Entering Albertus Swanepoel’s Washington Heights apartment is like stepping into a museum of South African artifacts. One afternoon, accompanied by his cat, Pooker, he took us through a few of his favorite things.

In Johannesburg, there are these fantastic street artists who sit on street corners and make these sculptures by hand with just wire and beads. It took one guy only two days to make this one (it’d take me at least five months), and the structure is amazing.

My mother started working on this in 1940. It took her 25 years to finish. It’s extremely intricate silk petit point. Definitely one of my favorite things.

When you go to South Africa, most people have Tretchikoff prints in their homes. He was born in Russia but lived in South Africa, and he was and is really popular there. This painting, called Chinese Girl, is his most famous work.

This beaded doll was a gift from a dear friend. It’s from Monkeybiz, a nonprofit that helps struggling artisans in South Africa, many of whom have HIV. Each piece is original and signed by the artist. I have two.

These beautiful plates were produced in the 1950s and all have South African imagery. I always wanted to be in New York, but now that I’ve been here 21 years, I’ve started to hoard things from my country like this.

This is a tiger’s eye stone ring, made just for me by my friend Marchand van Tonder, who’s a jeweler and artist. I like it because it’s authentically African mixed with modern.

Even when I was struggling, I’d go to the Met and get standing room. Now I have season tickets and I go to all of them.

She was apparently abandoned twice before we got her, but this is her last stop. She’s annoyingly sweet. Such a flirt! She always has to touch you.