I'm Tori Robbertze, a designer and artist. I grew up in a small farming town in Zimbabwe, surrounded by nature: rocks with orange moss, masasa trees bursting into rust and gold each spring, dusty roads and the waterfalls and forests of the Nyanga mountains. I spent my childhood in the garden making dolls out of reeds and leaves. For birthdays, my dad gave me watercolours and calligraphy pens. Oh how I loved his neat, square, ink hand-lettering on his architectural drawings. My favourite part of watching TV was the adverts and my bedroom walls were covered in magazine clippings. When people asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, my go-to answer was: “Something with art.”

Fast forward 30 years and I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades, besides a five-year detour in China, teaching English. I trained formally at DUT and returned in 2019 to research a Master’s in Visual Communication. A heartfelt shout-out to my supervisors, Dr Philippa Kethro and Chantelle Warburton, for walking that road with me.

Over the past five years, I’ve been designing and marketing for a group of pet companies, where I’ve held together several brands with a strong presence in the veterinary industry. From print (hmmm, that smell of freshly delivered brochures) to websites and even a chance to learn some UI/UX design for an app.

The Owl Design was born from a desire to reach deeper into my creative potential, to serve brands with big soul and to create work with purpose. In a world that is loud and pushy, with devices shouting at us every waking moment, I want to use my gift of nuance and attention to detail, to craft visual languages that help businesses and organisations tell their stories with clarity and honesty.