Hennessy announces the fifth edition of its Very Special Limited Edition series by unveiling a new design created by critically acclaimed American contemporary artist Ryan McGinness. It represents the latest in Hennessy’s series of collaborations for Hennessy Very Special with internationally renowned artists that have included Futura, Os Gemeos, KAWS and Shepard Fairey. It is also part of a continued legacy of artistic collaborations at Hennessy — the most recent being the Hennessy 250 Tour which saw an exhibition of carte blanche creations by contemporary artists of international acclaim, as part of Hennessy’s 250^th anniversary.

At the heart of this exceptional project with Ryan McGinness are the formations of elements in his ongoing body of work ‘Black Holes’, a pattern in bright fluorescent colors that will extend beyond the label and packaging, to be incorporated into site-specific installations. “I wanted the colour palette and overall design to be very bright and colourful, and for these colours to radiate from the centre,” explains Ryan McGinness. 

To initiate the mutuality of the exchange, the artist was allowed to explore and reinterpret elements within the visual branding of Hennessy Very Special – including its iconic coat of arms. His new drawing is of an arm holding a flower composed of a blooming radiating eye, a recurring core element in the artist’s work. For his bottle design, he also subverted the bottle’s metadata – the type of information usually to be found on the label in ‘fine print’ – and decided to showcase it in a prominent way through his own visual language.

In his body of work, McGinness explores the visual language of elements, compounds and mixtures, a language that he compares to the creative process of Hennessy: “Combining my elements and my compounds to form mixtures, are parallel with Hennessy’s artful blending of ingredients. For Hennessy, the elements are the grapes, the compounds are the eaux-de-vies and the mixtures are the blends that constitute the cognac.”

“Ryan McGinness’ work reflects a fresh, energetic use of multiple elements- from colours to icons, to create designs of enduring impact. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Ryan McGinness during our 250th Anniversary year” said Bernard Peillon, President and CEO of Hennessy. “This new Hennessy Limited Edition bottle design embodies his passion and commitment to his craft, the same characteristics Hennessy has pursued since 1765.”

Ryan McGinness has embarked on a global tour with Hennessy at the beginning of August, as part of the Cognac’s 250^th anniversary tour. The exhibition travelled to four iconic cities in the world: Guangzhou, Moscow, New York and Johannesburg.

The 750ml bottle retails at R379.95 and is available at all major liquor outlets. For more information about the Hennessy V.S Limited Edition bottle by Ryan McGinness, visit www.hennessy.com. Follow Hennessy on Facebook (HennessySouthAfrica) and Instagram (@HennessySA).

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Hennesy South Africa | Brands

No matter how many times they tell you they can’t, believe them and say you can. The right people will rub off against you and cause you to sparkle from within and dazzle on the outside. It’s not a trick; greatness usually has a way of showing itself where it tries to hide and leave those who don’t believe in disbelief. Learn to notice the vibrant energies that dance around you, they aren’t always visible look closely and invite those who reflect your light and give off the same liveliness. You’ll feel encouraged and almost pinch yourself when you realise that you were born superior and that you should never be in doubt.

Boitumelo and Itumeleng Nko are two different beings with similar interests; in colour, fashion and an all-round attraction to the aesthetics that helped shape and re-direct their lives and true purpose. They work tirelessly, to learn and understand each other from one another and have their mother to thank for their extraordinary talents. They were nourished and emulated the elegance and style, through her teachings and nestled warm love.

I spent P-hive Minutes with the Grunge Twins and admired their steady spirit and hustle, as they are sisters in tow, fashion enthusiasts by profession and partners in life for life.

Would you say your childhood influenced your love for fashion?

Tumi: Oh definitely yes! Our mother would dress us up in clothes that were in trend because she’s also very stylish and graceful. She basically fed and shared her fashion traits with us and we learnt. Our childhood had an immense impact on our fashion timeline as our work is more influential than it is ergonomical.

How does your working relationship, as sisters and twins compliment your style. Do you work well together?

Itumeleng (Itu): Tumi and I are very close. We've been friends since forever and we are inseparable. Even though I’m more of an extrovert and Tumi is an introvert, we compliment and work well together, even when we work on projects. I’m the girl that would go and play outside with friends and Tumi would rather choose to stay home and watch television. People who don’t know us, and that’s often very few people, get confused and can’t tell who is which. Our styles are similar, yet our personalities are different. You know, two people can never be the same.

You produced and compiled a denim series titled, “The Truth about Denim”. What was the idea behind it and did you achieve your original aim?

