Mikael Pretorius outdoors, a mountain and pine trees behind him under a blue sky

Everything I make starts out here.

Websites made with care, for Winelands businesses.

Web design and development in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschhoek and Wellington. Every site is designed and built by the same person, so nothing is lost between the drawing and the code.

Start a conversation See the work

Selected work.

Two recent builds. They are not the whole story — how the work is done matters more than the list — but they show it.

Barber Club

  • Cape Winelands
  • Rebuild of barberclub.co.za
  • Not launched yet

A ground-up rebuild of the website of an eleven-branch barber group across Paarl, Stellenbosch, Wellington, Malmesbury, Durbanville and Franschhoek, with walk-in and appointment tiers.

  • A page for every branch, built so each one can be found locally
  • Classic and Premier tiers with their real published prices
  • A 3D landing that never enters first paint
  • 268 KB of JavaScript, gzipped, on the home page, with three.js not part of it (measured on the preview, 21 September 2026)
  • Next.js 16
  • React 19
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind v4
  • three.js

About this build : Barber ClubView the preview (opens in a new tab)

The Kitchen Pilates Studio

  • Main Road, Paarl
  • Founded by Sheri Ferreira
  • Not launched yet

A boutique reformer pilates studio that talks like a kitchen: classes are on the menu, instructors are chefs, and every session is graded mild, medium or spicy. The site keeps that voice intact.

  • Six pages in the studio’s own voice, from “What’s on the menu?” to “Meet the chefs”
  • A weekly timetable you can filter by day and by heat: mild, medium or spicy
  • The studio’s brand assets inventoried, renamed and mapped to the build
  • Every animation steps aside for visitors who ask for reduced motion
  • Next.js 16
  • React 19
  • TypeScript
  • GSAP
  • CSS Modules

About this build : The Kitchen Pilates StudioView the preview (opens in a new tab)

Three ways to start.

Every project is quoted in writing before any work begins, and every quote includes the first year of hosting and care.

  • Landing

    One service in one place: a trade, a studio, a guest house, a consultant.

    Pages
    One page, or up to three
    Time
    1 – 2 weeks
    • Designed and built in my own system, not from a template
    • The motion this site is built with, on your own content
    • A contact form and a WhatsApp button
    What else is in it
    • Set up for Google from the start: titles, descriptions and structured data
    • A performance budget, held on a phone on mobile data
    • Launched on your own domain

  • Business site

    A business with services, prices, a timetable or a menu, and a team.

    Pages
    Five to eight pages
    Time
    4 – 6 weeks
    • Everything in Landing
    • Your brand set up on the site: logo, colours and type
    • A menu, timetable or price list, laid out so it is easy to change
    What else is in it
    • A booking hand-off, or WhatsApp if you would rather keep it simple
    • An About page with your story
    • Two rounds of design review with you

  • Multi-location

    Several branches, each with its own hours, its own map and its own page.

    Pages
    Eight to fifteen or more
    Time
    6 – 10 weeks
    • Everything in Business site
    • A page for every branch, titled for its town so it can be found locally
    • Motion or 3D built for you, kept off the critical path so the site stays fast
    What else is in it
    • One integration wired in and styled: a booking vendor, or payments
    • Help gathering and organising your content
    • A written performance and accessibility report at hand-over
Care

Hosting, your domain renewal, security updates, uptime monitoring, an hour of changes a month, and a report every quarter on what is working.

Month to month, or a year at eleven months’ price. Twenty business days’ notice either way, and everything is handed over when you leave.

Start a conversation

Not sure which one fits? Tell me what your business does and what the website needs to do, and I'll tell you which it is.

Where it comes from.

Before I design anything, I look at what has already been made. It is better than anything I could invent, and it is where I take my cues. Two things I keep coming back to.

Film: Erhan Dayı / Pexels

Our galaxy.

Scale.

Most of what matters is quiet. A galaxy doesn't shout, and a screen doesn't need to either; space is what lets the important thing be seen.

Film: Kelly / Pexels

The smallest leaf.

Detail.

The care is in the parts nobody looks at first — the veins, the edges, how it catches light. Those are the parts I spend longest on.

None of this is mine. I only get to learn from it.

See the work

Mikael Pretorius outdoors, a mountain and pine trees behind him

A little about me.

I'm Mikael Pretorius, a freelance web developer and designer, and Elevate is my studio, based in Stellenbosch, in the Cape Winelands of South Africa. I take on web design and development in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschhoek, Wellington and the towns around them, for businesses that want something calm, fast and well made.

I work in Next.js, React and TypeScript, with GSAP for motion, and I pay close attention to how a site feels on a phone on mobile data — because that's where most people will meet it.

The beauty of creation is where I find my inspiration. It's in this site, and it's in the work.

Based
Stellenbosch, Cape Winelands, South Africa
Quotes in
South African rand
Builds with
Next.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind · GSAP

Start a conversation

Good to know.

A few plain answers before you write.

Where are you based, and where do you take on work?

I’m based in Stellenbosch, in the Cape Winelands of South Africa’s Western Cape, and I take on website design and development for businesses in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschhoek, Wellington and the towns around them.

Are you a web designer or a web developer?

Both. I design and build, so the person who decides how your website looks and feels is the same person who makes it work. There is no hand-over between a designer and a developer.

What kinds of websites do you build?

Websites for local businesses: the kind with services, prices, locations and a clear way to get in touch. Recent builds are a rebuild of the website of an eleven-branch barber group across the Winelands, with a page for every branch, and a website for a reformer pilates studio in Paarl, with a menu of classes and a timetable you can filter. Neither is launched yet.

What do you build with, and why?

Next.js, React and TypeScript, with Tailwind CSS for styling and GSAP for motion. Next.js lets me prerender pages as static HTML and hold heavy code back until it is needed, which matters on a phone on mobile data.

Will my website be found on Google?

Nobody can promise a ranking. What I do is build for it from the start: prerendered pages, a proper title and description on each, and the structured data search engines read. The Barber Club rebuild shows the approach. Each of its eleven shops has a page of its own, titled for its town, so that it can be found locally.

How do we start?

Send me a message through the form on this page, WhatsApp or call me on 082 756 3036, or email mikaelpretorius@gmail.com. A sentence or two about your business and what you’d like the website to do is enough. You don’t need a brief.

Start a conversation.

Tell me a little about what you're making, or what isn't working the way you'd like. I'd like to hear about it.

mikaelpretorius@gmail.comWhatsApp 082 756 3036 (opens WhatsApp)Call +27 82 756 3036

Stellenbosch, Cape Winelands, South AfricaGMT+2

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