Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NO. 3
2011
EURO RSCG 4847/E
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
14 > Oona Scheepers: A fairytale from Prieska
to Porsche
COMMUNICATION DESIGN
64 > Frost*: Understanding the serious
playground of business and good design
EDUCATION
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BUILT ENVIRONMENT
98 > Capsulation for 9 hours
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
104 > Transit cases: Chairs from Mexico
DESIGN PROMOTION
144 > Leimei Julia Chiu: A champion for design
promotion across boundaries
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EDUCATION
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CREATIVE LEARNING
188 > Images for change: A sustainable bond
with spaces and places we occupy
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www.bowman.co.za
EDUCATION
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EDITOR'S FOREWORD
A new year has begun and just quality and output, but also create and knitting. The Sound of Music
when we think we are a little more a culture that is characterised by a introduces the world of sound
familiar and comfortable with the gradual increase in strategic think- design and we specifically look
trendy titbits of 2011, another list ers, true leaders, problem solvers, at production companies Milestone
of X-factors make the front pages. innovators and entrepreneurs. Studios and Adelphoi Music. As a
Technology makes our world so This is another reason why we are great designer, strategic thinker
pliable and malleable that it can keeping a keen eye on creative city and brand developer, Vince Frost
reinvent itself again and again. Un- Cape Town who is currently get- certainly needs no introduction.
fortunately the rules of Mother ting ready to bid for the Interna- While using the 2010 FIFA World
Nature is less pliable and struggles tional Design Alliance’s World De- Cup as a measuring tool, DESIGN-
to adjust to the world’s greed sign Capital 2014 designation. ING_SOUTHAFRICA is taking count
for success – so much so that she of the true impact of the creative
reacts more and more in despair In this edition of ED> we intro- industry on economic develop-
and desperation. Thinking, work- duce you to a number of designers ment. Brazil is also starting to
ing and doing everything sustain- who are impacting greatly on the take stock and we have a look at
ably is not trendy anymore or even world around us. One being South the branding development of Rio
limited to a minority group in so- Africa’s own design star, Oona Olympics 2014.
ciety. It is slowly becoming an Scheepers who is a great success
everyday lifestyle. Just imagine the in the automotive industry. Véro- We also explore the teachings of
immediate change if we could live nique Vienne contributes a special biomimicry and the Cross-Pollina-
in a world where it is second nature interview with Omar Vulpinari, tion workshops where nature is a
to act responsibly in everything head of Visual Communication at vital mentor in developing better
we do? Fabrica, the Benetton Group’s com- solutions for the changing world in
munication research centre, and which we live. Also check out the
Designing a different world sounds we ‘re-sound’ architectural design experiential and collaborative
like an enormous task but it is cer- when talking to local talent Don methods of the Sketch Assembly,
tainly possible, and even more so if Albert who recently launched the as well as the latest hot talents
we change our teaching method- book, Sound Space Design. Meet under our Cream of the Crop sec-
ologies to rather fit in with the Zimbabwean-born shoe designer, tion.
changing needs of the world around Liam Faye and learn how he uses
us. It is also imperative to move his native country as inspiration It is indeed a rapidly changing
towards developing a ‘culture of for most creative decisions that world. Have a great and inspiring
design’ that will not only ensure a he make. read.
better educated consumer mar-
ket that will force businesses to We also showcase a different set Suné Stassen
become more competitive in of design fields like glass, ceramics Editor
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CREDITS
FOUNDER > Cameron Bramley COVER ARTWORK >
Rob Mills, Edge of light 2, 2004. Pigment ink
CHIEF EXECUTIVE > Karuna Pillay print on rice paper worked over with beeswax
and oil paint. Dancer, Kristin Wilson from
GROUP EDITOR > Jacques Lange Natalie Fisher's Pieces of a Dream. © Rob Mills,
www.signsoflife.co.za
EDITOR > Suné Stassen
DESIGN & LAYOUT > Bluprint Design
CONTRIBUTORS > Jimena Acosta, Fatima
Cassim, Maran Coates, Vikki du Preez, Jennie PUBLISHED BY >
Fourie, Melissa Haiden, Kigge Hvid, Jess Henson, DESIGN>MAGAZINE
Janine Johnston, Angelique Kendall, David T: +27(0) 12 346 7788
Larsen, Anastasia Messaris, Beth Peterson, Chad F: +27 (0) 12 346 2559
Pietersen, Erin-Lee Saunders, Sarah Stewart , E: design.arrow.magazine@gmail.com
Liani van der Westhuizen, Retief van Wyk, Marlé
van Zyl, Véronique Vienne W: www.designmagazine.co.za
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DESIGNarrow
SALES DIRECTOR > Jeff Malan
© 2011 DESIGN>MAGAZINE
PRODUCTION MANAGER > Stacey Rowan
ISSN 1814-7240
ADMINISTRATION > Michelle Swart Number 3, February 2011
DISCLAIMER: No material may be reproduced in part or whole without the express permission of the
publisher. No responsibility will be accepted for unsolicited material. The publisher accepts no liability
of whatsoever nature arising out of or in connection with the contents of this publication. The pub-
lisher does not give any warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of its contents. The views and
opinions expressed in DESIGN>EDUCATION are not necessarily those of the publisher, its endorsers
or media partners.
EDUCATION
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EDUCATION
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OONA SCHEEPERS
A fairytale from Prieska to Porsche
By Chad Petersen
The multibillion-Rand automotive industry The ash heap was her favourite place where
has many designers vying for a position in she would find broken porcelain objects,
the field of vehicle design. This highly com- glass and other interesting bits and pieces to
petitive field makes it extremely difficult create fantasy worlds. This, together with her
for aspiring designers to find a job. So it should fascination for semi-precious stones that
come as a surprise that a farm girl from she found on the farm, formed the basis for
Prieska, a small town in the Northern Cape, what she loves doing today, which she says
has managed to cement her place in the are “cars, colours and materials”.
international automotive design industry.
Oona studied Graphic Design at the then Cape
Oona Scheepers is South Africa’s very own Technikon (now Cape Peninsula University
‘star’ automotive designer who has managed of Technology) and drew a few automotive
to make it big internationally, designing for illustrations while at Tech but this was mostly
prestigious companies such as Porsche, Audi to please her car-crazy husband. She could
and most recently Volkswagen AG where she never have dreamt that this was a sign for her
is head of the Design Studio for Colour and future success. After completing her diploma
Trim. she applied for a job as a layout artist at Car
magazine. She really wanted this job but was
Her humble beginnings found her playing turned down. This incident was a huge turning
in an old ash heap on the farm and at this point for her, instilling a lot of drive in her to
point Oona never dreamed of becoming an become successful. She now looks back think-
automotive designer but always knew that ing that not getting the job was actually a
she would do something art or design-related. blessing in disguise because had she been
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LEFT: Oona Scheepers with some of her tools of trade. RIGHT: Colour range of the new Volkswagen Polo.
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accepted for the job she might not have be- never looked back with any regrets,” says
come the amazing automotive designer she Oona. The rest, as they say, is history.
is today. Oona quotes the Dalai Lama who
once said that what you don’t get is usually Her first permanent position was at Porsche
the bigger gift, and this is something that where she was involved with the design of the
in hindsight makes complete sense to her. Carrera GT. For her, working on the Carrera GT
is one of her career highlights: “It was the
Oona’s husband Stef worked at British Ley- birth of new car development when the Car-
land and Renault in Elsies River until the rera GT had its so-called rollout” It was dusk
companies withdrew from South Africa. After at the test track in Weissach when the engine
this there was not much else relating to the roared up for the first time and blasted down
automotive industry in South Africa for Stef the straight. The feeling is indescribable and
to get involved in so the family relocated to every time I think about it, I still get goose
the UK in 1987, where Stef got a job in auto- bumps.”
motive design. After spending two years in
the UK, they moved to Germany in 1989. Ini- Oona draws much of her inspiration from
tially they only planned to be abroad for two nature. She believes that nature holds the key
years but those two years have become 20! to the perfect colour palette. This can be seen
After moving to Cologne in Germany, Oona in the Porsche Cayenne that was inspired by
was unable to work since she did not have a the Kalahari’s colour palette and the Audi TT
work permit. She started drawing portraits by the shades of a Free State thunderstorm.
of the kids in their son’s kindergarten and “There is nothing that beats the colour and
little did she know that this was going to textural inspiration that you get from nature.
be her ticket into the wonderful world of Nature has a few golden rules and if you keep
automotive design. One of the fathers was to them you can’t go wrong. I love using South
so impressed with Oona’s art that he offered African landscapes when selecting colour
her a job and promised to sort out a work – it is pure and crisp. It’s almost like looking
permit. At this point she knew nothing of at everything through a polarising filter,” she
what the job offer would entail and was explains. She also mentions that many design-
surprised to find out a few days later that she ers often get their inspiration from everyday
would be working in an automotive design life, architecture and furniture design. Here,
studio. Initially she was hesitant to accept she says, you can find the perfect balance be-
the position but her boss told her that au- tween contemporary materials and colour.
tomotive design was all about proportions
and she has mastered this skill through her When asked how her studies in graphic design
portraits. “That was 21 years ago and I have helped her refine her automotive design skills,
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she explains: “The basis of any creative pro- In recent years computer-aided design has
fession, be it architecture, furniture design become more and more prominent in auto-
or automotive design, is a solid foundation motive design studios and with good reason:
in art. I am responsible for design, colour and it allows for a more realistic representation
trim, which means I develop the colour pro- of a design and changes can be made easily
grammes for all our vehicles, exterior as well without having to redraw the whole concept
as interior. As a graphic designer I had a very by hand. However, Oona says that there is
good intuition and knack for colour, texture no substitute for the “mighty pencil” be-
and composition. This has helped a lot.” cause any good designer will still start with
original sketches and ideas on paper. “The
The colour and trim form one of the three essence of good design is the skill of deliv-
classic pillars of automotive design – the other ering good drawings.” Walter de Silva, chief
two being exterior and interior. Everything designer at Volkswagen, finds time to draw
you can see, feel and touch on the vehicle each and every day. “To draw should be sec-
comes from the colour and trim designers. ond nature and it should be an unconscious
She explains that only when all three ele- act. You should automatically start sketching
ments are in harmony does the car become when you see a piece of paper and a pencil/
a perfect unit. pen without giving it much thought. There
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TOP LEFT: Oona Scheepers and will always be hundreds of pictures trapped
Stefan Sielaff, head of Audi in your mind that need to escape onto paper,”
Design with the Audi A5 3.0
says Oona.
