Privacy Policy

Last updated: 9 September 2026

Blue Haven Interior Design respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use this website or enquire about our services, why we collect it, how we protect it, and the rights you have over it under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").

1. Who we are (the Responsible Party)

Blue Haven Interior Design is a sole proprietorship trading in the Republic of South Africa, offering bespoke interior design, custom joinery and turnkey project management. For the purposes of POPIA we are the Responsible Party that determines why and how your personal information is processed.

In terms of section 55 of POPIA the owner of the business is automatically the Information Officer, and is responsible for encouraging compliance with the Act, dealing with requests made to us, and working with the Information Regulator.

2. What personal information we collect

We collect only what you volunteer to us. We do not buy contact lists and we do not scrape data.

We do not collect special personal information

We do not ask for and do not want your identity number, banking details, health information, religious or political beliefs, or any other "special personal information" as defined in section 26 of POPIA. Please do not send these to us through the website. Where a signed project contract later requires banking or identity details, those are collected directly and separately, never through this website.

Children

This website is aimed at property owners and businesses. We do not knowingly collect the personal information of children under 18. If you believe a child has sent us their information, contact us and we will delete it.

3. How the enquiry form actually works

This is worth explaining, because it is unusual and it works in your favour. This website is a static site: it has no database and no server that receives form submissions.

When you complete the consultation request form and press Submit Consultation Request, your browser opens your own email application with a message already written out and addressed to us. Nothing is transmitted anywhere until you press send in your own email app. This means:

• Your details are never stored on this website, and never pass through a third-party form service.
• You can read, edit or delete the message before it is sent, or simply close it and send nothing at all.
• A copy stays in your own Sent folder, so you keep your own record of exactly what you sent us.

The same applies to the WhatsApp buttons: they open WhatsApp with a draft message that you choose to send or discard.

4. Why we process your information, and on what lawful basis

Section 11 of POPIA requires a lawful justification for each purpose. Ours are:

What we will never do

• We will not sell, rent or trade your personal information to anyone.
• We will not add you to a marketing list without asking you first. Section 69 of POPIA requires your consent for direct electronic marketing, and we honour that.
• We will not use your enquiry for automated decision-making or profiling.

5. Who we share your information with

We keep your information within our own studio. We share it only where it is genuinely necessary to answer you or to deliver your project, and only with parties who need it:

Cross-border transfers

Because our website host, font provider and email and messaging providers operate internationally, some of your information is processed on servers outside the Republic of South Africa. Section 72 of POPIA permits this where the recipient is subject to laws or binding agreements providing an adequate level of protection, or where the transfer is necessary to perform a contract with you or at your request. We rely on those grounds. If you would prefer to avoid international transfer entirely, contact us by telephone on 078 476 9221 · 079 666 7206 rather than using the website.

6. Cookies and tracking

The only third-party requests your browser makes while viewing this site are:

• Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com) — to download the typefaces the site is designed in. This sets no cookie, but Google does receive your IP address, the page you are viewing and your browser details as part of that request. Google's handling of this is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
• GitHub Pages — the server that delivers the page itself, which logs your IP address as any web server does.

If we ever add analytics, advertising or any other tracking technology to this site, we will publish a cookie notice and ask for your consent before those technologies are activated.

7. How long we keep your information

Section 14 of POPIA says we may not keep your records for longer than necessary. Our retention periods are:

• Enquiries that do not become projects: up to 24 months, so we can pick the conversation up if you come back to us, after which they are deleted.
• Quotes and proposals that are not accepted: up to 24 months.
• Completed project records, contracts and invoices: at least 5 years, as required by South African tax and business record-keeping legislation.
• Project photographs used in our portfolio: indefinitely, but only where you have given us permission to publish them, and in a form that does not identify you or your address unless you have agreed to that.

You may ask us to delete your information sooner — see section 9 below.

8. How we protect your information

Section 19 of POPIA requires appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures. Given the size of our studio, ours are:

• This website is served over HTTPS, so the connection between your browser and the site is encrypted.
• The website holds no database of enquiries, so there is no customer database on this site to breach.
• Access to our email and WhatsApp accounts is limited to the studio owner, protected by strong passwords and, where offered, two-factor authentication.
• Devices used to access client information are password protected.
• Project information is shared with suppliers strictly on a need-to-know basis.

No method of transmission over the internet is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a compromise of your personal information, section 22 of POPIA requires us to notify both the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible, and we will do so.

9. Your rights over your information

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Be told what personal information we hold about you and who we have given it to (sections 23 and 24).
• Ask for a copy of that information. We may charge the prescribed fee for this.
• Have it corrected if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained.
• Have it deleted or destroyed where we no longer have a lawful reason to keep it.
• Object to our processing of it on reasonable grounds (section 11(3)).
• Withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting anything lawfully done before you withdrew it.
• Refuse direct marketing, and have that refusal respected permanently (section 69).
• Complain to the Information Regulator, and approach a court, if you believe we have infringed your rights.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@bluehavendesigns.co.za or call 078 476 9221 · 079 666 7206. We will respond within a reasonable time, and in any event within 30 days. We may first ask you to confirm your identity, so that we do not hand your information to somebody pretending to be you. Formal access and correction requests are handled through the procedure set out in our PAIA Manual.

10. Complaining to the Information Regulator

We would rather hear from you directly first, so please contact us and give us the chance to put things right. If you are not satisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with:

11. Links to other websites

This site links to WhatsApp and may link to social media or supplier websites. Once you follow such a link you are on someone else's website, governed by their privacy policy rather than this one. We are not responsible for how they handle your information.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our business or the law changes. The revision date at the top of the page always shows when it was last changed. Material changes will be signalled on the website, so please check this page occasionally.

13. Contact us about privacy

Questions, requests or complaints about this policy or about your personal information can be sent to info@bluehavendesigns.co.za, or call 078 476 9221 · 079 666 7206 during business hours.