Mother
The idea of creating the inner of the auditorium came while I was on holiday with my beloved, frail mother in Crystal Springs, not far from Graskop … and I dedicate this space to her.
Starry Night
Creating true enchantment was the main aim. It started with shaping a star-filled night sky by installing 300 optical fibre light cables of different lengths and thicknesses and linking all to a strong LED light in a black box in the middle of the ten-meter-high ceiling. Easier said than done, but eventually, the shooting of Hilti nails (it was a little war zone for some time … multiple explosions inside a large enclosed area!) into the concrete ceiling was completed to enable attaching the fibre lines.
Using as reference a plate from a massive Bible dating 1878 (Artist: G DORE) I painted a mural of the New Jerusalem against the wall of the stage (some sections included gold leafing). This served as backdrop for a life-sized sculpture of a smiling Jesus.
Click on link (Castle in the Mist: Celebrations) to view a short, entertaining video:
It is great fun to play with mirrors. For example, adding a pink giraffe with crown sculpture onto a mirror next to a breakfast table. A very small toilet space was optically enlarged to infinity by installing mirrors in all spaces. Humour was added by adding a clown’s face with closed eyes (to not view what was going on below), a tiara that “fits” above the head when sitting down on the toilet chair, as well as optical fiber lights all around this tiara … to give a magic, royal feel at night when sitting down on the throne. A final touch was to install a peeping duck on the outside of the see-through toilet ceiling.
Constructing the mirrored ceiling of the room in the Ruby posed an exciting challenge, but the final outcome remains pleasing to lovers
Conservative guests reacted with disgust when they saw the mirrored ceiling, a pair of bronze buttocks and a penis water inlet. To make sure that they never return, I added Arabic type curtain pelmets and Arabic wording like “love”, “mistress” and “orgasm”. Eventually, adding vagina fairies and a penis commanding chariot (hovering over a plunge pool) made this suite the most popular one to visit.