TDI quattro. © Audi.
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became her ’baby‘. The Polo is a global prod- the best results when put under immense
uct but if one looks closely at the design of pressure. Adriaan van Hooydonk, chief de-
the Polo in different parts of the world, signer at BMW, once said that it is important
you will notice slight tweaks in the design. to find a rhythm similar to that of top sports-
Oona explains that Volkswagen AG values men who are also not able to constantly fight
the concept of localisation. All right-hand for the gold medal. This strategy avoids burn
drive Polos, as well as the Cross Polo are out. “I had excellent training growing up in
built in South Africa and when they build the Karroo. The Karroo taught me endurance.
the cars locally, she makes sure that they Twelve years of boarding school also taught
get as much local content into the product. me a lot of discipline – these two qualities
This allows for clear differentiation between make you succeed when others tend to give
markets. Oona has close contact with all the up,” says Oona. “Creative people hardly ever
production plants worldwide, which include have breaks. By this I mean that even at
South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, the USA, India, home designers are always absorbing new
Russia and China. And it is important for her ideas so their antennas are always set on
to have regular international contact to make ‘receive’.” Some of Oona’s best ideas come
sure that all market demands and needs are during the night, which is why she has a
met. “The intercultural challenges are ex- notepad and pen next to her bed. “Of
tremely exciting and I love collaborating course it is not always possible to make out
with the designers from the different coun- the scribbles in the morning.”
tries,” says Oona.
Oona concludes: “South Africa is alive with
The automotive design industry is still a pre- possibilities and South Africans need to
dominately male-dominated profession. know that they have every right to stand
However, Oona says that she has absolutely proud. If one is ambitious, have clear goals
no problem working in this profession and and believe in yourself, you will make it, no
that she actually enjoys it. She goes on to matter what your circumstances are. Suc-
say that as in every profession, you have to cess is just a by-product of dedicated hard
earn respect regardless of your gender. work.”
“One of the most important things is to try
and keep emotion out of business. It is not
always easy for females to stick to the cold About the author
business facts,” says Oona.
Chad Petersen is an industrial designer spe-
There is constant pressure in the automotive cialising in consumer electronics with a par-
design industry to always 'up your game' to ticular focus on socially responsible design.
improve on models and compete with other He is currently working at …XYZ in Cape
manufacturers, and creative people deliver Town. <
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By Véronique Vienne
Photo by EJ Camp
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The work atmosphere at address the most pressing art and design residents who
Fabrica is unique – some have social issues. stay at Fabrica for 12 months,
compared this intercultural but also for visiting design
campus to the Bauhaus. Fab- V> Fabrica is located less educators, entrepreneurs,
rica’s studio consists exclu- than 30 minutes from Venice. promoters and writers. In fact,
sively of young designers Every two years, at the Venice many prominent artists and
from all over the world who Biennale, the most provoca- designers passing through
develop campaigns for clients tive contemporary artists the region frequently stop
with a social agenda. The Jap- worldwide exhibit their most at Fabrica for casual visits,
anese architect Tadao Ando recent projects. It’s such a lectures and workshops,
has transformed an old Pal- stimulating environment, making the institute a very
ladian villa into one of the isn’t it? special and dynamic ‘think-
most remarkable contempo- hub’ in a global network of
rary landmarks which has be- O> Fabrica is definitely in a design-led innovation.
come home to Fabrica. The very fortunate cultural and
place, and the people working geographical position. It is V> Your visual vocabulary is
on the premises, expresses, located just north of Treviso direct, bold, often unnerving
in 21 century language, the
st
so by car it’s 30 minutes from (your Global Violence Preven-
values elaborated by archi- the culture capitals of Venice tion campaign or anti-smoking
tects like Le Corbusier and and Padua, 40 from Cortina ads, for instance). You don’t
Mies van der Rohe – values (the heart of the Dolomite seem to be afraid of contro-
that the architectural critic Mountains), and another 40 versy. Is getting people upset
Peter Blake had described as from Lesolo, the most pop- about issues a Benetton
“serving humanity and art in ular beach-culture coast of tradition?
roughly equal doses". the Adriatic Sea.
In a recent interview, Omar O> Truth sets you free, but
Vulpinari explained how he This makes the Fabrica ex- can also hurt. Our images are
tries to create memorable perience very appealing, not about universal realities that
and artful campaigns that only for young international need to be communicated
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and addressed, but in a universal work like Fabrica to attract people Essentially, lateral thinking is
audience context this can mean who are aligned with that nature about thinking without (or with
displacing someone. of work. We are mostly known for less) fear of failure. Advancement
our communication design for so- and creative solutions cannot
Very often our images are direct, cial concern through our global come from environments that can-
and for this reason disturbing, but campaigns for United Nations not take risks of failing. In the end,
this is not a stylistic/self-marketing and for 19 years of publishing the privilege of being able to af-
choice. International research ef- Colors – The Magazine About the ford failure first of all requires il-
forts in social communication have Rest of the World. luminated governors/entrepre-
demonstrated that when behav- neurs/patrons and their support.
iour change is required through Secondly, our selection process
visual communication, the mes- is very sensitive towards sincere V> Is providing students with real-
sage and its language must be care for design as a social agent life clients and real-life challenges
direct and emotionally impacting of change. This also means look- one of the new possibilities you
to be memorable and therefore ing for candidates who have strong see for people who teach commu-
effective. image-based communication skills nication design? Is it what ‘practice
that can transcend perennial lan- research’ is all about?
For example, countries that adopt guage barriers and have a more
those disturbing but realistic direct impact in a global multi- O> It’s not a new possibility but it’s
photographic images of smoke- lingual context. an increasingly relevant one. In a
related diseases on cigarette packs world and market of growing multi-
have on average an immediate Thirdly, my being at Fabrica for 12 player complexity the designer can-
drop of 20% in tobacco consump- years now has probably also helped not avoid collaborating closely
tion. a lot in maintaining consistency of with the end-user, the client and
message and image. numerous other stakeholders
V> Your residents (as Fabrica’s and professionals in different
grant holders are called) are young V> Massive change will not happen disciplines (scientists, program-
communication and product de- with old ideas. You are a pioneer mers, business consultants, and
signers, video makers, photogra- of what you call ‘lateral thinking’. more). Therefore, the designer’s
phers and interaction designers, What makes this approach really project-based training cannot any
most of them under 25. And they different? longer be focused on the slow-
stay with you for a year or two, track classroom-simulation basis.
maximum. Plus they come from O> ’Lateral thinking ideas‘ first Practice research must take the
around the world. Yet your cen- need ’Lateral thinking funding’. students into the clients’ meeting
tre creates socially aware cam- Unfortunately very few govern- rooms and to the streets of public
paigns that are surprisingly con- ments have effective research service. This will not only turn
sistent in terms of message and funding policies. Italy is definite- out as a real benefit for the stu-
image. What’s your secret? ly not one of them as our univer- dent but also for the market and
sity research funds are almost the community.
O> First of all, it’s natural for any the lowest in Europe, and still
environment doing distinctive falling.
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Client: UNWHO Road Safety | Art director & photographer: Yianni Hill |
Creative director: Omar Vulpinari
Campaign commissioned by UNWHO for the First United Nations Global
World Road Safety Week 2007. The campaign includes five posters and
public service announcements addressing “young road users” which are
the most frequent victims of road accidents. © Fabrica 2007.
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LEFT: Pantsula series. CENTRE: The Smarteez series. RIGHT: The Tshe Tsha
Boys series by Chris Saunders ©
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The Albino series by Pieter Hugo. Pieter, a South African photographer, worked in RIGHT: From the series
Fabrica’s photography department for two years. His interests alternate between Die Vier Hoeke by Mikhail
socially aware documentary photography, especially on themes relevant to Africa Subotzky ©
and other developing countries. Pieter's series of portraits of albinos are actually
fragments of mirrors. When you really look, those pale, transparent eyes, that hair
of a color without color, that fragile and delicate skin, they really tell us about
ourselves. They bring out fears and our prejudices to the surface. © Pieter Hugo.
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About Omar
Vulpinari
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RE-SOUNDING
(ARCHITECTURAL)
SUCCESS
By Anastasia Messaris
With the release of their new book Sound fulfilling and more beneficial than the end
Space Design: The Architecture of Don Albert result. It may be interesting to note that Mau’s
and Partners (Pythagoras Media Company, An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth seems
2010), Don Albert & Partners have the oppor- to condense what I think your practice is
tunity to showcase their conceptually inno- about: growth and discovery, both for your
vative, technologically astute and slightly architecture and for the environment in
unconventional method of creating universal which it is situated. Has there ever been an
architecture. ED> spoke to principal architect occasion in which you found the journey
Don Albert about key issues surrounding vastly more rewarding than the end prod-
their approach to creating sound spaces. uct? Has this shaped your idea of ‘not
knowing’ at all?
ED> Central to your investigations of space
and innovative design is your idea of ’not DA> Yes certainly, and that ‘process-driven’
knowing’. The communication designer Bruce approach is something promoted by many
Mau stated in his An Incomplete Manifesto designers, physicists and educators, including
for Growth that: “Process is more important Thomas Heatherwick, Isaak Newton and Aris-
than outcome. When the outcome drives the totle respectively. I think in any of our un-built
process we will only ever go where we’ve work, the ’end product’ is merely drawings,
already been. If process drives outcome we models, animations and images, so here the
may not know where we’re going, but we process is more rewarding simply because
will know we want to be there.” there isn’t a built work as such. Of course this
media is still an architectural artefact. I would
I find this idea appealing in that it fits into go so far as to say that ALL our projects’
your idea of ‘not knowing’, that the progres- processes are more rewarding to me as an
sion of the wander is undoubtedly both more architect than their built manifestations,
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Views of the book Sound Space Design: The ED> How have the advances in computer tech-
Architecture of Don Albert and Partners. nology aided in your design exploration?
software to most architects. At each step, we at ED> Does this then correspond to your beliefs
Don Albert & Partners have tried to keep of an architecture of longevity, that the build-
abreast of, if not be ahead of, the curve. Hav- ings people like to look at and inhabit (i.e. are
ing said that, and as noted in ‘not knowing’, I popular) will have the most lasting success as a
am very sceptical about how BIM is affecting design? But if pop (or popular) abides by trends,
the industry from a creative point of view, as I does that mean that the architecture that pop or
believe it short circuits a lot of abstraction popular-ism produces is also a trend? Further-
that should occur in the design process. more, how does your version of pop context
differ to that of say, the Century City’s and
Caesar’s Palaces of pop context?
