Design Indaba Expo, Conference & Festival
Design Indaba, the globally acclaimed creative fandango that’s put Cape Town on the world map as an international hotbed of innovation, dishes up yet another year of multifaceted events in 2015. Taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and a few subsidiary venues from Friday, 20 February to Sunday, 1 March 2015, the much-anticipated multidisciplinary experience – it includes a conference, simulcast, expo, film festival and music fair – looks to, beyond all else, get the creative juices flowing in the Mother City.

Launched in 1995, Design Indaba was inspired by a need to overcome societal issues and was driven forward by the goal of promoting design as a basic form of communication, as a business requirement and as a formidable tool in industry and commerce.
Design Indaba – a better world through creativity

Last week I visited Cape Town – (last year’s design capital of the world), to attend the Design Indaba 2015.

Guild Design Fair

We arrived a day early, first went to the Guild Design Fair where it was wonderful to see that a past member of the school – Richard Stretton had been honoured in 2012!
Well deserved as his work has always been of a high standard and innovative.

Here I found the wood work of Peter Mabeo, of Studio Mabeo Furniture, from Gabarone, otswana.  His work is fine and I was impressed by the comfortable and versatile cylindrical stool.  It was crafted from pieces of wood called Punga-Punga sourced from Mozambique.  And to boot he turned out to be a fine man too!
His Studio works in collaboration with revered European designers/artists that celebrate African heritage.

ICC Design Indaba

At the Design Indaba held at the ICC of Cape Town two displays were impressive.
Nando’s had a very interactive stand where anyone could sit down and look at all the work their company is producing to promote African design and art. They had taken various size and colour funnels, attached cable ties to the broader side and then with different coloured dried Ilala palm woven a lamp shade.  They were delightful, colourful and very inviting as well as innovative.

The other outstanding display was called De Steyl Furniture Design with their 2DO stackable storage system.  These stackable boxes are made from sustainable plywood printed with water based inks and finished by hand.  These boxes can be used as desktop organizers or freestanding furniture. These modular pieces are a delight and will enhance any space.

The ICC was buzzing with people interested in what is new in the country and it was well worth the trip.

AFRICA IS NOW.