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The Collab Space — Constitution Hill, Johannesburg

The Space: A Creative Retail Experience at a Site of National Memory Located within Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, The Collab Space is a retail store that brings together select fashion and art pieces from creatives based in the Transwerke studios. This historic building is part of the larger Creative Uprising Hub, a growing space for makers, designers, and cultural entrepreneurs. Constitution Hill itself is a deeply symbolic location. Once a prison that held political activists during apartheid, it now houses South Africa’s Constitutional Court and functions as a site of living history. Beyond its formal significance, the precinct has grown into a place of community, reflection, and creative energy. The Collab Space embodies this evolution. It is not a tourist gift shop. It is a curated retail environment that showcases quality local design, grounded in the voices and stories of real South African creators.

Services

Brand and Media

Audio Brand and Media

Radio And Podcast Imaging

Client

The Colab Space

Year

2025

The Challenge: Sound That Holds Space, Not Just Fills It. Set within a site of national memory, The Collab Space receives a mix of international tourists and local visitors. Many arrive directly from tours of Constitution Hill, having just engaged with stories of justice, resistance, and transformation. The shop needed a sound experience that could meet that emotional weight without overwhelming the retail environment. Our challenge was to create an audio identity that connected with the values of collaboration, history, and personal voice. The sound had to support the shop’s function as a modern design-forward space while still feeling rooted in South African culture and community. The brief was clear: avoid clichés, avoid anything that feels commercial or overproduced. Sound had to be part of the space, not decoration. It needed to reflect the people who created the work on the shelves, without turning into a guided tour or brand narrative.

The Challenge: Sound That Holds Space, Not Just Fills It. Set within a site of national memory, The Collab Space receives a mix of international tourists and local visitors. Many arrive directly from tours of Constitution Hill, having just engaged with stories of justice, resistance, and transformation. The shop needed a sound experience that could meet that emotional weight without overwhelming the retail environment. Our challenge was to create an audio identity that connected with the values of collaboration, history, and personal voice. The sound had to support the shop’s function as a modern design-forward space while still feeling rooted in South African culture and community. The brief was clear: avoid clichés, avoid anything that feels commercial or overproduced. Sound had to be part of the space, not decoration. It needed to reflect the people who created the work on the shelves, without turning into a guided tour or brand narrative.

The Solution: A Human-Centered Sound Experience for Retail. Our approach was to build a retail soundscape using two key elements: music and voice. The foundation is a curated selection of South African music, chosen for how it fits the tone, rhythm, and energy of a retail space. It avoids mainstream commercial hits and instead focuses on local sounds that feel warm, thoughtful, and contemporary. Layered into this are short, documentary-style voice snippets. These are not advertisements or artist bios. They are natural fragments from interviews, conversations, and studio recordings, where makers and collaborators speak briefly about their work, their culture, and their creative process. These stories appear gently in the mix, creating texture rather than taking focus. The aim was to let visitors absorb a sense of the people behind the products without making it feel like a museum or lecture. This choice connects back to the Constitution Hill context, where many voices and perspectives come together in one place. The result is something like a minimal form of retail radio. It plays continuously, but with intention. No imaging. No promotion. Just music and real voices sharing space.

The Solution: A Human-Centered Sound Experience for Retail. Our approach was to build a retail soundscape using two key elements: music and voice. The foundation is a curated selection of South African music, chosen for how it fits the tone, rhythm, and energy of a retail space. It avoids mainstream commercial hits and instead focuses on local sounds that feel warm, thoughtful, and contemporary. Layered into this are short, documentary-style voice snippets. These are not advertisements or artist bios. They are natural fragments from interviews, conversations, and studio recordings, where makers and collaborators speak briefly about their work, their culture, and their creative process. These stories appear gently in the mix, creating texture rather than taking focus. The aim was to let visitors absorb a sense of the people behind the products without making it feel like a museum or lecture. This choice connects back to the Constitution Hill context, where many voices and perspectives come together in one place. The result is something like a minimal form of retail radio. It plays continuously, but with intention. No imaging. No promotion. Just music and real voices sharing space.

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