ED> In your book you call yourself a contextual
architect and you explain context as something
DA> There is obviously a question of taste in
that is not entirely rational, that is fluctuating
everything, however, my view on pop music, as
and circumstantial and will most certainly alter
much as pop architecture, is that the song it-
within the lifespan of a building. You also (quite
self, or the building itself has to be intrinsically
refreshingly) draw influence from pop, specifi-
meritorious from a ‘structural’ or ‘functional’ point
cally the music videos of Kylie Minogue and Dawn
of view to enable any kind of longevity or appre-
Shadforth. In this way I see pop (or popular-ism) in ciation in the first place. There are rules, but the
itself becoming a context. Is this a correct cor- most important quality of pop is currency. This is
relation? what elevates it into the popular consciousness
and might separate it from the competition,
DA> Yes, certainly. Although popular culture however from that moment on, i.e. the moment
is an intangible thing generally, it certainly is a it has registered as ’popular‘ it becomes legacy,
’context’ to me. precisely because it was once novel enough to
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publication in South Africa, there is an at- and limiting regurgitations of the past,
titude that ‘as long as it looks trendy, it’s ok’. period.
The current big trend is ‘green’, or ‘eco’ of
course, which I feel has become somewhat The history of South Africa is an appalling
of a facile pretext for conceptualisation, as one, and is not to be shied away from, how-
if the concern for sustainability has never ever, I believe that we need to fashion a
been on any architectural agenda before. positive vision of the future, one where our
commonalities and capacities as human be-
ED> Both your writings and your architecture ings are amplified, as opposed to our dif-
convey a relentless sense of enthusiasm and ferences, which, seventeen years into so-
optimism. It is a feeling of looking forward called democracy, still seems to be the case.
(in pre-conceived notions of culture and con-
text, of budget and technology, of form, of ED> Your (in South African terms) unconven-
education) as opposed to a very strong South tional method of producing architecture is
African tendency to look back to previously occasionally conceived locally as a Eurocentric
defined ideas of context and identity. Perhaps way of designing, and the consequent archi-
this is why you seem to court a fair amount tecture is then viewed as best suited to the
of controversy. Can you respond to this? cultural and technological climates of Europe.
But was there ever a time when you were
DA> I actually don’t know about any con- startled by how very South African you seemed
troversy. I certainly haven’t seen anything in your design process, when your way of
in print. I can imagine what you are writing creating space was so obviously local?
of though, in terms of the way I have been
shunned occasionally by certain groups in DA> I think if you look at how certain neo-
the academe and in the profession, so a fair modern architects are designing from Cali-
response to your question would be that fornia, to Spain, to China, that there is nothing
certainly, I am not interested in self-fulfilling especially European, or Eurocentric in them,
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and by extension, in the approach of Don I think the connection between so-called
Albert & Partners, unless you are suggesting Western modernism and African, and the
that all neo-modern (process-driven?) archi- Eastern cultures, is a deep one and should not
tecture is Eurocentric? I have a big problem be oversimplified in the criticism of modern
with that statement, for many reasons, but architecture.
mostly because I believe that Western civilisa-
tion draws on extensive roots and borrowings ED> I personally sense enormous growth
from Africa in the first place. in your designs between the initial concept
and the final architectural product. To me
I think that there is a great degree of sensi- it seems your grasp of intricate and alter-
tivity towards ‘specificity’ and context in the native technologies is able to transform
architecture that I regard as inspirational and your vision into an architecture that is (in
merit worthy. The key for me is how to abstract your own words) “robust enough to endure
contextual issues (as opposed to forms) in and meaningful enough to be valued.” Yet
order to unleash their power and create new in your book you speak relatively little about
ideas and new architectural forms and spaces. technology and more often about concept.
I also don’t see anything particularly prob- For you, how does the one influence the other,
lematic with being influenced by local forms and at what stage is technology thought
or morphologies either, as long as there is about as a concept in itself?
some critical attitude towards such physical
hegemony. Furthermore, I don’t see why or DA> To me, technology is an enabler, not
how that notion of abstraction belongs ex- an end-in-itself. It is the tool that allows us
clusively to Europe when in fact, the idea of to be creative, to see things differently, to
abstraction belongs to everyone, and is make things differently. There is no single
very alive and well in Africa. technology that is inherently any better than
any other. I am very happy to draw on a draw-
Do these critics who view our process as ing board, if that is all that is at hand. It’s
Eurocentric not know of the abstraction in what you do with it that matters; and that is
carved African masks that influenced Picasso why the concept is always stressed in our of-
(and thus the whole of modern art), or the fice, not the medium. Of course, sometimes
wonderful mathematics and abstraction in- the medium informs the concept, and vice
volved in Zulu beadwork? Or how much the versa, but it’s about the idea ultimately. I
Greeks in fact borrowed from the Egyptians am not interested in pontificating about
forming the bedrock of Western civilisa- certain technologies, as these, inevitably
tion, amongst many, many other examples? become redundant sooner or later anyway.
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lack of intellectual rigour, rampant corrup- ED> Your book is an exciting new addition to
tion, a lack of concern for meritorious appoint- the chronicles of local architectural theory
ments and a paucity of competitions and and practice. What prompted its produc-
genuinely public debate (i.e. involving city tion and have you learnt anything through
planners and administrators) on architecture the process of recording your thoughts and
in South Africa, as is currently the case, is documenting your discoveries?
going to have a negative long-term effect on
the profession. The climate of public commis- DA> Thank you. I think your preceding ques-
sions in architecture should always be the tion, more than anything, alerted me to the
litmus test of a nation’s values, and its value fact that South African architects need to
in architecture. engage with each other and their audience
more. We need to be proactive, and of course,
At the moment, there is a coterie of 'glamor- document what is going on in our heads, if
ous' architects doing well for themselves, anything.
and there is a justifiable concern for 'green'
architecture which is worthy and will hope- Your questions are indeed a welcome out-
fully have a greater impact on commercial come of the process of taking the time to take
developments, however, in the main, the art stock. I think that I have learnt that making
and role of architecture is simply not on the architecture is much easier than making books
radar in South Africa and is practically ignored about architecture, but unfortunately I will be
by government. Until something radical hap- doing more of that too. My next book, inci-
pens in that regard, I see very dire consequenc- dentally, is going to be the first in a series on
es for South Africa, and not just from a purely Pop Architecture, one pre-millennium, and
architectural point of view. We need to see one post.
architects returning to an active position of
intellectual and commercial integrity.
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architect, and not just the President of the About the author
United States. It would be wonderful if South
Africa had an architect for President one day, Anastasia Messaris graduated with a Masters
wouldn’t it? in Architecture at University of Cape Town.
Her research topic dealt with music as an
NOTE: ED> would like to thank Don Albert inspiration to and generator of space. Focus
for his continuous enthusiasm, interest and areas of her career are architecture as a social
involvement in both the practice of archi- construct and architecture of light. <
tecture and this article.
References
EDUCATION
50 >
AFTER A
GLASS
SHOE
By Maran Coates. Liam Fahy’s unconven-
tional background has greatly affected the
conceptual signature styles impressed the
judging panel which included the legendary
man he is today. Having launched his compa- Manolo Blahnik.
ny, Liam Fahy London in 2010, specialising in
women’s luxury shoes, Liam seems to be fol- As part of his prize Liam got a paid intern-
lowing the natural progression of an already ship alongside Rupert Sanderson, learning
award-winning shoe designer. the secrets of true Italian craftsmanship and
design. Liam says, “Italians work to live. They
Amongst his most important successes was do not live to work. And you need to speak
winning the first ever Fashion Fringe Shoe Italian if you want to work in Italy.” Sander-
competition in the UK in 2008, when he was son is quoted as saying, “for me, it's refresh-
picked from six finalists. Liam’s innovative, ing to be able to work with such a young and
diverse design experience and unusual enthusiastic mind.”
EDUCATION
52 >
EARLY YEARS AND The role of ‘two’ gets interpreted into other
INFLUENCES contexts where it implies symmetry, ‘positive
and negative, black and white and rigidity
As a youngster growing up on a snake farm and flexibility which he always use in his de-
outside Harare, Zimbabwe, his isolated Afri- signs.
can upbringing crafted his fundamental ap-
proach to design. By focusing on designing From a very early age Liam’s Lego collection
from the inside through to the outside rather sparked his interest in physics. For him, Lego
than designing the outside only, Liam cap- portrayed the “very close relationship with
tures a sensibility of what he calls “our African graphics and geometrical proportions, espe-
aesthetics’ powerful signature which em- cially in relation to structures and move-
phasises functionality and simplicity”. ment”. The I Ashi Bionicus range of boots he
designed is an example of both the use of
Liam’s strong aversion to capitalist corpora- structure and movement and also of his re-
tions, along with his design approach, means search which won him the 2006 Linea Pelle
that the commercial weapon in his design is Footwear Award in Milan.
to focuses on quality craftsmanship and
conceptual interpretation. His frustration Liam’s conceptual formula for success seems
with capitalist corporations stems from the to be pretty straightforward and in many of
fact that Liam has seen the social and eco- his interview responses he mentions the role
nomic effects of mass production and poor of research. “You can never do too much re-
quality imitation in his own country, as well search. I love the research process. A project
as other third world countries. Liam’s con- will always evolve as you do more and more
ceptual process is based on his personal research.”
theories of physics and psychology which he
couple with the powerful tool of research. As an example he explains that the I Ashi Bi-
onicus range was inspired by a myriad of
As part of his personal philosophy Liam talks sources, ranging from a telephone handset,
passionately about the number two. “The a ceramic plate, Bjork’s music video All is full
most important number in design is two. of love, Apple iPod, Toyota i-series, i-robot,
Perfection in nature supports this. There are armadillos, the joints of crabs, the tops of
two main hemispheres of the brain, two coffee cups and helmets. The overall con-
eyes, two ears -the list is endless. Nature al- cept emphasises purity and simplicity in
ways maintains balance, simplicity and mini- form through clinical colour and minimal
malism.” Liam further interprets this number construction. Though the inspirations are
by looking at contrasting characteristics that futuristic in some sense, the conceptual
rely on the tension between the opposites. principle is rooted in functional simplicity.