Tumi: Yes, that’s been our most exciting project yet! We worked on the project with friends and the denim concept is an idea that portrays modern street culture. On the contrary, it’s a movement that expresses denim wear, the urban surroundings and our modern society and how we greatly grasp the full implications of our aesthetics in denim fashion. The concept is all about the indulgency of denim and its significance according to modern and vintage styling.

Who did you receive help from on “The Truth about Denim” project? What did it take to execute it without fail?

Itu: Tumi and I planned and designed the featured designs of the project. We worked with two of our friends, Xolani Phakati and Solomzi Magengenene and they helped with the photography and the final look of the shoot and the pictures that were taken. The creation of the whole concept was created patent to avoid uncertainty and the whole inspiration of storytelling through denim wear.

What’s the inspiration behind the creation of “The Truth about Denim” project?

Tumi: We are creating a story through photography. Our story portrays how life would feel and be like if the only thing you could wear is denim – which a lot of South Africans are already doing. There’s an obsession people have with denim brands. They try and imitate that into their daily street life and we have our own take on that.

What challenges did you experience and had to overcome when you worked on your denim project?

Itu: Finding the right location for the shoot was probably the biggest challenge we faced when we were busy with the project. We searched in a lot of places until we found the perfect spots at the Rooftop in Braamfontein and Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown. There were several other challenges but everything went accordingly. We had to work hard to pull it off.

On what platforms did you launch the project and how was it received by your audience?

Tumi: We launched the project on Obakeng Molepe’s photography blog, The Power of Obakeng, and the response went viral. Thereafter, we went to being approached and featured by Levis on their website. People love the conceptualism behind it and they supported it. We’ve received a lot of approaches from bloggers for interviews and to feature our work on their platforms.

What do you do exactly; are you fashion designers/bloggers, models or fashion enthusiasts? Or, do you incorporate all of these into your brand, The Grunge Twins?

Itu: Yes, we incorporate all of these into what we do because we’ve never had to feel like we had to limit ourselves. Apart from that, we are also students.

How did your moniker, The Grunge Twins, come about? What’s the meaning behind it and when was it originally formed?

Tumi: It’s funny how we came up with the signature name and how we chose it because we love and wear grunge fashion – like a lot! Plus, we are twin sisters. We decided and combined the two names and came up with it earlier this year.

What projects are you working on currently?

Itu: We are working on a few projects at the moment but we can’t reveal much about them because things haven’t been finalised. It’s all contractual.

What’s the biggest achievement you’ve acquired through The Grunge Twins and “The Truth about Denim” project? Would you say you’ve achieved enough?

Tumi: We've always wanted to be on Elle magazine and when we were finally featured on it, we were ecstatic! We were also featured on the Street Style March issue and gained great support on our blog and followers on Instagram. We are also the faces of the modern South African established brand, Afriknaswiss. We aren’t where we want to be yet and that’s what we are working and aiming towards now.

Who is your style icon?

Itu: Our style inspirations are our two favourite fashion bloggers and twins, Nyane and Mpho Lebajoa. We also love Coco and Breezy.

As fashion enthusiasts and designers, what is art to you?

Art is the expression of human creative skills. It is a mysterious idea of beauty to the soul. It is the imitation of natural beauty, it is God’s creation. – Boitumelo Nko

Art is the application and expression of human imagination. It is the beauty that should be appreciated for its emotional power. – Itumeleng Nko

Learn to work for anything you want and refuse to live without having achieved everything. Understand the fight to stay alive and be truthful to the dream and especially yourself. The vision should be simple, and the events that occur along the way are simply guides that lead to the next adventures. Boitumelo and Itumeleng Nko are doers and have the right energy and personas that shake things up and have their dreams come alive. Don’t doubt them, they are everything superior and are gentle souls who work hardest. They keep the faith and stay closest to the art that remains most true.

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Sithembiso Promise Xaba | Words that start with P | Creatives

Don’t be so nervous when the plans you’ve made with your life crumble all around you; not everything is meant to work out. One sure way to know if everything will work out is what you decide to do with the broken dream. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to carve out each important piece, because when it all fits together, a monstrous triumph envelopes every worry you had. And then you ask, why didn’t I just trust my instinct in the first place?

Some people don’t like different. So don’t be afraid of being different when being diverse is all that you know. There’ll always be opinions flying around, looking to confuse and leave you discouraged. What should concern you is how far you are willing to set off to gain a sense of yourself back. And thereafter, turn it all around to make your passion work for you. That is how Tshepo Mohlala’s dream unfolded – he didn’t question the journey; but rather prepared for the greatness ahead.

