In your space IV - Matt

It has been more than a year since the last In Your Space - a personal project between myself and photographer friend Mareli Esterhuizen that had to take a backseat as too many personal projects do - but we were asked to do it again...


Matt Alison is a musician turned urban farmer and stay-at-home dad. I have followed his adventures on twitter for a long time and was flattered when he tweeted me to ask if we would come shoot In His Space.


Not too long ago Matt was a musician working super long hours, often away from home, but when his wife fell pregnant he decided to make some changes. A simple decision to not let his child eat the crap you buy in supermarket freezers or at fast food joints has lead to a whole new career. Today he takes care of over an acre of land in and around Cape Town, providing herbs and veggies to delis and restaurants while teaching others to grow their own and blogging his way through life!


My job as stylist was almost redundant as everything in his house seems to be perfectly curated and styled already. In a house where every item has a story and Matt can give interesting background on every piece we had lots of fun exploring the details and even getting in those much loved wide shots!

 Every piece in the living room has a story and Matt speaks of them with pride! 

 Matt's "started curate this space as a concept/platform for the expression of ideas with other creatives centered around the table with home-cooked, homegrown food" in January 2012 and this Cado royal system wall unit, straight out of the offices of the Danish Embassy, was the departure point. Read more about the idea here. 


Above, on the top shelve designer Lucas R Adams made the ‘illuminating’ light as his contribution while everything on the bottom shelve was curated by interior design Neil Stemmet (of Koncept Design Architecture and Interiors) including a tortoise shell found on the plot of his new house on the west coast, rock salt and a collection of 1980's National Geographics. 

Above, the top shelve was put together by illustrator Lauren Fowler and the bottom shelve by stylists / creatives Thaya Bedford & Nicole Ravenscroft.

Lights, inspired by the set of Mad Men (seasons 1 - 3) ordered from & custom made in the USA. 

 A collection of cameras and 365 photos (one from every day of Nathan's first year) organised into 'play time', 'bath time' and 'sleep time' shaped into hearts along with wooden toys - all close to Matt's heart.

 Matt and Nathan made this terrarium - see how here!

 Chickens - to ensure they know where their eggs comes from... 

 

 A fake snake to scare the birds and photographers ;)

Garden goodness. 

While we played house with his interesting collection of cool stuff, Matt cooked up a feast in the kitchen. We ate an heirloom tomato caprese salad;  a bresola, rocket, grilled asparagus sandwich on sourdough with free range poached eggs from his garden and a Thai infused chicken salad, perfect for the scorching day we had… 

Find out more about Matt and his adventures on his blog.

Photographer: Mareli Esterhuizen

Styling: Helena Sheridan (although like I said, it was already lovely when we got there!)

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