This tension creates energy and strength.
EDUCATION
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Liam proudly says: “Some people look at on the farm where he grew up have, for in-
how shoes are made and design a shoe that stance, given him the knowledge to look at
conforms to that. I like to design a shoe and a sample of python leather and determine
then invent a way to make it.” With this in its authenticity and also recognise the spe-
mind Liam then thinks of the ‘how’ part cies and its age.
which is where he poses questions like, “can
I combine an inflexible incongruous medium
to a traditionally flexible and soft product? FOLLOWING HIS PASSION
Or could the product be mechanical, have FOR DESIGN
moving parts like pressing a button that
opens the top? Or can the heel be altered After high school, Liam briefly studied at
with a remote control?” In the end the I Ishi the local international art school. At the
Bionicus boots were made from a neoprene same time he spent time learning about the
‘sock’ with vac formed plastic gloss caps and value of social thought through his informal
detailing. training with local artists, mainly stone
sculptors, welders and painters. “Zimbabwe,
Liam first experienced ‘the theatre of fash- I think, has the highest concentration of
ion’ where design and psychology meet sculptors in the world. We used to make art
when he was head boy at Harare Interna- just for the sake of it and left pieces in
tional School. Here he learnt that entertain- strange places for someone to find one day.”
ment gets the audience’s votes. “Entertain-
ment and emotion depend entirely upon Liam left art school for what he calls a hiatus
personal perception. Psychology is the big- and “a break from the conventional Western
gest component of entertainment.” For definition of work”. The hiatus was spent
some the entertainment is in the fleeting- along the Zambezi River with the Batonga
ness of fashion itself. However, engaging tribe. “It is their completely different way of
the emotions in that experience adds an- looking at life that interested me.” Many
other dimension to Liam’s work. By consid- people in the area have a two-hour com-
ering and experimenting with functionality, mute to work, work 9-6, no lunch, two-hour
internal construction, acoustics of the prod- commute home, microwave meal, sleep, and
uct, light properties and touch, Liam reacts repeat this Monday to Friday.”
to his clients preconceived perception of
footwear. Living in Zimbabwe meant that Liam did a
lot of travelling when he was younger. “It
Liam has also made the connection between was pretty isolated so it made me want to
his homeland and his career. The experiences get out there and see what was going on.”
EDUCATION
56 >
Deciding to study abroad seemed to be the The Safari range of high-end boots referred
most obvious way to do that, where he directly to Southern Africa’s colonial period
could embrace his passion for hands-on de- of the 1900s. Liam added to the authenticity
sign. After his hiatus, Liam left for the UK to of the boots by using materials such as khaki,
study at the prestigious De Montfort Uni- canvas, mahogany and vegetable-tanned
versity in Leicester where he enrolled to natural leather. Most interestingly, Liam
study shoe design. took his inspiration to another level by
moulding the shape of the heel on the butt
When reminiscing about his student days at of a vintage revolver from the 1900s.
De Montfort University, Liam notes that the
“strange thing is that out of 20 students on After graduating Liam got a job at a consul-
my course, four of them were Zimbabwean! tancy that was designing for the Cushe foot-
It must be something in the water.” He says wear brand. He says: “I learnt more in one
that many of the foreign students have a week than I did in three years at university.”
unique approach to design. Based on the im- During this period Liam spent almost every
pact of their culture and upbringing, Liam month in China and Hong Kong, visiting
says, “I can look at a design now and tell if it huge factories, eating strange things and
was a Japanese designer, an African one or doing work for clients such as Harley David-
an English one.” However, his advice to any son and Caterpillar. He says that this first-
African who wants to study abroad is “to go hand experience of the commercial process
straight to work experience” but that “most was a shock to his creative system but was a
of what you learn is not what you are taught great learning curve.
but what you teach yourself.”
Being an achiever seems something that Liam believes that the contrast between the
comes naturally to Liam (or maybe due to Chinese and Italian processes is immense.
the ‘Zimbabwean water’). In 2003, Liam was Having seen the vast worlds between qual-
awarded H.I.S Presidential Award for his ity crafted footwear from Italy and the mass-
academic achievements at school and while produced imitations in China, Liam had the
at university, he was awarded first place in experience to decide where he wanted to
the Drapers Designer of the Year Award in align his own business. Also, the time Liam
2006 in the UK with his Safari range. spent with the Batonga tribe in Zimbabwe,
EDUCATION
58 >
allowed him to get to know people who bear I’M MY OWN BOSS
the brunt of mass production. “Every coun-
try and footwear industry in Africa have suf- Liam Fahy London was officially launched in
fered because of a lack of protection from 2010. From the onset Liam had to decide
their own governments from what we call where his new business would stand on cre-
‘footwear dumping’ or ‘predatory prices’ ating and supplying clients with magnificent
originating from China. Nobody wins but shoes. Liam notes that “in China the factory
the corporation or the dodgy government does it all, but in Italy the designer has to
minister.” do everything, all the sourcing and even
the packaging”.
There are many designers who believe that
creativity is suffering because of the fast Liam Fahy London only makes limited edi-
pace of fashion. Liam sees the impact that tion ranges which are available on its e-bou-
publication dates, sales seasons, VIP events tique and through VIP agents around Europe.
and special issues place on have on the qual- “We really want to maintain a sense of exclu-
ity of the product and on the design itself. sivity and authenticity with our clients, even if
Some mass-produced labels can go from it means turning down large orders and cus-
idea to store in under a month, yet for small- tomers. For me it’s not about the money, it’s
er design houses this usually takes six about the appreciation of the article.”
months. This gives mass-produced brands
more than sufficient time to imitate and Liam’s latest collection for Spring/Summer
capitalise on others’ ideas. His other con- 2011 was inspired by two opposing ele-
cern is that “audiences are being diluted by ments: leather and metal. He employed
the ‘atomic’ creation of media platforms for ‘metal-smithing’ techniques that were used
fashion marketing such as MySpace, Face- to make armour and helmets in the 13th
book, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and vlogs. century for the nickel or silver embellish-
The result is that shoes no longer last a year, ments on the new shoe collection. Though
they are in vogue for a month, max.” ancient methods were utilised, it was impor-
tant for Liam that his shoes be classic and
“highlight and complement the foundations
of a strong wardrobe”.
EDUCATION
60 >
EDUCATION
ION
DUATE COLLECT
GRA 10
SHOW 20
WIN A
NANO
64 >
65 >
Frost*
UNDERSTANDING THE
SERIOUS PLAYGROUND OF
BUSINESS AND GOOD DESIGN
By Marlé van Zyl. These days it could be report, State Library Centenary typeface,
difficult to use the word ‘design’ without Woolworths South Africa packaging and
the name Vince Frost or Frost* coming to FUTU Magazine. He is the man behind a
mind. The innovative, out-of-the-box thinker range of projects including TV graphics,
has taken the design and business worlds by large wayfinding systems and books despite
storm and with studios in both London and also being named one of the top 100 most
Sydney and with his eyes fixed on expanding influential people in Sydney by The Sydney
the base to Dubai and Asia, it seems that his Morning Herald in its December issue. In the
staff of 35 might soon be growing exponen- magazine he is referred to as “the visualiser”
tially. by a team of expert panellists.
You might recognise his fun speech bubble In an interview with ED> this creative genius
design for the retail signage at Sydney Air- gave us a sneak peek into his cheerful world
port or the environmental graphics he did of graphics and brands.
for Sydney Park Playground that simply ooz-
es playfulness. Or his name might sound fa- Vince Frost, born on 23 November 1964 in
miliar as the man who won awards such as Brighton, UK, is a man who believes that
the D&AD silvers, golds from the New York “the core to success is aiming for success
Society of Publication Designers as well as and getting it as right as possible”, and that
the New York and Tokyo Art Directors Club, is exactly what he is doing. When asked
Futuretainment book, Abundant exhibition, about his inspiration his answer was simple:
Sydney Airport brochure, State Library annual “the client”. From the moment of meeting
EDUCATION
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with the client and hearing their desires and with a new and different input that shakes
objectives the ideas and images start pop- up predictable thinking” is great for a unique
ping into mind, he says. He and his staff then development of each project.
start brainstorming and try to visualise ide-
as and test their quality and viability. He de- Together with a major retrospective of his
scribes it as an exciting process, which in- work entitled frost*bite: Graphic Ideas by
volves lateral thinking, strategy and creative Vince Frost, which was exhibited at the Syd-
exploration. ney Opera House, he also launched a book
entitled, Sorry Trees. The book formed part
During his formative years, designing was of his exhibition and the title he explains
something that excited him, but he first had “was an idea I had after thinking about all the
to do a lot of soul searching and struggling trees that died with every job I had specified
for a while to find a possible career until he over the years. The book is full of case studies
stumbled across a design school, the West and captioned with explanations on how and
Sussex College of Design. He was deter- why they grew into what they did”. Readers
mined not to waste one single opportunity can expect a unique insight into the daily
and jumped in 100%. He drew inspiration working practices of his award-winning de-
from magazines such as The Face and in his sign studio.
first job his early inspiration came from
watching senior partners at Pentagram Lon- Unlike some, Frost admits to his contribu-
don working on solving problems. One of tion to an unsustainable environment and
the founders of Pentagram, Alan Fletcher, is today he shows great responsibility towards
also one of Frost’s icons. He describes him the environment and social development –
as “amazing but a gruff designer and an in- hence the reason why they are a carbon natural
credibly witty thinker, whose ideas always studio that aims to minimise waste. Despite
seemed effortless but they were clever, technology, which allows for mass-produc-
spot-on and eventually made you smile once tion, consumerism and mass communication
you understood them”. through various social media platforms,
Frost still believes that print and paper will
From the days of watching his seniors, al- not disappear and will always be used in
ways aiming for the best solution you can some form or other. Might it be due to
achieve with the opportunity in front of you, greed or survival, “Man has always designed
Frost still believes that this is the core of ways of using natural resources, and today
success of any project. “Be hungry to please we need to continually look for new ways of
your clients and involve them in the process. capturing energy with little or no negative
Try and capture a unique point of difference harm to the environment. Creative thinking
with every project. Collaborate because if can bring about new concepts and innova-
you want to work in isolation, become an tive ideas that can make this possible.”
artist”. Frost is very enthusiastic about col-
laborations across different creative disci- Every season trends come and go, but
plines, as he believes that “bringing in anyone according to Frost trends must not be
67 >
EDUCATION
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TOP: Celebrated publisher Phaidon Press commissioned Frost* to design the first truly comprehensive collection of
Indian recipes, demonstrating the incredible diversity of Indian cuisine. The inspiration for the design came when
visiting a small Indian grocery around the corner from the Frost* studio. The design team noticed that the rice came
in a cotton bag, which coincidentally had the same proportions as the big India cookbook. Every chapter is printed on
different coloured stock to suggest the texture and colours of India, 2010.
