Reflections on the Road Into 2026: A Note From Amanda
The Evolution team had a wonderful reset over the festive season and we returned fully recharged, ready to refresh our designs and deepen our development capabilities for the year ahead.
We each travelled in different directions, and some of us were fortunate enough to experience road trips through our extraordinary country.
My own journey to the coast included a deeply heart-fulfilling presentation of our Call of the Karoo range at Te Water House in Graaff-Reinet...
created in collaboration with Jen Rubidge, great-granddaughter of Sidney Rubidge, who assembled a world-class fossil collection from the Graaff-Reinet and Nieu-Bethesda region.
Jen curated the most beautiful display of our range in her newly renovated space. We shared the work with local residents and had the privilege of witnessing the joy and appreciation that comes from seeing a local story told through textiles.
The honesty, kindness, and deep love these residents have for their heritage reaffirmed why we create collections that narrate the stories of our country.
Thank you, Jen, for welcoming me into your beautiful space and for creating such a thoughtful, generous display.
Read more below...
I left Graaff-Reinet with love in my heart, reminiscing about holidays spent there fifty years ago, when I first fell in love with the vast beauty of the Karoo.
An impulsive “shot left” moment led me over the Prince Alfred Pass to Buffels Bay. The gravel road was an adventure: maximum speeds of 30 km/h, narrow stretches, rockfalls, looming boulders, and the most majestic views imaginable. This carefully constructed Thomas Bain pass winds through forests, slippery sand sections, and jaw-dropping vistas.
When I later visited my mom, she casually mentioned that after meeting my dad, on one of their first road trips, he drove over this very pass in a VW Beetle. (He was an experienced rally driver.) She never complained, never gasped, never grabbed the door handle. When they reached the other side safely, he turned to her and with great admiration he said,
“Ek dink ons moet trou.”
(I think we should get married.)Sometimes you have to “shot left”. You never know what beauty or magic awaits.
After clearing the rather harrowing pass, I arrived in Buffels Bay, a small coastal town near Knysna. Long beach walks with friends, time to read, and watching my now-adult boys find their own rhythm with lifelong friends filled my heart and restored my soul. Time in nature truly is the most powerful reset.
From there, I travelled to St Francis Bay.
The Eastern Cape’s beauty shifts dramatically as you drive from Knysna through the Tsitsikamma forest, over the Storms River, and toward the warm ocean and dreamlike sunsets of the East. The town has changed remarkably in the past year, and it was inspiring to see the impact of collaboration between private enterprise and local government: major projects to manage coastal sand movement, new tarred roads and signage, infrastructure upgrades in informal settlements, and initiatives to sterilise stray dogs and cats.
It’s a community that works together: welcoming, active, and invested. From the fabulous local women who welcomed me each morning at Grannies Pool at 6:00am, to the sports events company creating opportunities for visitors to stay engaged and connected.
The encouragement to do my first ever open water sea swim of 2.3 km helped me overcome a lifelong fear of the uncertainty of the ocean.
What a beautiful country we live in, filled with warmth, kindness, and generosity. I love this place with all my heart.
The journey home is never easy, leaving precious family time as we scatter in different directions
...but this year, the detour to Nagtegaalsfontein Farm was, as always, the most restorative pause.
Cornel Strijdom is one of the most creative people I know. This farm is a deeply personal reflection of her creativity and respect for the environment she finds herself in.
One expression of her creativity is how she transformed a fallen pine tree, over 20 metres tall, likely planted more than 50 years ago. (The farm’s earliest buildings date back to 1858.)
When the tree fell during a storm, there was no time for sadness, only the familiar Karoo response: what can we do with this? Cornel cut the branches into massive sections and built a circular wall within her garden. Others were stacked along the path to the forest chapel, releasing a scent of pine and oud as you walk toward the poplar forest.
That single act captures Cornel’s ability to create magic from the ordinary. The wind through the remaining branches still creates a natural symphony, accompanied by a choir of birdsong.
The final stretch home, through sunflower-filled Free State landscapes and towering cumulonimbus clouds gathering on the horizon
... stirred my heart and prompted reflection on the year gone by.
Thank you, 2025, for the grace, the lessons, the stresses, the joys, and the growth.
Welcome, 2026. May you be generous, brave, and full of possibility.
