Why We Chose Victoria Yards: A Story About Jozi, Local Makers and the Urban Wilderness

There is a version of Johannesburg that you only discover when you are willing to explore a little.

It is found beyond the shopping centres and familiar weekend spots. It is in old industrial buildings that have been given a new purpose, coffee shops where people know the story behind the beans, workshops where things are still made by hand, and communities where creativity and social impact exist side by side.

For the Basecamp team, Victoria Yards is one of those places.

We have known and loved the space for years, and when it came time to find a location for one of our Basecamp campaign shoots, choosing Victoria Yards felt natural. The precinct is home to artists, workshops, food businesses and entrepreneurs, while its wider work includes urban agriculture and skills development.

It is local. It is creative. It is proudly Jozi.

In other words, it is right in the middle of the Urban Wilderness.

A relationship that started with local apparel

Our relationship with Victoria Yards started long before we arrived with cameras and Basecamp gear.

We have a long-standing relationship with Inner City Ink, one of the established businesses based at Victoria Yards. They produce the Basecamp apparel we use for giveaways and brand activations.

Our Basecamp hoodies and T-shirts are 99% local. The fabric, design and manufacturing all happen right here in Mzansi.

That matters to us.

Supporting local is not only about putting a South African flag on something. It is about relationships with the people who design, make, print, sew, roast, cook and create things here. It is about knowing that behind a product is a real person, a skill and a business that contributes to the wider community.

Every visit to Victoria Yards reminded us of that.

So, when we started planning our campaign shoot earlier this year, we thought, why go looking for a manufactured version of the Urban Wilderness when there was a real one right here?

Coffee, good food and a cooler on the move

A Basecamp shoot is never only about standing next to a product and smiling at the camera.

We wanted to capture what a day in the Urban Wilderness can actually look like.

You grab a coffee. You pick up something lekker to eat. You walk around. You discover a shop you did not know existed. You sit down somewhere. Then you get up and carry on exploring.

For our shoot, we teamed up with businesses in the Victoria Yards community, including Home of the Bean and Curado, part of FAMA Delicatessen.

Home of the Bean is a Johannesburg café and roastery with a presence at Victoria Yards, while FAMA Delicatessen is based in the precinct and specialises in traditionally made artisanal cured meats. Curado brings the food experience to the table with Spanish-inspired dishes and cured meats.

This gave us the perfect setting for the Basecamp Backpack Cooler content we created there.

Coffee collected. Deli sandwiches sorted. Cooler on the back. Then off to explore.

Because sometimes the best outdoor day does not require a four-hour drive and a packing list with seventeen tabs. Sometimes it starts with good coffee and seeing where the day takes you.

The kind of place where you keep discovering something else

That is one of the things we love most about Victoria Yards. You can go there for one reason and leave having discovered five more.

During our shoot, we also passed Shwe, a proudly South African social enterprise producing gifts and accessories while working with microbusinesses and community organisations. The organisation says it works with more than 30 microbusinesses in Diepsloot and Bertrams, alongside NGOs and individuals in those communities.

It is another example of what makes the space special.

You are not only walking past shops. You are seeing the result of skills, ideas and businesses being given room to grow.

Victoria Yards also hosts a First Sunday market each month, except January, bringing together local artisans and handmade goods.

For anyone who says there is nothing new to do in Jozi, we have questions.

Have you actually looked?

Then we met The People’s Pantry

While planning the shoot, Natasha from Inner City Ink introduced us to the team at The People’s Pantry.

They are doing meaningful work rescuing food and getting it to people who need it.

We asked a simple question: how can we help?

Their request was equally simple.

Trolleys.

They needed a practical way to move rescued food from their vehicles to the kitchen. No grand wishlist. No complicated request. Just something that could make the physical work of moving food a little easier.

That stuck with us.

So, we donated Basecamp trolleys.

It was a small gesture, but sometimes the useful thing is the right thing.

That meeting also became the starting point for something bigger, which we will be sharing more about soon.

Why places like this matter

South Africans are sometimes too quick to believe that the good stuff is somewhere else.

Another city. Another country. Another neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, some of the most interesting people are making, growing, roasting, cooking, designing and building communities right here.

Victoria Yards is a reminder to explore your own city with a little more curiosity. The precinct describes itself through creative studios, artisan workshops, food, urban farming, visual arts and skills development, all existing within the same wider space.

We think that deserves more attention.

And we also think people should feel encouraged to explore this part of Jozi, support the businesses doing good work there and discover the energy of the place for themselves.

Rule the Urban Wilderness, wherever you find it

For Basecamp, ruling the Urban Wilderness has never meant that you need to disappear into the mountains every weekend.

It can be the campsite, absolutely.

But it can also be a market in the middle of Joburg. A coffee run that turns into a whole afternoon. A deli sandwich eaten outside. A local maker you discover by accident. A new part of your city that you finally decide to explore.

The Urban Wilderness is wherever real life happens outside your front door.

So go local. Explore your city. Meet the makers. Drink the coffee. Eat the sandwich. Find the places with good stories and good people.

And when you find somewhere lekker, tell your people about it.

That is how local places grow.

That is how communities get stronger.

And that is one very good way to Rule the Urban Wilderness.

Explore more of Victoria Yards: Visit Victoria Yards