69 >
LEFT: Book design for Rizzoli Publications, 2006. CENTRE: Trio, property development magazine. RIGHT: One-off
Frost*flat for Trio in Sydney, 2009. Frost* was one of four companies commissioned to design the interior of
exclusive apartments in the newly developed City Quarter. The 3D team at Frost* had great fun bringing its type
and ideas to life. They created new homeware products such as typographical cushions, limited edition prints,
bed spread, beach towels, plates and table runners.
EDUCATION
70 >
overlooked: “Trends have lots of power and At present Frost is also appointed as the cre-
what is popular today creates interest, PR, ative director of Woolworths, South Africa
demand and sales.” The same can be said where he works closely with other design
for the power of the creative industries. companies. One of his first major challenges
Because everything that is manmade has was to be the ‘caretaker’ and manage the
been designed, Frost explains that design is different applications of the new brand
not only there to make things look nice: identity during the recent transition phase
“Design can be bad too”. He states that hu- from the old to the new. According to Vince
man ideas are unstoppable and we will re- it can become important for such a trusted
lentlessly continue to think up new ways to brand to change their identity, as the com-
make things better and simpler. “We all pany should always “remain relevant and
want a better world in which things work front-of-mind with its customers”. One
well, easy to clean and sustainable. And we might wonder what the risks are when such
all want to put our own ideas into reality. a trusted brand decides to go all the way
Therefore creativity can be seen as power- and whether the new would add value to an
ful and wonderful. Society progresses already valued company. But according to
through inquisitive minds,” he continues. him “it’s a competitive changing environ-
ment where innovations and designs need
Frost was first introduced to typography by to be constantly developed to meet the de-
his dad who worked as a letterpress com- mand and improve our lifestyles. Wool-
positor. Typography, the expression of worths needs to always be modern. The
words, is a very powerful, creative and social danger with any brand is that, in time, it can
tool as words are the expression of ideas appear to become complacent and dated,
and thoughts. Therefore, it can be seen as a with the effect of not appealing to its cus-
different communication system through tomers or younger new potential consum-
creating visual stimulus and engagement ers. Woolworths is a company that seriously
with the reader, audience or consumer. values design and quality like I have never
When Frost worked at Pentagram London experienced before. It’s very much a leader
they only had four fonts they could choose in the world by being determined to be dif-
from which were Helvetica, Franklin Gothic, ferent and make a difference in everything
Garamond and Bodoni, but although it was a it does. To stay different you need to con-
limited ‘palette’ they were all very proud of stantly change,” Frost explains.
it. Times have changed and today there are
millions of fonts to choose from and a great When he was asked to comment on whether
variety to express design: “We spend our South Africa has the correct ingredients to
childhood learning how to spell and read. be a global role player in fields of design he
And then our lives and eyes are hit by typog- seemed puzzled by the question and asked
raphers and designers.” why people think that life, work or design
might be better elsewhere? Or why should
it be important to design in a specific ‘South
EDUCATION
72 >
African’ way? “One should rather focus on Today we experience a sense of a global
where you are and do good work. We are all style, which Frost is very excited about. One
different, be yourself and stand tall.” can no longer clearly distinguish between
one countries approach from another’s. In
While there is still a common misconception the past designers seemed to be much more
that design is simply a frivolous industry, in secretive about their ideas, but today it is
reality it can be a major role player in as- certainly customary for most designers to
pects of innovation, job creation and intel- communicate openly about their projects
lectual property that will contribute to eco- and ideas. Frost believes that this type of
nomic prosperity of any country. Frost collaboration and sharing is of great value
admits that at first he didn’t quite under- for the development of unique ideas and for
stand what design was, until he was about individual development as it is vital to learn
18 years old. Although he was aware of the from each other.
world of design it did not mean that he un-
derstood the process behind the projects When asked if he had any advice for young
and how the things he experienced came graphic designers the reply was simple,
about. He refers to the world’s image of de- “have fun, listen, explore, question, learn
sign as “fashion or home ‘make- over’ chan- and make”. Being passionate about what
nels”. According to him people need to be you are doing and going about life in a posi-
educated to the fact that design is every- tive way is the key elements to his success.
where and anything can be seen as a form of It seems that there are no definite rules or
design, whether referring to an accountant guidelines to becoming a great designer ex-
designing a better financial system or a chef cept for hard work and perseverance and to
designing a tastier meal. He therefore pre- do and explore whatever feels natural to
fers the word “create” to the word “design”. you, “and if you fail...try, try again” he con-
cludes.
Currently designers are often seen as prob-
lem solvers, people who strive to find a solu-
tion for every obstacle and one can expect ABOUT THE AUTHOR
nothing than the same positive attitude
from Frost, as he believes that design can be Besides being a qualified scuba diver, Marlé
used in so many ways to fix problems and van Zyl also achieved a Degree in Drama and
have a role to play in all communities. English Studies at the University of Stellen-
Whether you are living in a first world, de- bosch. She enjoys writing about anything
veloping or third world country one should that is informative and can add value; as
strive to “think big for even small problems well as current news, no matter the field. <
and believe that anything is possible.”
73 >
EDUCATION
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Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach was abuzz stages, the proposals submitted by the eight
on New Year’s Eve when a million people saw remaining agencies were evaluated by a
the launch of Rio Summer Olympics 2016’s multidisciplinary evaluation commission,
brand identity. Developed by the agency Tátil, composed of 12 professionals enjoying both
a Brazilian company specialising in strategic national and international market recogni-
consultancy, brand building and management, tion for their experience in brand design and
the brand Rio 2016 breaks new ground with approval. The team finally made their decision
its sculptural form. The brand mixes volume in Tátil’s favour.
and form, light and shade. It has a front and a
back, and can be viewed from multiple angles. The logo was the result of a co-creative and
collaborative process that lasted almost
According to Beth Lula, manager of the Brand- two months generating more than 50 options
ing Department of Rio 2016 Organising up for consideration and producing hundreds
Committee, Tátil entered the process of of renderings. The design process brought
designing the logo along with 138 other together multidisciplinary teams from the
competitors. By the end of several qualification agency’s offices in Rio and São Paulo. The
77 >
EDUCATION
78 >
Fred Gelli, Tátil’s partner and creative director copy of the Rio Carnival logo) and what simi-
told the GloboEsporte.com that the agency larities were there to be found with Henri
did extensive research to guarantee the de- Matisse’s painting, The Dance that was paint-
sign was unique. "For some reason, we missed ed in 1910? The plagiarism claims, in this
that one," Gelli said, when he acknowledged instance, were somewhat of a long shot.
the similarity with the foundation logo. "The
brand is radically different because it is tri-
dimensional," Gelli said. On the other hand, Controversy’s the name of
could the foundation’s logo also have ele- the game
ments of the logo of the Rio Carnival of 2004
(the similarities are glaring and an obvious Olympic branding programmes are notori-
ously prone to controversy. Since the incep-
tion of the modern Olympic Games at the
turn of the previous century there has not
only been fierce competition on the sports
fields and in the water, but life-and-death
contests have also been fought about who
would be hosting the event that is presented
every four years. But the battle doesn’t stop
once a host city has been appointed. Then
follows the race of who would get the prize
The logos of Sydney 2000 and Vancouver 2010 contract of designing the host city’s logo or
both attracted controversy due to 'appropriation' emblem.
of symbols originating from ancient indigenous
cultures.
Cities invest massive resources to host these
prestigious events and they call upon their
most talented designers to come up with
an emblem that would not only embody
what the games are all about, but also
what the host city wants to show the world
when it comes to its geography, it philoso-
phy and its essence.
Shown here are the logos for the final bidding cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics including
that of Rio which drew much praise. "The Sugar Loaf in the shape of a heart represents the
Brazilians' indisputable passion and vibration for sports. The exclamation point replacing the
numeral 1 in the writing 'Rio 20!6' symbolises Brazil's heightened expectations with the chance
of hosting the event," said Ana Soter, designer of the Rio bid logo. It is standard practice for
winning cities to change their logo after the initial bidding process. The new official logo for Rio
2016 drew much inspiration from the original bidding logo.
Respondents did not rate this controversial culture of the Vancouver region and the rest
logo as gold, silver or bronze, but just about of British Columbia, such as totem poles. One
across the board gave it a wooden spoon. comment from an Inuit elder summed it up
Comments buzzing over the Internet de- when he asked whether the logo depicted
scribed the problematic emblem as a Pac Man or Frankenstein.
smash. Someone commented that it looked
as if the logo had been dropped on the floor Other controversial logos include that of
and it broke. And as if this wasn’t enough, a the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, mainly
segment of the animated footage promot- because of a complicated and drawn-out
ing the 2012 London Games had to be re- process calling for submissions. The logo
moved from the organisers’ website, as it included a boomerang to depict aboriginal
could apparently cause epileptic fits. culture, but many critics thought this inclu-
sion to be forced.
Other recent controversial sports logos have
included the logo of the Vancouver Winter The fact remains – it’s a highly complex proc-
Olympics 2010. The logo depicts an inukshuk, ess to design a sports emblem or logo. Not
a symbol used by the Inuit people of Canada's only does the design team have to depict
arctic regions. For centuries the Inuit have the spirit of the event and the location,
stacked rocks, sometimes into human forms, they also have to take cognisance of the
to create guideposts for travellers. The de- subtexts involved and how the logo would
signers saw the logo as an "eternal expres- be received internally, as well as by a broader
sion of the hospitality of a nation that warmly audience that, in many cases, include most
welcomes the people of the world with open of the nations of the world.
arms every day." But some people felt that
the symbol did not reflect the native art and
EDUCATION
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Images courtesy of
IOC/Olympic Museum
Collections.
