carrying timber offcuts, holding fabric while it dries, or simply asking the questions a maker forgets to answer. If someone in your household keeps circling the same idea about clay, cloth or wood, a Saturday workshop visit is a low-pressure way to see how the work actually happens before anyone commits to a course or a shared bench.

We keep a running list of open studio days in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Tell us who you would bring and what they are curious about, and we will point you to the next session that fits.

One action

Send a short note with the studio, the city and who is coming. We reply with dates and what to bring.

Write to the editors

Not ready yet? Read how the journal is made or start from the current issue.

Reading for the household shelf

Parents, partners and siblings often end up as the quiet audience for a maker's work. These three pieces answer the questions families ask most: where the material comes from, how long a piece takes, and what a small studio really runs on.

From the archive

Furniture

Inside a Johannesburg Furniture Workshop

Two makers in Braamfontein turn reclaimed oak beams from Selby and Krugersdorp into dining tables. Useful if you want to know why a solid table takes months, not weeks.

Read the studio visit

Ceramics

Cape Town Ceramics Without a Gas Kiln

Three ceramicists in Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory share electric kiln time and split glaze costs. Honest notes on firing losses and why a mug costs what it does.

Read the interviews

Textiles

Durban Textile Printers and the Screen Setup

A Glenwood studio printing tea towels and short fabric runs with water-based pigment. Explains registration, colour drift between print days, and the cost of a misprint.

Read the process notes

More studio visits and maker interviews are collected in the archive of past issues.

Why families keep this issue on the kitchen table

Most design writing assumes you already work in a studio. This one doesn't. Parents, students and people who simply want to know where the chair came from can read a profile start to finish and still follow the tools, the timber and the mistakes.

Written for reading aloud

Long-form profiles run 2,000 words and up, but each one is structured so a single section stands on its own. You can read the sourcing notes at breakfast and come back to the firing chapter after dinner without losing the thread.

No sponsored studio visits

We don't take payment for coverage and we don't run advertorials dressed as interviews. When a maker tells us a glaze failed or a commission went wrong, that stays in the piece. It is the reason the archive is worth keeping.

Practical notes, not mood boards

Every issue carries tool lists, material sources and honest notes on what a small studio actually spends. Useful if your teenager is set on a ceramics course, or if you are just tired of objects appearing with no story attached.

How the magazine is put together Send in a studio story

What families actually take home from an issue

Parents, grandparents and teenagers read Renzorodriguez together for different reasons. These are the parts that tend to stick, whether you are planning a weekend outing or helping someone choose a path after school.

Renzorodriguez for families

Studio visits are written so a reader with no workshop background can still follow the sequence of a build.

  • Weekend plans with a real destination

    Each profile names the suburb, the street or the market where a studio sells. You get enough detail to plan a Saturday visit instead of scrolling through generic gallery listings.

  • A clearer picture of maker work

    Tool lists, drying times and failed firings are printed alongside the finished object. Young readers see that a bowl or a chair involves months of trial, not a single afternoon.

  • Honest talk about money and materials

    Interviews cover quoting, stall fees and the cost of reclaimed timber or local clay. Useful if someone in the family is weighing up a craft course or a small studio of their own.

  • Something to read out loud

    Long-form pieces sit next to short process notes and captions, so one person can read the interview while another skims the tool spread. No screen required.

  • A way to follow one studio over time

    We return to the same workshops across issues, so families who keep the back copies can track how a ceramicist changes glazes or how a furniture pair moves from salvaged oak to their own drying racks.

    New to the publication? Start with the story behind the journal or send a studio suggestion through the contact page.

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