did an interview once apon a time for sa creative -
Who is Quinton J
Damstra and what do you do?
The creative design arena carries certain
responsibilities and for me these duties include being
principally an architectural design practice – QJD design
studio. However I don’t limit my energy to one creative
design discipline and tend to dabble across the board – a preferred
creative multi disciplinary. My other pursuits are a child like experimentation
with form, colour and design concepts. I feel when I’m 80 yrs old, I’m
still not going to know much about the creative world around me and
my abilities will still be needing vast improvement. It’s with this
fascination and creative experimentation attitude that I approach each new
creative design project, whether its furniture design, interiors, graphics,
art or sculpture.
An Artsmad (my surname backwards) creative design conceptual scientist,
if you will.
For those who don’t know what is Wildetecture?
The wildetects passionately pursue design
ideals that are not always the order of the day – we have boldly gone
where many, African continent dwellers have gone before without
giving the concept or creative design procedure a term. We articulate
our wild designs like a boom, boom, boom hi-ace taxi on a Johannesburg Soweto
run or if you will a wild million dollar forex transaction in an
Angolan bush market. We embrace Africa as Africa is right now – not as the
western world would want her to be. Africa is and always has been an
untameable continent and “not much that is wild is comfortable” – Dean Hoffman
2012. So it’s this edge of the seat attitude we are
fervently exploring to unleash in our creative designs.
Being passionate about teaching,
design and architectural draughting at academy IDT in Century City,
Cape Town and having the privilege to teach sustainable building
in Khayalitsha informal settlement, I find a room full of design
minds a very exciting place to be. It’s very vibrant and full
of yet to be realized potential. It’s out of this environment the wildetects
and the concept of wildetecture was nurtured. 1 student from year
2009, Warren Hoffman and 2010 Dean Hoffman, both display a freakishly
wild creative design ability and its always refreshing to see their
interpretation of the client design brief. As the
wildetects believe in approaching the client with 3 individual
proposals, with the preferred client, design being the design we all wrap
around eventually. The last wildetect client brief we had, Warren nailed
it even though Dean’s and my proposals where pretty
strong. This stung a bit, but Warren’s concept was
really brilliant.
In a nutshell
when one visits an informal settlement there is an
unmistakable energy in these communities. And it’s this collective
energy that wildetecture is keen to harness and experiment with
creatively in our built environment. It’s trying to tap
creatively, my experience of living and working in Africa with that
of others living and designing around me.
Wildetecture is the pursuit of
wild fauvistic African design –
The attitude of the fauvists really
resonates with us – wild colourful unchecked brush strokes on canvas
– so we coined fauvistic – I don’t think it’s a word – but then nor is
wildetect or wildetecture. This wild attitude permeates Africa; one
just has to try going against the morning rush hour traffic in any of our
northern border African cities. All lanes in and out of
the city are completely blocked with one way traffic in – none of
these 3 lanes in and 3 lanes out with 1 car on. When one goes into an informal
settlement it’s like stepping from a world of classical music and afternoon tea
to pulsating loud drum beats. The energy is significantly different. It’s
trying to, in a small way harness this energy into something creative.
The Pray Mantis chair is an impressive
piece of work, what inspired this work?
During a particularly black dog mood – one of
the many mantises that visit me in my office was sitting on my computer screen,
seemingly watching me. I started off with a huge mantis building with the
shapes I saw in front of me. However, a chair was by far the more tame option
to put before anyone. The mantis home and building will follow. Making a pray
mantis form comfortable is now the challenge. Shape and form is the easy part
In your opinion, how do you see the growth of
creativity progressing, if there is any?
Opinions can and are very dangerous
at times – however as Africans living on our dynamic continent – our
creativity is directly proportional to our confidence – and as a
collective design culture we are fast becoming more confident in
what we have to say and our unique African creative abilities. And
it’s listening to the soft small voice, whilst the loud shouting washes
over us. It’s very sad and true that most
sensitive creative minds are bullied into submission by critics
before ever reaching their potential. As we know everyone is a
springbok coach until they are actually given the job – then it’s an
unforgiving occupation. I liken being a design idea creative much the
same. So it’s really for us to have the confidence to push through
this creative critic barrier and design for oneself rather than anyone
else. You might surprisingly find one or 2 people might even like the
creative work we do when the dust settles.
What is the Wildetects working on
currently?
We are busy with a school and a few exhibition
stands and furthering our wild out of Africa furniture range and built
environment ideals.
To this date what project would you say you
are most proud of and why?
Being part of the team that created the Cape
Quarter Lifestyle Centre phase 1 in Green Point Cape Town 2001. Learning
from Chris Brown architect and personally drawing up over 900 drawings for
this project before it was completed. There is something special about being
part of a team and working on big projects – for me it is much more
satisfying than creating individually. That is why I enjoy interacting with the
fellow wildetects, thinking creatively is a team effort and it is to
my mind why we were designed. To work together as one organism is what
South Africans are doing very well.
For those who are looking to do what you do,
what advice would you give them?
You will have many folk tell you unequivocally
that you shouldn’t be near a pen, pencil, cad machine, design project –
and you for your part must listen to the soft small voice,
whilst all the loud shouting washes over you. Develop the confidence and a
tough thick creative skin like an African wild animal. And most
of all have pure and simple fun within your chosen creative discipline or just
simply dabble in them all. You must work on improving your creative
communicative skills like drawing. Sketching, painting, 3d modelling and
draughting. And then using these skills to spend as much time
conceptualising a future you would love to live in. I’m sure the top artists
always feel the next work is going to be the best, as they strive to unleash on
the canvas what’s in their minds. It’s never ever the same, however as we
improve our skills we slowly reduce this
creative communicative chasm. The creative mind skill conundrum.
Where can we see more
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