Meet Vida Sylvia Schiff, Co-Founder of NIMA Lodge, Founder of ASU Capsule and LEAP Facilitator. 

Effortlessly intuitive and always evolving, Vida moves between design, hospitality, fashion and energy work with a kind of grounded boldness. She’s not one to follow a straight line and her work reflects that: raw, textured and undulating. 

From building Nima Lodge from the ground up to launching her capsule brand ASU, she shares how living between the city and the wild shapes her creativity, why spaciousness can be both a gift and a challenge, and what it means to embrace duality on her own terms.

Kat: We were lucky enough to shoot in your beautiful Sea Point apartment recently. It's stunning and has such a distinctive style that seems to be a common thread in all that you do. How would you describe your style, and who and what are you inspired by? Did you source and make things locally, or import?

Vida: I’ve always been inspired by colour and texture. One colour or texture will bite me and then I run from there. I tend to play in the realm of natural colours and materials. I normally achieve texture from naturally found materials such as stone and wood.

My spaces have been described as ‘beige’; however, for me, I see so many colour variations and textures within it and how they all play off each other to build a full yet peaceful space.

My intention behind my spaces is always safety. A container where I and others feel as if they can exhale and have a sense of spaciousness and clarity. Most of the pieces in the apartment were custom made locally.

Kat: What do you love about living in Sea Point? What are your favourite things to do and places to go around there? 

Vida: I love Sea Point. Coming back to Cape Town from Wilderness, I can see how I’m so specific to this area. I just make sense here. I love the sense of community, the walkability. The fact that I feel safe on the prom at 5am. I like how worlds collide and live alongside each other, sometimes in peace and often in chaos. I coffee and walk a lot. 

Kat: The building and opening of Nima Lodge took you to Wilderness… how did the Nima concept come about?  How long did it take to develop? Tell us about the process. Did you feel out of your comfort zone at all? What were some of the highs and lows? 

Vida: It was zero comfort for a loooong time as we had no idea what we were doing. We just knew there were strong elements in the process that we loved. We loved each other, we loved nature and we loved building and interiors - the rest we just winged. It’s taken 6 years to get Nima to a place where we feel relaxed in the cabins, where we can actually fully feel the guests' experience and it aligns with our vision. 

The process took a lot of physical things and concepts to break, and then for us to figure out how to make them better, sustainable and beautiful.

Kat: Did you live in Wilderness full-time? How long for? What did this teach you? 

Vida: Yes, I was there for 5 years. In the beginning, it was blissful to have so much attention and time to pour into building something. However, after a while, the spaciousness started to get to me and I went a little crazy. I’m very grateful for the dual living I experience now. Wilderness taught me that the ideas we hold about ourselves, aren’t strong enough to change who we are. That fundamentally everything is in process and there is no perfect us, there is only the present us. 

Kat: For guests staying at Nima, what are your must-make-time-for recommendations? 

Vida:

Sleep. 

Forest.

Body of water. 

Massage. 

Sleep. 

Kat: Do you have further plans for Nima? 

Vida: We are looking into Nima 2… but it’s too early to talk about it. 

Kat: You’ve started a new venture, which has caught our attention - ASU capsule. You mentioned to me that it’s a “transformative project” for you. Tell us about it and why it’s transformative. We are obsessed!

Vida: ASU brought me back to the city and helped me integrate with life here through co-creation and inspiration. It is such a gentle project that allows me to work in and inhabit spaces I had long left behind. It’s a gift and I’m so glad I get to finally make some kind of fashion dream true. 

It’s unfolding opposed to a striving for success - at least that’s what I’m trying to keep it as!

Kat: Has fashion always been on your radar?

Vida: Absolutely. 

I used to get dressed in an outfit every day for nursery school. 

My mom was so relieved when I went to Rustenburg girls and had to wear a uniform - we were finally on time for school! However, when I attended Waldorf it was back to an outfit a day, one could never be the same as the day before.

Fashion for me is like a quick interior design job. Texture and colour and how they play together to communicate something. 

Kat: What other tools or experiences have you used to help you with transformation as you have evolved? Who are the people that have most influenced you? 

Vida: Kath Pichulik has been sent to women in business as a gift. She completely transformed my relationship with my business and how to move through it and life. 

I work a lot with the sacred feminine and that definitely dictates what I create and how I (try) to go about creating. I also have a very strong masculine so I’m someone who can have a vision but can also carry it through into the world. I’m influenced by anything I find beautiful. 

I’m heavily influenced by the stories and nostalgia of certain eras and I guess I try to embody feelings like freedom, ease and grit from those times. For example, I would use symbols and materials from the 70’s to try to evoke the relationship between what we wear and what we inhabit and how we experience ourselves and the feelings we can play within. 

Kat: You’ve recently trained to become a LEAP (Life Force Awakening Process) facilitator... how did you discover LEAP and what does it entail? 

Vida: Yeees, LEAP, what a beautiful modality. 

LEAP uses life force or otherwise known as Kundulini energy to awaken our own connection to our inner energy and innate intelligence. 

For me, it’s been about allowing energy to move me on the mat and how that has started to play out in my daily life. Life has definitely become more of a dance, as opposed to a concept. 

I found LEAP through a bestie of mine and after a few sessions, I decided to do the training myself. 

Kat: A piece of advice for your younger self?

Vida: She needs no advice. 

I sit and listen to her all the time. 

She was the girl in the nursery school play dressed in a leopard costume, provocatively spinning her tail while the other kids stood motionless. I was totally absorbed by the song and wanted people to feel and understand what I was experiencing and for them to feel the same. 

I feel like in my work, I’m still trying to do the same thing. 

I've always had a lot of energy and I guess the process has just been to accept and embrace it. 

I try to connect with my younger self daily. 

Vida: Thank you Kat for your questions! That was fun!