EDUCATION
82 >
In recent years, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 and in a dancing mode. The shape of the logo
seem to have done it right, with the design is formed by the space between the dancing
teams behind the branding programmes re- figures and resembles one of Rio’s most mag-
ceiving more acclaim for a job well done than nificent landmarks, Sugarloaf Mountain. The
criticism. Even the harshest critics could find vertical shape between green and orange
little fault with these, which were beauti- and the horizontal shape between green,
fully executed in their rollout. orange and blue, both make up the shape of
the Sugarloaf. This landmark comes to life and
gains a three-dimensional perspective, with
But back to Rio volume and cut-outs. Contours create the to-
pography of the city in our imagination. A
Advertising specialist, Washington Olivetto brand-sculpture, infinite, that gains textures
describes the Rio 2016 brand as having “graph- and shapes, transforming it into an object.
ic harmony and continuous movement needed
in the practice of all sports”. It can be still or As one commentator said: “The final logo of
in 3D, with angles suggesting infinity. Design- the Summer Olympics 2016 is in complete
er Ricardo Leite also waxed lyrical about the affirmation with the culture and colours of
logo which he describes as “a sculpture or Rio de Janeiro, the host city and the spirit of
jewellery that gains new angles as it turns”. Olympics Games.”
A logo of an international sporting event We can go with that. All that remains is to see
should reflect the country in which the event how the brand will be rolled out. If the success
will be held. One of the premier design ele- of the logo is anything to go by, this will in-
ments that can be used to this end is colour. deed be a celebration of what can be achieved
Previous logos that used colour (or the lack by design.
of it) to great effect have been the starkly
beautiful black-and-white op-arty logo of the
Summer Olympics 1968, hosted by Mexico In conversation with the
and vivid blue of the Athens Olympics 2004 Tátil design team
that brings to mind the Aegean Sea in all its
sparkling splendour. Barcelona’s logo for the What was the initial brief and how did
Summer Olympics 1992, on the other hand, their original interpretation change as
used a vivid palette of red, orange and blue the project developed?
resonating with the rings of the Olympics
emblem. "The Olympic Games Committee’s original
brand evaluation briefing included the fol-
In the case of the Rio logo colour is an embed- lowing:
ded theme. The theme is carried out by three • To reflect the local culture having a uni-
human figures in green, blue and orange (again versal understanding, in line with Olympic
reflecting the Olympics’ rings) holding hands values;
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First drafts Initial logo study Attempt to make New study of the Original draft of
with carioca's with visual the logo more logo's shape, the final logo.
topography reference to organic and fluid. emphasising the
references and human figures three human
volumetric and the shape of figures by making
studies. the Sugarloaf them more robust.
Mountain. In addition, the
first volumetric
study was made
with plastic dough.
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New draft Study on the Study to include Three-dimensional The final logo.
attempting to logo's expression other shapes of volumetric study
make the logo lines. Rio's topography made from the
more organic. to the logo's final logo's shape.
curves.
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relation of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro and the About the author
Olympic spirit, working together on the two
main themes: transformation and passion." Jennie Fourie has roamed the South African
media landscape for the past 25+ years. At
What were some of the challenges and present she is a freelance copywriter, jour-
the solutions the design team faced? nalist and media consultant with a special
interest in innovation and design. Industrial
"We followed and accomplished all the proce- journalism is a passion and she has been co-
dures and strict requirements set by the Rio organiser of the corporate publication com-
2016 Organising Committee. Internally we petition of the SA Publication Forum for the
took serious precautions to insure the brand past ten years. She has been a judge in a
remained unpublished and unique until its variety of publication competitions, both
official launch. We were very happy and proud locally and abroad. Jennie holds a Masters
of the final results, especially because the degree in Journalism. <
brand was approved by members of the judg-
ing committee and its members from IOC,
BOC, federal, state and local government,
marketing consultants that worked in the
Beijing and Athens Olympic Games, and de-
sign agencies’ representatives."
Animated 3D sequence of the Rio 2016 logo by Super Uber. See more about the making of the logo here.
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It has been over 30 years since its release, sought-after profession with numerous ap-
but The Sound of Music is probably one of the plications and possibilities.
most memorable movie musicals of all time.
The opening sequence, in particular, is a splen-
did piece of film-making. The viewer is pre- HEAR, HEAR
sented with aerial views of the snow-capped
Alps surrounding Salzburg, before zooming By definition, sound design ranges from de-
into a lush field where we are introduced to signing, recording and manipulating sounds
Maria, played by Julie Andrews. The cinema- to serve a specific purpose and create mean-
tography needs no further elaboration be- ing for a variety of productions ranging from
cause by now I am sure that you want to break the more traditional applications such as thea-
into song, acknowledging that, indeed, “the tre and film to television, computer games
hills are alive with the sound of music.” Now, and even live performances. Sound design
imagine the scene without the chirping birds encompasses both music and sound effects
and the adventurous singing spirit of the nun- and varies according to the medium and
turned-governess .... (Silence). context for which it is created.
“No sound?” you may ask. Yes, it is very diffi- The purpose of sound is to set a tone and
cult to separate the sound from this scene create the correct ambience for a produc-
and much of the success of this film is due tion or product. Ultimately, the success of the
to the design of sound. In most creative sound, together with the other visual ele-
productions, such as films and commercials ments is to ensure that viewers are enter-
for example, sound is not treated as a step- tained and/or immersed and to encourage
ping stone for the creative family but it’s them to suspend their disbelief. This implies
rather more like a governess that tugs at your that sound designers need to reference
heartstrings. Sound design plays a pivotal previously created sounds, such as previously
role in conveying meaning and is used to recorded songs and sound effects but they
strengthen and support moving images. It also need create new sounds. In light of this, a
creates a mood and helps to simulate a sound designer plays a creative role in com-
more real experience for the viewer. Owing posing and editing different sounds.
to the increasingly audio-visual nature of
contemporary culture, sound design has This role and purpose of sound design is per-
matured into a vital discipline and is now a haps mostly known within the context of
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Corporate campaign, titled Let’s reach for the sun, created by Adelphoi Music for the Aditya Birla Group. Click here to see the commercial.
tation with sound film technology during the
silent era, 1929 marked the turning point in
film when sound became standard in Holly-
wood. Many directors began experimenting
with the creative potential of sound and began
incorporating this into their work. Alfred Hitch-
cock’s Blackmail and William Wellman’s China-
town Nights are early examples of the success-
ful use of creative sound design. Sound also
facilitated the growth of different film gen-
res, such as musicals. This transition was slow-
er in other countries such as China and Japan,
mainly due to economic reasons, but they
soon followed suit.
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for sound designers to interface with the sound designers are founder Murray Ander-
different media in which sound is necessary. son and Warrick Sony, who joined the com-
Owing to the wider application of sound pany in 2001. The two are currently in a crea-
today, sound designers need to liaise with tive partnership doing commercials, film
many different designers, hence making scores and music for theatre. In 2005, Ander-
the profession collaborative in nature. son and Sony won Best Music Gemini Award,
one of Canada’s highest accolades, for their
creative collaboration composing the music
MAKING (SOUND)WAVES for Madiba: The Life and Times of Nelson Man-
Viral campaign for the launch of Sony’s 3D World. See this magnificent 3D display here.
dela. According to Anderson, other recog-
At present, sound design is an expanding and nisable work that the studio has done includes
diverse area both as an academic discipline music/jingles for many television advertise-
and as a career path. The demand in sound ments like the Klipdrift Met Eish series, re-
design for various media has been the driv- cording African stars like Yvonne Chaka Chaka,
ing force behind the success of a number HHP and Baaba Maal, and international art-
of sound design companies within an inter- ists like Annie Lennox and Queen. View the
national as well as a local context. Two compa- company’s portfolio, which spans over 20
nies which bear testimony to this are Mile- years at www.milestones.co.za
stone Studios and Adelphoi Music, local and
international companies respectively. A younger but nonetheless extremely suc-
cessful production company specialising in
Milestone Studios is Cape Town-based and music and sound design is Adelphoi Music.
has a long tradition of excellence in all aspects The company, currently with studios in London
of sound design. Murray Anderson started and Berlin, originally started out in 1993 and
Milestone studios in 1987 to record demo has a huge amount of experience in the music
songs for musicians such as Robin Auld, Lesley and sound design industry. Adelphoi Music
Rae Dowling, Robbie Jansen, Louis Ribeiro caters for a wide variety of global clients in
and many others. Since inception, the studio the advertising and media industries, creat-
has grown in size from a single room in Wood- ing innovative audio for commercials, digital,
stock to a state-of-the-art studio in 2007, television, film and network branding.
designed by ex-South African architect Ivan
Kadey, now based in Los Angeles. The new According to the company, “with 13 full-time
studio complex boasts vintage analogue and staff and a large network of highly talented
state of the art digital sound equipment freelancers, Adelphoi Music Ltd has the best
and offers a full range of audio services in- professional team to satisfy any music or
cluding original music recording, audio pro- sound requirements, no matter how diverse
duction and post-production for commer- the brief. Recognition of Adelphoi's work
cials as well as film scoring. includes industry awards such as Emmy, Clio,
D&AD, New York Festivals, Midsummer, BTAA,
The staff of Milestone Studios has enjoyed LIAA, ADC, Aerial, Kinsale Shark and Promax.”
great success in their careers. Two noteworthy
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very large and that is what they wanted to pinball section simulates the arcade game
represent with their third corporate cam- in an unbelievable way. In the context of an
paign, titled Let’s reach for the sun. Working open space such as the Plaza, the sound must
again with Mumbai-based design and com- have created an electric ambience with the
munications specialist, Vyas Giannetti Crea- ringing clicks and other synthesised sounds,
tive (VGC), The Aditya Birla Group’s brief was lending itself to the entertainment quality
to capture the fact that despite the diversity and ultimately to the success of the out-
of the Group, they are one team with one door campaign.
voice. Consequently, Preeti Vyas, CEO of VGC
says that the company used music as a meta- Skandia, an investment company, spon-
phor to bring to life the essence of the brief. sored the UK sailing team for the Olympic
Games. For this event, Skandia selected
Mathias Zentner, graphic designer turned London-based, independent creative agency,
Television commercial for the Skandia. Click here to see the commercial.
