An exploration of queer love and the wild wild west, Blünke is redefining the way in which we confront our undeniable feeling of loneliness. “My clothing has always been an opportunity and outlet for me to break that loneliness and to engage and communicate with others.” Collaborating with creatives in Cape Town, the designer has brought her collection to life in her first fashion film released earlier this year.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Blünke. I come from Pretoria, a city just outside Johannesburg. I moved to Cape Town to study fashion design in 2013 and graduated in 2015. After graduating, I worked several different jobs to support my career as a designer and creative. It's only from 2018 that I started focusing all my time on fashion. I wanted to put myself out there and show the world who I am and what my fashion is all about.

In the past year, I've take on more bespoke orders, doing a lot of commission work for clients. In January I produced a film that stood as a fashion campaign for my Lonely Cowboy Collection that launched in March. More personally, I love cake, dramatic and dark eye make up, all things kitsch and cheap. My cat Benji. Love my parents. Koeksusters. Heavy earrings. Bright colours. Knock off Gucci. Old fast cars, but hate driving fast. A beautiful shoe that lasts about four weeks. Tiny bags. Trashy art. Sunsets. D, the love of my life and gossip.

In what way do you embody your brand as a designer?
As a designer, I emulate the opposite of my brand. Me, as a small scale designer, find it quite difficult to produce collections and to develop firm client bases. I don't feel like I really embody my brand because it's aspirational. It embodies the ideas of courage, confidence, diversity and uniqueness that I aspire to cultivate in my life. So in saying that, my brand embodies my desires.

Really ,the more I can turn the world that I see outside into the world I see inside, the more I feel I'll embody my brand. My brand is a representation of absolute glamour and opulence; a world that I wish to create for myself. My brand emulates the life I want to live in the future, it doesn't represent the way I live my life right now.

What is the meaning behind ‘Trotse Tert’?
Afrikaans is my home language and the word 'tert' has two meanings. A 'tert' is a sweet thing, a sweet confection or tart. But the word 'tert' could also be referred to as a ditsy, floozy, slutty girl. And 'trots' means proud, so in the end it means proud tart. I'm a tart and proud of it. I liked the contradiction and juxtaposition of the two words put together.

And then also, my mother is a baker, fun fact. She makes beautiful cakes. A lot of my inspiration reflects on my mom being a baker, in the way that I create sculptural work with intricate decadence that could look like confectioneries and cakes.

You have mentioned that you design for ‘lonely people’. Where does this expression come from?
I've experienced being lonely a lot of my life and like I don't belong anywhere. My clothing has always been an opportunity and outlet for me to break that loneliness and to engage and communicate with others. The sense of designing for a lonely person isn't necessarily to design for someone who is feeling lonely within themselves, but rather designing for myself, Blünke, as a lonely person, so that I feel more connected to people and my clothes help me connect to people.

Tell us about your fashion film ‘Lonely Cowboy’?
The fashion film came about by collaborating with friends in Cape Town. Gavin Mickey Collins as art director and stylist. Maxime Thysan as writer and director. Together the three of us conceptualised and worked on producing a fashion film that could exist as a love letter, as my ode to the wild wild west. My Lonely Cowboy Collection, a take on a very kitsch western film, full of gay love, queerness, unrequited love, friendship and loneliness. A Shakespeare moment ,where two Romeo's find love in a whirlwind romance in the middle of nowhere. Literally finding love in a hopeless place.

What can we expect to see from your future collections?
Maybe ‘to let’ signs, cause I'm looking for a new flat in Cape Town to call my home! Lol! But ja, absolutely everything and anything.