

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations declared 2023 the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). Millet, an ancient grain, is indigenous to South Africa, and has the potential to play a major role in addressing climate change and food security. The Millets Report includes articles by many experts; from nutritional benefits by Mpho Tshukudu, recipes by Khanya Mzongwana and Tapiwa Guzha, to a humorous column by Dr Anna Trapido, a manifesto for the Sorghum Agenda by Zandile Finxa and a personal essay by Mokgadi Itsweng.
Contributors: Khanya Mzongwana, Tapiwa Guzha, Mpho Tshukudu, Mokgadi Itsweng, Zandile Finxa, Dr Anna Trapido, Lynette Botha
Copy editing: Lynette Botha, JC Landman
Table scapes in millet flour: Hendrik Coetzee
Recipe styling: Khanya Mzongwana
Millet photos styling: Juwan Beyers
Photos: Daniela Zondagh


V&A Waterfront Makers Landing
Develop a kids food curriculum
We are thankful to collaborators like the V&A Waterfront and Makers Landing who are serious about positively impacting South Africa’s food system by investing in children’s culinary education. Showcased here is a food curriculum we developed for them, aimed at teaching kitchen basics to kids between the ages of 5 and 12 — from appreciating South African flavours to the health benefits of different foods, how kitchen equipment works, the science of baking and everything in between.


Crowd-sourced food design: Hannerie was a speaker at the 2022 Design Summit at 100 Percent Design Africa. As part of her presentation the audience took part in a crowd-sourced food design experiment. The Happy Cake Project in collaboration with Sweet LionHeart, aimed to design the world’s happiest cake. At the Summit we presented a Beta version of the cake for everyone to taste: Kefir and cacao nib chocolate cake with honey and mucuna Swiss meringue buttercream. We asked the audience to design version 2.0 of the cake with us by voting for various options through a cloud-based platform. The audience voted that the next cake would be:
Cake flavours: Dark chocolate (1st choice) and Sourdough honey (2nd option)
Filing and icing: Bee pollen buttercream (1st choice) & Lavender buttercream (2nd option)
Colour: Yellow
Eaten with: Your hands
Listen while eating: Happy by Pharrell Willliams


Developed in collaboration with Dutoit, available from our Birthday Shop.


Masterchef SA Season 4
Studio H was tasked to prepare contestants for the show during the two weeks leading up to production as well as with producing specialist challenges for the show.


Lemkus
Curate a menu and produce the early access VIP dinner for the Air Jordan 1 '85 OG
Inspired by Michael Jordan’s favourite foods, the menu paid homage to his legacy while creating a memorable dining experience for 23 VIP guests – his iconic jersey number. The first course featured a “Bred Basket” with local flair, including freshly grilled roosterkoek and black sesame-infused bread, served with biltong butter and smoortjie. The main course was flame-grilled ribeye with classic sharing sides – Caesar salad, garlic-infused creamed spinach, and grilled pumpkin pie with maple glaze. (Each ribeye was seared with the Jumpman logo, adding a bold tribute to the sneaker legend.) Dessert paid tribute to comfort food with an ice cream cookie sandwich.
Concept, experience design, menu design, culinary curation: Studio H, Kosgangsta
Chef: Strone Henry (Kosgangsta), Ashleigh Frans
Food collaborators: Cream of the Crop


Beam Suntory
Develop a disruptive earned media campaign aligned to The House of Suntory portfolio’s single minded messaging around Japanese craftsmanship in order to elevate awareness and accelerate meaning for The House of Suntory brands, whilst bringing the brand propositioning to life.
Studio H developed a consumer-first strategy that would increase the brand's most impactful channels to inspire action through shared passions by immersing the consumer in The House of Suntory brand world. The pop-up concept amplified the brands' alignment with Japanese craftsmanship that was further magnified through a programme of tastings and lifestyle Masterclasses.
The campaign coincided with Sakura (cherry blossom) season in Japan and invited consumers to immerse themselves in a sensory journey – capturing the essence of Japanese culture – at Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg.
Project Lead: JC Landman
Creative Direction and Styling: Klara van Wyngaarden
Graphic Design: Spook Design Co.
Brand Ambassadors: Just Short, Steve Zylstra
Masterclass curation: WAZA
Food service: KōL


