Justin Van Breda is an incredibly tall – and handsome – man with a great presence when he enters a room. He is also genuinely nice and one of those guys whose colleagues often become his friends. Follow his Instagram feed and it’s clear he loves working with people from all over the world, be it design collaborators in the United States or hand weavers on the tip of southern Africa.
Born and educated in Cape Town, Justin took a gap year in 1999. He headed to the UK where he – in the right place at the right time – landed up working for eccentric interior designer Nicky Haslam at NH Design. “It was a baptism of fire managing the curtain makers, specialist painters, tailors, and furniture restorers,” he told Jenny Rose-Innes, author of British Designers at Home. “I spent three weeks commuting up and down finishing the installation. At the end of that year, Nicky offered me the job of creative director – I was 25 years old”.
Three years later Justin went on his own and opened JVB, his design shop on London’s Pimlico Road just behind Sloane Square. He has since launched award-winning furniture collections and his own fabrics, as well as the Cape Weaver Rattan Collection. This was a fabulous collaboration with international interior designers Nina Campbell, Amanda Lindroth, and the South African-born Mally Skok, among others. Each piece they designed was handwoven by the Society of the Blind in South Africa.
It was during lockdown when a community of female weavers had no work, and this inspired Justin to build Cape Looms. “I come from a sheep farming family and my grandmother’s sister, who is 101, started goat farming for the South African mohair industry in 1947. I’ve always considered it a privilege to be able to work with the weavers, and seeing the change a project like Cape Looms can have on someone’s life, has given me a sense of purpose as I move into the next phase of my career,” he says.
Cape Looms is an outreach programme that not only provides employment but passes on the heritage skill of female weavers in South Africa, and as Justin explains, engenders positive change on the ground in these communities. Founded in February 2022, Cape Looms employs XX handweavers who make traditional flat-weave rugs out of mohair and wool. The rugs are individually hand-spun and handwoven, so each one is different. “They are a beautiful, natural, sustainable, wonderful product,” Justin enthuses.
This year, he formed the Cape Craft School Foundation, a South African NGO, which aims to educate 200 matriculants each year from 2026 who have met the PASS criteria. Students at The Cape Craft School will be exposed to a wide range of sustainable crafts as well as the business skills they need in the workplace, or to empower them to set up small enterprises within their communities. Justin says, “We intend to create a generation of crafters educated in design on an international level, which when paired with heritage crafts, will result in desirable products that can be sold on a global platform… completing the circle in a way that the money comes back and sticks with the maker”.
A mandatory curriculum includes subjects such as creative thought and conceptual design, how to run a small business, soft skills such as marketing and presentation, and trauma and life skills through group therapy. Elective subjects range from weaving, carving, sculpture and sewing to furniture joinery, ceramics, glass blowing, fabric painting and CMT cutting. Jewellery, gemstones, leather and ironwork are also listed. In addition, an annual exhibition of products by the graduating class will give students exposure and encourage designers and retailers to work with them. The most admired work of the year will be sent to Paris and exhibited as part of Design and Fashion Weeks.
With a growing development board and team, and overwhelming advice and support from charities and donors, the school will have continued mentoring programmes and online sales for alumni. “As a non-profit, we need funding, and it costs about $5 000 per student, per year. People can fund a student, a year group, a course, or donate to the endowment. We are also looking for people with skills they would like to share and who can engage with teachers, advisors and personnel,” he explains.
While Justin and his husband Alistair live between London and Gloucestershire with their beloved Labradors, Africa – and being African – is a passionate part of his motivation to give back. “I have been very fortunate, and I would like to take that knowledge and put it to good use,” he concludes.