director, was called on to lend his expertise St Lukes to create an advertisement to lever-
to the motion graphics and Aldelphoi Music age their sponsorship in the run up to the
was responsible for the sound. The arresting Olympics, bringing to life the brand’s unique
visuals would not have had the same impact perspective. The resulting design includes
were it not supported by the spellbinding gripping footage of Skandia Team GBR cou-
musical orchestra produced especially for pled with an equally gripping sound design
this advertisement. It is a fact that the mar- produced by Adelphoi Music. The intention
riage between the audio and the visual in of the agency was to demonstrate the team’s
this example is what drives its success. brilliant sailing prowess through careful
planning and calculation, which is in keeping
In 2009, Anomaly was appointed as Sony with Skandia’s work ethic of applying a me-
Electronics’ key strategic and creative partner. ticulous approach to investment to help
For the launch of Sony’s 3D World, Anomaly their client’s achieve their financial goals. See
created a viral campaign comprising of a se- this gripping commercial and experience the
ries of advertisements that were filmed in 3D UK sailing team for yourself by clicking here.
but then aired in 2D. The result was a blurred,
double exposed sort of image. In the adver- In all three examples the sound is used to
tisement, viewers are encouraged not to strengthen the visual language and provides
adjust their TV sets and the advertisement a compositional structure for the final prod-
concludes with the following pay-off line: ucts. Sound design forms an integral com-
“Maybe it's time to get a 3D TV.” The adver- ponent of the creative unit and just like The
tisement first aired on in three European Sound of Music reminded viewers about the
countries during the final of the Champi- importance of family and the universality
ons League in Madrid. This event was also of music. The three examples also highlight
marked with a unique outdoor projection on a the central role of sound in contemporary
building in the capital's Plaza Santa Ana. visual communication design.
For this projection, Adelphoi Music created
an intense sound design. In particular, the
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So, if you are Sixteen Going on Seventeen and sound of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria. Her re-
and music are a few of your Favourite things why not search focuses on the culture of design in the current
consider sound design as a future career option? creative economy and she is particularly interested in
the strategic role of design within this changing
environment. <
About the author
Fatima Cassim holds a Masters degree in Information
Design and is a full-time lecturer at the Department
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CAPSULATION
FOR 9 HOURS By Sarah Stewart
The first capsule hotel is believed stereotypical capsule hotels and resort as most users would rather
to have opened in Osaka, Japan is wholly capable of competing prefer to stay in a standard hotel
in 1979. Originally designed as a with luxury accommodation. if they could afford to do so.
layover sleeping space for busi-
ness people, capsule hotels have Fumie Shibata, president of Design
become the low-cost solution to Studio S, first joined the 9h project The concept
Japan’s exorbitant accommoda- as a product designer. She is re-
tion rates. Capsule hotels are re- sponsible for the design of the As an experienced product design-
garded as transit spaces and they sleeping capsules and all of the er, Shibata believes that consum-
are located close to central busi- branded amenities. Her design ers make decisions based on their
ness districts, are low-cost and philosophy is that spaces and needs. Most standard hotels offer
their small tubular sleeping pods products only become worth- varied services that often include
are most often rented to busi- while when they are useful to entertainment, catering and spas
ness people who want to catch up society. As her involvement and but always place most emphasis
on a few hours of sleep. level of responsibility increased, on the rooms that guests retire
she was appointed general crea- to. While most hotels might offer
9h is a new capsule hotel located tive director of the 9h project. entertainment and leisure facili-
in Kyoto, Japan. The name refers ties, 9h offers optimised sleep
to the nine hours that on-the- Shibata spent three years on re- as its unique selling proposition.
move users generally require for search and product develop-
showering, sleeping and relax- ment and convinced her client to The 9h capsule hotel questions
ing. 9h is groundbreaking in its invest in a new concept that re- the stereotypical view of a hotel.
approach towards these three defines what a capsule hotel is Instead of restricting you to your
principal functions. The design and can be. Part of her research room, 9h becomes an extension
focuses on maximising the expe- involved staying at a capsule ho- of the cityscape where people
rience of showering, sleeping and tel which enabled her to identify share communal spaces. 9h has
relaxing. This new breed of cap- existing problems. Capsule ho- attuned itself to the needs of
sule hotel shirks the kitsch and tels often have cheap and kitsch those who have a hectic urban life-
claustrophobic associations of associations and viewed as a last style, catering for those whose
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lives revolve around work or to designer Takaaki Nakamura to automatically know where to go.
tourists travelling alone. 9h be- design a clear visual identity that This integrated system reduces
comes a dependable infrastruc- reflects the keywords ‘seamless language confusion.
ture that users will choose be- connection’ and ‘signs with inlay’
cause it suits their lifestyle. as conceptual guidelines. The The branding of the 9h acts as a
graphics are an integral part of unifying element that creates a
the design. It’s completely inte- visual language of black and
The design grated with the interior and form white, clean lines and geometric
a visual language that is able to shapes. The cohesive visual lan-
What distinguishes 9h from its guide and inform users of direc- guage is also seen in the brand-
predecessors is its seamless in- tions and instructions without the ed, duel function 9h slipper bag
tegration of functionality and user being dependent on written which provides storage for slip-
clean modern aesthetic. In order words. pers as well as acting as an infor-
to change the capsule hotels’ type- mation manual to guests. Fur-
casting as cheap accommodation, This visual language is visible in thermore, individual sachets of
it was critically important that the the wayfinding system that is ap- shampoo and soap replace typi-
branding of 9h was repositioned plied on floor and wall surfaces cal large communal dispensers
as a ‘reasonable place to stay’. which signal capsule numbers, that are often found in capsule
Shibata directed graphic designer directions to the reception desk, hotels and bottled water, tooth-
Masaaki Hiromuro and interior lockers, etc., ensuring that guests brushes and signature night robes
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are amongst the other branded one side of the building that feed capsule is fitted with Panasonic’s
amenities. off onto different guest facilities. advanced system for good sleep-
The Ladies Only facilities include ing with computerised control
9h is situated in a long and narrow a lounge floor, a floor with show- lighting that will wake you up
nine-storey building and divided ers, washrooms and lockers and with artificial light according to
into ‘Gentleman Only’ and ‘Ladies two floors of sleeping capsules. the time the user sets. This re-
Only’ floors accommodating 125 The Gentleman Only floors have moves the user’s need to inter-
capsules in total. In a capsule hotel similar facilities but no private act with an audible alarm which
where individuals share ablu- lounge as men are expected to would disturb other users. Spe-
tions with other members of the use the public lounge. cialised ergonomic pillows and
same sex and travel the distance four-star quality bed linen improve
from bathroom to sleeping pod, With sleep being the priority at the user’s sleep experience. The
privacy is a major consideration. 9h, particular attention has been facilities available at the 9h are
For this reason, men and woman paid to the design of the sleeping appropriate for a nine-hour stay
have separate lifts, bathrooms capsules. Manufactured of fibre- but users are also allowed to
and lounge areas. reinforced plastic, the capsules check in for up to 17 hours.
are slightly rounded and organic
As a core consideration, Shibata’s in shape. Top and bottom rows of
design focused on maximising the sleeping capsules are positioned
space by keeping all passages to in a hive configuration. Each
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TRANSIT CASES:
Chairs from Mexico
By Jimena Acosta
The exhibition Transit Cases: Chairs from sea, Spaces for conversation, Playful attitudes,
Mexico, curated by designers Emiliano Godoy, Design for the few and Time for leisure.
Renata Fenton and myself, Jimena Acosta,
aimed to show contemporary Mexican design Design for everyone is about all the demo-
to a European audience, which has had little cratic design efforts such as the Arrullo Chair
contact with Mexico and its contemporary by Oscar Hagerman. His easy and inexpen-
culture. sive design enables any Mexican carpenter to
build this chair and reproduce it as many times
For decades Mexican culture, unfortunately, as he pleases. By the sea puts together pieces
has been represented internationally by a that were used in tropical conditions such as
handful of modern painters such as Diego the Acapulco Chair, and the Compadre. Spaces
Rivera and Frida Kahlo, or by archaeology ex- for conversation is about the chairs that were
hibitions featuring pre-Hispanic artefacts. made to sit on and talk for a while in coffee
These images have constructed stereotypes shops and restaurants. Playful attitudes refers
about Mexico that do not help to create a to the shapes that challenge the concept of
cultural context that nowadays produces a chair such as the Criollo by Edgar Orlaineta.
functional and beautiful objects. Design for the few is based on those exam-
ples design as one of a kind and limited edi-
Our curatorial team used the national repre- tions such as Mecedora M by Colectivo NEL.
sentation model as a way of presenting the
present of Mexican design. The exhibition in- The show was curated for the Mexican Minis-
cludes six overarching themes that bind the try of Foreign Affairs and between 2009 and
pieces together: Design for everyone, By the 2010 functioned as a ‘cultural ambassador’
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included in the exhibition, as well as two Peyret, Clara Porset, Luis René Quintero,
vernacular pieces that have been used by Dení Reye, Kenya Rodríguez and Karla
everyone for decades such as the Acapulco Vázquez.
