Nurturing a new crop of artistic talent
Updated: Jun 11, 2025
Victoria Yards is fostering an eco-system of artists and artisans. It’s emerged from the chop-shop detritus as a unique re-imagining of the metropolitan landscape, combining a creative community, social development and urban greening.
A once-dilapidated industrial complex, Victoria Yards is situated in Lorentzville on the eastern edge of Jo’burg’s CBD. It’s a sprawling 30 000m2 development of old warehouses and historical buildings, stretching across the Jukskei River, which runs through the property. Originally conceived as an urban city farm-school, it’s become a magnet for likeminded artistic souls like Blessing Ngobeni, Craig Smith and Dario Manjate, who are seeking to reinvent city living. The buildings, which house studios and workshop spaces for fine artists, metalworkers, glass-blowers, silkscreen printers and furniture-makers, have been given the lightest touch. Old plaster and graäti remain and there’s a strong sense of identity and place as the exposed brickwork reveals a multitude of texturally rich, historic layers.
‘The eco-system’s definitely showing signs of working,’ says Brian Green, property developer and the creative visionary, alongside his partners. ‘One tenant will need a chair designed and they’ll go to Norris Mwape. Another will need a gate made and they’ll ask Justin Wells. So it’s working quite beautifully and people love working in this environment.’
Metalworker Justin Wells echoes this. ‘It’s important where you spend every day of your life. I’d rather spend it in a garden than in industrial grime,’ he says. Here, there are walkways lined with thriving edible gardens – lemon verbena, cabbages, fig and apricot trees, mealies and more – and ascending meadows leading to an enormous building that will be morphing into a restaurant and an event space. Doubleshot will soon be offering a much needed caffeine fix and there are plans for a smaller daytime eatery.
The development’s rapidly evolving to meet the community’s needs and to ensure it’s a commercially viable project. ‘Victoria Yards, remarkably, has stayed close to what I originally envisaged,’ says Green. ‘My first idea was to green it up. I love gardens and I always seem to end up creating them in developments. Gardens are big drivers for the success of a place – greenery softens the rawness.’
The idea behind the urban agriculture project, explains Green, is to associate Victoria Yards with all the farms in the area, such as Siyakhaya, in order to establish a vegetable market and facilitate agricultural education. An artisan school is also in the works and a fair to showcase artisans and their craft will be held with MAKESA later this year.
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keonhacai mình thấy bạn bè nhắc hoài nên bấm vào ngó thử cho biết thôi. Mình không có ngồi đọc kỹ hay làm gì nhiều, chủ yếu xem giao diện họ làm ra sao. Vừa vào cái là thấy trang nhìn khá dễ thở, không bị nhồi chữ lung tung, kéo xuống cũng mượt. Mình thích kiểu họ chia nội dung thành từng khối rõ ràng, nhìn lướt phát là biết phần nào với phần nào, đỡ phải căng mắt. Mấy chỗ số liệu Thông tin trình bày theo dạng bảng cột nên nhìn nhanh vẫn bắt được ý chính, không rối. Với lại cái menu để khá dễ thấy, bấm qua lại không phải mò. Nói chung cảm giác…
Transforming a barren industrial space into lush green gardens evokes a strangely soothing feeling—the patient tending of vegetable beds and fruit trees reminds me of the relaxing yet captivating experience of casting a line in the game tiny fishing 2. Both offer the joy of sowing seeds, waiting patiently, and reaping sweet rewards amidst the hustle and bustle of life.
Le développement de Victoria Yards comme un lieu de créativité est fascinant, surtout avec l'intégration d'espaces verts. La collaboration entre artistes, comme Justin Wells mentionnant l'importance de l'environnement, montre comment l'art et la nature peuvent se compléter. Cela fait écho à l'idée que des projets similaires pourraient nourrir d'autres communautés urbaines. En parlant de créativité, j'ai récemment exploré des informations sur la conception interactive, ce qui m'a fait réfléchir à la manière dont l'art se transforme dans différents contextes, comme on peut le voir sur VV Ultimatum Wiki.
The transformation of Victoria Yards into a vibrant hub for artists and makers is truly inspiring. The way Brian Green emphasizes the importance of green spaces, like the edible gardens, highlights how nurturing creativity can also nurture the environment. It’s a reminder for anyone involved in community projects to consider how aesthetics and functionality can coexist. I can see how this model could encourage similar initiatives in other urban areas, fostering collaboration and sustainability among local talent.