Tshepo Mohlala grew up at the sight of his grandmother emphasising how important family, values and image would be to him. And most importantly, she taught him how to love. “When I was growing up, my grandmother was a pastor and she always wanted us to look good when we’d go to church. Clothes helped me gain a lot of my confidence and it made it easier to approach girls. I spent most of my time looking up fashion trends and when I dressed up, people would always ask me if I was a model, so I guess that’s where it comes from.”

He dropped out twice from two separate institutions because he didn’t feel he belonged there. “I was into film when I enrolled at AFDA but I dropped out a year later and studied at the University of Johannesburg. That didn’t last long either because I also dropped out after a year. I had to make a plan about an income as I lived alone in some flat in town.”

“I attended a lot of fashion shows until I met up with Phillip Mazibuko. I introduced myself to him and we exchanged contacts. Phillip called me first and when we met again, he introduced me to the fashion industry. At that time, he was a part of House of Ole’ and they were working on celebrating ten years in the business. That’s how I got in. Through that experience, I met so many people who shared so much passion for their work and it rubbed off on me.”

Looking to gain more insight into the fashion industry, Tshepo stayed in Cape Town with a friend and explored his opportunity. “I went down to Cape Town and I worked at GQ for two weeks. When I came back to Jo’burg, I was broke and I worked at a call centre for a month until I realised that this was not meant for me. When I got paid, I left just before lunch when I got a notification message from the bank letting me know that my money came in. After that, I met up and worked with Sthembiso Mngadi from Fruitcake Vintage and The Smarteez.”

The Afrikanswiss business is a partnership between three amazing creatives; Thato Mafubelu, Vusi Dinisa and of course Tshepo. “For a while Thato wanted us to collaborate. In 2012, after years of Thato asking for us to merge the Afrikanswiss business, we met up and discussed it. We met for lunch and somehow we realised we were all wearing jeans. We knew jeans were an everyday wear and knew we could do something around that. Then and there we decided to establish a business centred on denim. A lot of designers don’t work with denim because it is a complicated material and they don’t like the hassle of it. We, on the other hand think denim is beautiful and jeans are the future.”

“Afrikanswiss is more of a protest brand. We are aware of the past, present and the future. We also know that Africa is wealthy in minerals, history culture and design. We want to show that we can do it just as well and as a sustainable business. Swiss represents the premium of the brand. We want to be the first African denim brand that succeeds in this business because we know that we’re not the first people to sell denim. But, we want to be one of the first to sell denim outfits for more than a couple of thousands.”

“We all paid our dues because before we went into business, we needed to understand the structure and its dynamics. We gained experience through the work that we’ve done and the associations we made. It’s only been a year and a half since we started the business and we’ve achieved so much through our collaboration. I believe it was a divine appointment from God because everything happened as it was meant to. We aren’t where we want to be yet – if Levis or Diesel approached and bought us out then we’d say we’ve succeeded.”

When they opened up shop, location for the business was a concern. “We didn’t consciously choose to base the shop in town on Fox street, but we took the opportunity. We settled there because the location is quite busy and a lot of people pass through the area. We're moving into our new store soon because our clientele has pressured us to change locations. Plus, we’ve outgrown the space and the demand has amplified. We have to listen to our clients.”

“The success that Afrikanswiss accumulated in such a short while granted them with an invite to Africa’s biggest fashion show, the SA Fashion Week. “Since Afrikanswiss appeared on the show, we’ve received invites to other shows, but we’ve had to turn them down because we couldn’t be involved with just any show. We have to protect the brand because of the associations we’ve made. Branding is very sensitive.”

Tshepo reckons the business wouldn’t have worked out if he’d chosen to work with other people. “I have the most honest partners. My team understands each other and we work well together. I’ve worked with other people but the connection was different. Through Afrikanswiss, we’ve created a legacy because the vision is clear. Now, future generations can take the idea and use it to their best.”

The marketing director of the denim premium brand is a persistent and determined man who can’t be convinced otherwise. “Passion, love, vision and understanding the business help me achieve all that I have and still want to do more. I can’t imagine doing anything else right now. Maybe a couple of years from now something of interest will come around and I’ll get involved in that. Right now, I’m doing what makes me happy.”

An entrepreneurial artist works on instinct, skill and a bucketful of confidence – for the product and the hustle. Once you’ve got that down, do what you are drawn to because your intuition is never wrong.

Tshepo Mohlala is bold, open and surely a Piquant man and he’s never been more true to life.

“Art is creation. Without it, there’s no love. It defines the now, present and future. It is everything.”-Tshepo Mohlala

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Photography | Wiseman "Waxxy" Sedibe

Promise Sithembiso Xaba | Brands | Creatives