The Zulu Mama chair is both comfortable and striking, with a sleek stainless steel frame and an egg-shaped seat hand-woven from recycled plastic strips in a riotous range of colours, from black and cream to pink, green, turquoise and chocolate.

But the chair is more than just a piece of furniture. Designed by 27-year-old Cape Town resident Haldane Martin, produced by craftsmen living in a remote and impoverished area of Limpopo, and sold mainly to European ­buyers it also symbolises the socio- economic tensions that continue to define South Africa.