By Holly Beaton
Studio H always has something intriguing in the works, and for their birthday celebration, they unveiled an extraordinary pop-up experience; characterised by their distinct attention to detail and generosity. On arrival, we were ushered into a room housing a dream realised for those of us who favour savoury delights as our first choice: a massive birthday cake adorned with hundreds of candles. Could I have ever imagined experiencing such a colossal cake, drawn from flavours inspired by South Africa's diverse culinary repertoire, and for it to be savoury nogal? The cake featured a half-half combination of 'braai snoek pâté terrine with apricot jam' and 'fior di latte layered braaibroodjie' with cream cheese icing – the perfect introduction for our palates of what was ahead.
Once guests had tucked into a piece of savoury cake, we were guided upstairs – to a dining space, where we were welcomed by a table-scape showcasing the colour-blocking, diversity of objects and proportions signature to Studio H’s bold design-vision. Guided by the number 12 dotted all over – from a stackable, 12-piece bread thread on a needle, to a centre piece in their signature primary colours of blue, red and yellow – with oversized tomatoes and edible menus hanging overhead – the centre-piece continued to delight us all as we uncovered each new, surprising detail.
This is Studio H’s liminal world of merging the fantastical with the realistic, the deliberate with the playful, and in collaboration with Chef Jen, the menu was an exploration rooted in the number 12, with time serving as the guiding principle. Each dish during their mindful dinner was temporally-rooted across technique, ingredient, and presentation – underpinned by the intangible force of nostalgia and ultimately; the joy and wonder that serves as the basis for all their endeavours.
The culinary journey began with a reimagined ‘Salad Valley’, a throwback to the Waldorf salad – perennially refreshing and nostalgic. Featuring stacked baby gem lettuce leaves, 12-minute smoked grapes, 12-hour pickled apples, a 12-spice pecan nut crunch, alongside celeriac, celery, green beans, and a creamy dressing whipped up in just 12 seconds; served in diner-style baskets. Incredible.
Then, custom ‘KFC’ buckets arrived at the table – filled with NikNaks beer brined buttermilk fried chicken and chips, served with melrose sauce in wax sealed mini-pots; a throwback that centred one of the best snacks tucked into the memory-bank of every South African.
Next, we were treated to a whiskey-glazed, pressed beef rib slow-cooked for a diligent 100 hours, accompanied by charred creamy corn and a tangy fermented carrot pickle. For this course, we were invited to use Githan Coopoo’s custom cutlery – silverware that had been moulded by the heft of clay, adding a weight to the eating experience which invited us to eat slowly, while the dish itself was served on Studio H’s Mindful Eating Plate by The Detailsmith, featuring cheeky anecdotes revealed with each mouthful; inviting each of our conscience to the fore.
For dessert, ‘Honey Honey’ was an homage to one of the most iconic ageing processes; cheese, an ingredient that gets better with the guiding hand of time. This course was a delightful gingerbread sourdough cookie sandwich filled with fynbos honey brûlée, with shaved 12-month-aged Klein River cheese and a honeycomb crunch.
With bellies full and conversations still rumbling, we were invited to return downstairs; to a communal 5-metre-long Moerkoffie swirl fudge, served with giant Koffie Cookies, coffee – and the option to take home tin-foil swans as mementos. Lasty, a delightful ‘Thyme For Bed’ palate cleanser – resting on wooden toothbrushes waited for us at the exit, with a dollop of thyme and lemon marshmallow tonic. A final, tart and herbaceous mouthful before heading home with our foil swans tucked under our arms.
Studio H gifted us, on their birthday – and I think this sums up the Studio’s essence. Each aspect of the experience was a demonstration of their instinctive understanding of food as a communal experience, in which the senses, memory and emotions work together to evoke new perspectives on how we can engage with the world around us. What will they dream up next? It's hard to conceive; but they’ll need more than another twelve years – to many, many more.
The menu and wine pairing
Course 1
Birthday cake: half-and-half (braai snoek pâte terrine with pickled apricot jam) + (fior di latte layered braaibroodjie) topped with cream cheese
Ambeloui MCC 2012
Course 2
Waldorf inspired stack salad, served inside an iceberg lettuce bowl, with 12 min smoked grapes, 12 hour pickled apple, 12 spice pecan nut crunch and 12 sec creamy dressing
Sijnn White 2012
A dozen micro Marmite crouton loaves, served with micro butter
Course 3
NikNaks bucket: NikNaks beer brined buttermilk fried chicken served with Melrose sauce
Course 4
Super slow beef: Aged 100-hour braised whisky/balsamic glazed beef rib with creamy corn and fermented carrot pickle
Crystallum Bona Fide 2012
Course 5
Honey, honey: Gingerbread sourdough cookie sandwich with fynbos honey brûlée, shaved 12 month Klein River cheese and honeycomb crunch
Course 6
Moerkoffie fudge: 5m long moerkoffie swirl fudge with oversized koffiekoekies
Thank you:
Mindful cutlery: Githan Coopoo
Mindful crockery: The Detailsmith
Birthday candles: Okra Candle
Chef: Jenny Ward
Kitchen Team: Fifi Kusotera, Kabelo Luhle Tala, Ntomboxolo Sidoda, Anake Ngagela
Studio H: JC Landman, Eviwe Qubelo
Event creative director: Nikki Symons
Photos: Daniela Zondagh
Music: Andy Aichison (A11)
Wine curation: Matthew Freemantle, Leo's
Birthday cake: Sweet LionHeart x Chef Jen
Fudge: Afrikoa
Butter: Cream of the Crop
Graphic design: Hoick
Concept: Hannerie Visser, JC Landman


Nando's
Create an activation for Nando's Vusa at an Anglo event during Mininig Indaba.
For the Nando’s pop-up at an Anglo event during Mining Indaba 2024, we partnered with Faieez Alexander, the visionary and founder of Fuzzys Koesisters, hailed as the home of Cape Town’s best koesister by KFM. These traditional Cape Malay treats are more than pastries, they symbolise a story of resilience and a rich heritage. We served up Nando's Vusa-infused PERi-koesister ice cream sandwiches in The Residency at Makers Landing. This pop-up restaurant space was designed in collaboration with Clout/SA, a Nandos-led design programme that facilitates collaboration between designers and the hospitality sector.
Anglo event production: True North Event Design
Fabric pattern design: Thandazani Nofingxana
Packaging pattern design: Bonolo Chepape


V&A Waterfront
Create a brand-led activation for Moses Coffee at Makers Landing.
Studio H assisted and mentored the curation of the inaugural African Coffee Expo by Moses Coffee. At this one-day expo and celebration of the best in African Coffee, attendees had the opportunity to interact with local coffee experts and equipment suppliers through expo stands and interactive workshops, while enjoying great coffee, food and beverage pairings and live music.
Festival curation: Moses Lebofa
Festival prodution: JC Landman
Photos: Ashleigh Frans

KRAAKTAFEL
The KRAAKTAFEL is a dining experience created and curated by Kraak, embracing vulnerability in nature. For the Johannesburg Edition at Nirox Sculpture Garden in the Cradle of Humankind, we were tasked with designing a menu for 300 guests that seamlessly complemented this ethos, creating a dining experience that was both intentional and evocative.
In collaboration with chef Bianca Strydom, we crafted a menu that reimagined familiar flavours in unexpected ways,with clay as the central theme. For the arrival, we transformed the classic South African braaibroodjie into a delicate yet oversized mille-feuille: crisp lavash triangles layered with clay-baked onion chutney, smoked cheese crémeux, pickled onions, and a final dusting of smoked cheese snow. At the table, sculptural brioche bread was paired with salted waterblommetjie butter, membrillo, fynbos honey, and Baleni salt. The main course featured salt-crusted whole baked trout and 8-hour baked curried Karoo lamb shoulder, served with clay-baked root vegetables and freshly dressed greens. Dessert was an XXL Eton Mess installation – layers of crisp meringue, whipped cream, and seasonal fruits in a playful, deconstructed format. To close the evening, we served a final moment of contrast: the luxurious simplicity of caviar and potato crisps.
Menu concept, design, culinary curation: Studio H
Food collaborator: Bianca Strydom
Bread sculptures: Lucky Bread
Culinary team: Bianca Strydom, Raymand Buitendag, Babra Moyo, Paul Mandiopera
Photography and videography: Daniela Zondagh


Dutoit
Collaborate with a group of artisans to create apple pie-inspired goods in celebration of Apple Pie Day and Mother's Day. These creations should be shareable on social media and included in hampers for a few lucky winners.
A limited edition, edible apple pie perfume, inspired by the memories of our moms' apple pies, whipped up with love and nostalgia. We teamed up with Lorraine Loots, Miss Lucky Pony and Sweet LionHeart to bring you a range of apple pie creations, including a teeny-tiny apple pie masterpiece, a handcrafted ceramic fruit bowl, a yummy apple pie traylette and, of course, an edible apple pie fragrance straight out of our kitchen.
Concept and production: Studio H
Photos: Nikki Symons


At the 2022 Food XX Awards, we honoured a group of 19 women from across South Africa - and beyond - for their outstanding contributions to the food and hospitality industry. For this event, the Studio H team designed a neutral canvas that would represent our equality-themed Awards breakfast ceremony. We collaborated with some of our favourite women in food to produce the all-neutral breakfast spread of Wild Yeast edible sourdough cracker plates, Sweet LionHeart regal cakes (bright pink on the inside) and Studio H’s souttert cakes decorated by the SLH team with cream cheese frosting and gold glitter olives, soetkoekie forks and of course Krone Cap Classique to toast our winners.
Programme MC: Khanya Mzongwana
Ayurvedic tea and meditation ceremony: Michele Mistry, Indikaap
Imphepho installation and intention setting: Ukutya
Keynote speech: Mmabatho Molefe, Emazulwini
Continental Connections: Anna Trapido
Event sponsor: Spekko Rice
Venue sponsor: Makers Landing
Awards sponsors: Spekko Rice, Krone, Nando's
Trophy plates: The Detailsmith
Publicity team: Ten X Collective
Social media team: Star Shongwe, Zanie Nxa
Production design: JC Landman
Culinary design: Juwan Beyers
Photos: Daniela Zondagh
Floral design: Mr Munro
We’re collecting kids’ voices for a tiny sound installation!If your kid loves saying “Yum!” (and who doesn’t?), DM us a short voice note of them saying any of these lines or their version thereof. There is no right or wrong! “Yum!”“Mmm… delicious!”“That’s my favourite!”“Can I have more?”“So tasty!”“It tickles my tongue!”“Yum!”“Ooh, that’s good!”“Wow!”“Delicious!”“Yummy yummy!”“So good!”“More please!”“My favourite!”“Tastes amazing!”“Wow, that’s tasty!”“I love it!”“Mmm… the best!”“So yummy!”Add your little one’s voice to our flavour experiment


Beanstalk for PUMA South Africa
Create a bold and immersive food experience for the relaunch of the iconic PUMA Mostro sneaker – a cult classic originally released in 1999 – hosted inside Cape Town’s Castle of Good Hope.
A visceral menu and interactive food installations brought the surreal Mostro Lab to life – a space imagined as the inner workings of a living monster. The menu included molten synapse s’mores with black sesame shortbread, charcoal crackers dipped into neon pink hummus and golden split pea purée, glow-in-the-dark neurotropic caviar and charcoal bao filled with sticky soy lion’s mane and coffee-chilli beef. At the top of a winding staircase, a glow-in-the-dark jelly installation awaited in a hidden chamber.
Concept, menu and experience design: Studio H
Chef: Strone Henry
Service staff: Hero Events
Photos: Jonx Pillemer


Serves: 4
Serves: 4
Serves: 4 - 6


By far one of our favourite toys, we use our 3D food printer to create future food menus for clients for a range of activations from intimate dinners to large-scale expos and banquets. Our 3D food printer, the only of its kind in Africa, is a great way to amplify a future-forward strategy.
In the near future, 3D food printing could allow consumers to print food with customised nutritional content, tailored specifically to their individual dietary needs. So, instead of eating something mass-produced, a person could soon consume something designed for their particular needs and tastes, on demand.
Imagine the next ‘ready-to-eat’ meals as cartridges of food printed into shapes determined by downloadable designs.


KRAAKTAFEL
The KRAAKTAFEL is a dining experience created and curated by Kraak, embracing vulnerability in nature. For this special New Year's Eve edition, we were tasked with designing a shared feast that celebrated fire, bold flavours, and the joy of communal dining.
In collaboration with chef Mmabatho Molefe, we designed a menu that embraced generous, fire-cooked flavours and interactive, shareable moments. The evening began with a striking 20-meter mille-feuille braaibroodjie installation on arrival. The bread course featured rosemary tear-and-share bread served with butter blocks and a hummus rich with sundried-tomato and olives. Starters included a vibrant green goddess salad and delicate yellowtail ceviche, cured in coconut tiger’s milk with apple, red onion, fresh coriander, and curry oil. The main feast was cooked over an open fire – spatchcock chicken with salsa verde, whole Tomahawk steak with peppercorn sauce, clay-baked root vegetables, a leek and ricotta galette, and lemon couscous salad brightened with pomegranate, mint, and peach. Dessert brought a duo of indulgence: fire-cooked pineapple with coconut crumb and butterscotch, alongside a shareable dark rum and muscovado brûlée. As the clock struck midnight, the feast ended with Kosgangsta burgers and chips, a fitting way to welcome the new year with comfort and celebration.
Menu concept, design, culinary curation: Studio H, Mmabatho Molefe
Food collaborator: Mmabatho Molefe
Culinary team: Mmabatho Molefe, Bianca Strydom, Faith Sotondoshe, Wes Watlington, Zandi Bhayi, Strone Henry, Ashleigh Frans, Luyanda Sogiba
Photography and videography: Daniela Zondagh


Our team recently gave a talk at 100% Design in Cape Town and Joburg on the Future Talks stages. The food fight-themed talks were an investigation into the ways in which one could use food to draw attention to global problems in our food system, and hopefully find solutions too.


Laphroaig
Create a media drop for Laphroaig.
Eau de Laphroaig – Studio H conceptualised and developed Eau de Laphroaig, a bespoke fragrance that is an ode to the peaty shores of Islay, home of Laphroaig whisky. For the bottles, we collaborated with Cape Town-based ceramicists Vorster & Braye to design a hand-crafted ceramic decanter that complements the gentle earthy notes of the perfume, and we worked with Spook design on the linen-covered packaging.
Voster and Braye
Juwan Beyers
JC Landman
Retha Ericsson
Casper Schutte, Spook
Photos and videos: Daniela Zondagh, Juwan Beyers