Chair and the Equipal. We also included de-
signers that do not live in Mexico City such
as Mauricio Lara (Guadalajara), Mumo De- From the beginning Transit cases was planned
sign (Guadalajara) and Marilies Gelens as a travelling exhibition, so the installation
(Oaxaca). Other designers included in Tran- and general idea would have to adapt to
sit Cases: Chairs from Mexico are: Adriana different venues. Since we included valua-
Domínguez. Yessica Escalera, Héctor Esrawe, ble historical pieces such the Butaque by
Ezequiel Farca, Héctor Galván, José García Clara Porset, we thought that the best op-
Torres, Emiliano Godoy, Mathias Goeritz, tion would be to make contemporary re-
Ernesto Gómez Gallardo, Bernando Gómez productions that could be shipped abroad
Pimienta, Óscar Hagerman, Cecilia León de la without putting the few existing originals
Barra, Daniel Mont, Liliana Ovalle, Abraham at risk of damage or loss. The task was not
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From a cooking fire lit by Phoeni- glass vessels holding fruits and
cian traders on a sandy beach, the liquids. Hard and unyielding when
fortuitous birth of glass has ben- cold, yet soft and malleable when
efitted and intrigued mankind for molten, it is one of the most versa-
thousands of years. This initially tile, difficult and most taken-for-
opaque molten mass was devel- granted media known to mankind.
oped not only as a raw material for
trade, but also formed into prod- These extreme qualities have, how-
ucts ranging from monetary trad- ever, intrigued artists and patrons
ing beads to status objects in the alike, giving rise to a world of beau-
form of mouth-blown wine cups tiful objects and difficult tech-
serving royalty and generals. Mu- niques. The manipulation of glass
rals found in Pompeii (79AD) show as medium showcases a country’s
the earliest depictions of blown industrial and cultural development
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GLASS, A
FRAGILE
YET GIANT
INDUSTRY
By Retief van Wyk
in the true sense of the word. Glass companies like Africa Glass and molecular disarray in the glass
has always had the allure of the Northern Hardware and Glass, to medium, as it is subjected to rising
fine and fragile but no glass indus- name but a few. This huge industry temperatures, allow the glass to
try is complete without its factory is, however, not the focus of this obtain various degrees of softness
giants that supply flat sheet glass article, which rather highlights enabling industrial and domestic
windows, bottles, glasses, lamp the development of the relatively application and of course creative
shades and automotive wind- young artistic glass profession in intervention. For the sake of clarity
shields. With its humble begin- South Africa. I will briefly mention the tech-
nings in the 1870s the South Afri- niques, starting at the cold inert
can Glass Company was the first to The nature of this manmade me- state, going up in temperature.
melt glass in South Africa. Today dium lends itself to various form-
this local industrial market is domi- ing techniques ranging from the Cutters and polishers manipulate
nated by PFG Building Glass, CON- inert cold state to the fluid, mol- the cold, hard state that produces
SOL for vessel making and smaller ten state. The variable states of products such as stained glass
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Isle of Wright, helped form what is at Gallery G in Cape Town, produc- works are technically superb and
known today as the artistic glass ing glassware and developing an usually of a grand scale. A visit to
movement in South Africa. Reade awareness of glass as a creative The Barn studio can be comple-
can be hailed as the ‘great helper’ form. Reade, with the help of mented by relaxing at the tea gar-
who with his kind and focused Dutch studio glass artist Kea Ver- den after watching the blowers at
love of the medium helped not weij, started a blowing studio on work.
only Shirley Cloete, but also assist- her farm in 1986, and eventually
ed in establishing the only teach- his own studio in Worcester. Another central character in the
ing institution focusing on hot early development of studio glass
glass techniques in Southern Afri- Reade is one of a few studio own- was Elizabeth Lacy. Born in Lusaka,
ca, the CONSOL Glass House at the ers who actually blow the glass Lacy received glass blowing train-
Pretoria Technikon, now known as himself. Reade’s glass studio ing from Reade and subsequently
Tshwane University of Technology, called, The Barn, has recently been started Red Hot Glass with her
in 1995. expanded and now has four young husband, David Jackson, who man-
glass blowers producing minor ages the enterprise with Lacy. She
The partnership between Cloete masterpieces with Reade at the also oversees the production team
and Reade lasted only a few helm producing the major, if some- that consists of young local and
months and Reade joined forces what traditional, masterpieces. I foreign glass blowers. Their skilful
with glass artist Gary Thompson call these masterpieces, for the development of her designs have
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created items ranging from per- closed down, but the Smelt ide- glass artist in 1977. In 1996 Van
fume bottles, one-off glass sculp- ology still continues with designs Besouw upped the temperature
tural vessels, escalating into mam- by Jansen van Rensburg and fel- and built his first furnace and
moth installations for casino low artist Sielja Vos, being pro- started glass blowing in 1997. To-
environments all over the African duced at the Glamosa factory in day he is a well featured artist in
continent. Red Hot studio is situ- Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal. various public spaces and collec-
ated on the Siedelberg Wine estate tions. His studio is situated in
in Paarl and ensures a rewarding Henk Nel, a young glass blower Kloof, Durban.
visual and culinary experience for who interned at Red Hot Glass,
tourists visiting the studio, winery has now started his own small Situated in Swaziland, is a medium-
and top class restaurant. studio at the Backsberg Estate in sized glass factory called Ngwenya
Franschoek. Much to the delight Glass that produces on a large
Industrial lampshade producer of his visitors, especially holiday scale. Ngwenya is well known for
Glamosa Glass, formed in 1956, makers, Nel produces traditional its solid glass animal range, wine
collaborated with Martli Jansen blown studioware and other col- glasses and most recently its ta-
van Rensburg to form a contem- ourful glass ornaments. bleware for the Boardmans retail
porary glass blowing studio called group. Owner Chas Prettyjohn has
Smelt, in Melville, Johannesburg. A self-taught glass blower Guido over the years developed strong
The Smelt studio has subsequently van Besouw started off as a stained ties with foreign glass artists and
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often invites students and young well-equipped studio is frequently artist, Sue Meyer. Meyer is based
designers to collaborate at the occupied by collaborators like Sue in Cape Town and works from her
Swaziland furnace, resulting in Meyer, Abraham le Roux and Tom studio in Fish Hoek. Britz and Mey-
fun-filled glass workshops. van Hove who together with Britz er are considered to be South
are responsible for large architec- African pioneers of kiln casting.
tural kiln cast installations sus-
The flow and fusing pended from steel cables. The gal- Turning off the temperature com-
of glass lery represents local and famed pletely one can now look at the
glass artists from England and artists who are brave enough to
Situated at the bottom end of Long Australia and is a must see for any attempt working the medium in
Street in Cape Town is the Cape serious glass collector. Britz has its hard state.
Glass Studio and gallery, EDGE. 18 years of experience and is a
Owned by ceramicist turned glass leader in kiln casting glass art.
artist, Nelius Britz, EDGE gallery This difficult and time-consuming
is the first and only of its kind in kiln casting technique is one shared
South Africa. The adjacent large, by another ceramicist-turned-glass
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Stone cold, in it’s as well as producing glass tro- art sought after by collectors and
hard state phies. Back in Gauteng, perhaps galleries alike. Visits to the studio
the most artistic and adventur- are by appointment only. Böttcher
One of the most established cold ous of this cold working group is also teaches part-time at the CON-
glass factories must be Universal Obsidian Glass, owned by Lothar SOL Glass House at Tshwane Uni-
Crystal Glass Factory in Krugers- Böttcher. He started off at the versity of Technology, Pretoria.
dorp. Polish father and son duo, Pretoria Technikon, studying glass
Bronek and Damien Cholewka con- and sculpture as subjects, but The ancient art of lead window
tinue a tradition initially gained eventually moved abroad to focus making is one of the most well rep-
in Poland and settled here in 1981. on glass cutting at the Hadamar resented glass techniques of all.
They do anything from masterful Glass School in Germany where Fanus Boshoff from Pretoria has
cutting and polishing to slumping he completed his journeyman run his dalle de verre (thick cast
basins and glass furniture. Then course in 1997. On his return to glass in concrete) and stained
there is also Cape Town-based Pretoria he set up Obsidian stu- glass studio for two decades. He
Terry Haden who is well known for dio, producing solid glass pieces operates with three skilled crafts-
his skill at cutting and polishing as trophies and unique works of men producing a full spectrum
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F Today we see the word ‘sustainable’ on high- Three major phases of growing awareness
end retail products, in corporate annual have been highlighted in the move to a more
3 reports, on billboards, in social awareness sustainable world. The first phase, which oc-
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Kingdom’s Food and Environment of sustainability, we simply can- community with statements like:
Protection Act of 1985 and the not imagine a world without our “There are professions more harm-
South African Environment Con- designer coffees, imported cloth- ful than industrial design, but only
servation Act No. 73 of 1989. The ing, fuel and diesel gluttonous a very few of them” (Papenek,
global focus on environmental and 4x4s, new cell phones and exotic 1985: ix). Papanek did not disap-
social concerns, which began dur- fruit in excessive packaging. The prove of industrial design as a dis-
ing this phase, developed even design, production and disposal cipline, but commented on the
further during the third phase of process of the items and prod- link between industrial design and
awareness at the beginning of ucts we find so irresistible often the production of unnecessary
the new millennium (Bharma and contribute to the environmental mass consumer products, which
Lofthouse, 2007: 2). and social problems we are meant were often not functional and
to be addressing if our species merely desirable. Although Design
Various wars in Africa, Eastern hopes to survive on this planet. for the Real World was not well
Europe, the Middle East and other Industrial design, as a profession, received by all designers at the
regions during the 1990s and plays a key role in addressing the time, it did grab the imagination
2000s resulted in heightened so- impact that product design and of a new group of industrial de-
cial unrest, poverty, inequality and manufacturing have on the envi- signers who realised the impor-
environmental devastation. At the ronment, exploring solutions to tance of social and environmen-
same time, lifestyle choices in many both social and environmental tal design considerations. These
first world countries continued problems through design and designers realised that design
to contribute to environmental design thinking. could make a noticeable differ-
problems, such as sea, land and air ence, and focused on functional
pollution. Despite the develop- design for third-world regions and
ment of appropriate legislation, a From the story of minority groups. Papanek and oth-
growing awareness of the impli- Design for the Real er writers of the time form part of
cations of our actions and the tire- World, to Manzini the first stage of moving towards
less efforts of NGOs and concerned and beyond a more sustainable design ethos
individuals, the environmental and (Bharma and Lofthouse, 2007).
social problems highlighted in the Victor Papanek, a designer, edu-
1960s are still relevant and press- cator, critic and philosopher, fo- The third stage in the development
ing today. cused his life’s work on investi- of sustainable design practices
gating questions around socially transpired during the 1980s and
Overconsumption and a relent- and ecologically sensitive design. 1990s with the rise of ‘green’ con-
less appetite for the ‘new’ contrib- In 1971 he published Design for the sumerism and sustainable design
utes to an even more dangerous Real World, which documents his considerations. Ezio Manzini is a
modern threat to the earth and views regarding social and envi- key figure in this period, as well as
society: the unperturbed consum- ronmental awareness in design the Design for Sustainability move-
er. Even though we have the ben- practices. Papanek advocated re- ment, focussing on both social and
efit of past experience and a mass sponsible design and caused out- environmental concerns. A fea-
of information regarding issues rage within the industrial design ture in the designs and writing of
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materials and labour, an exten- produces clean drinking water African industrial designers are in-
sion of the product life cycle, and from polluted water sources. The troduced to the importance of
more. Design, in this way, becomes design of these products addresses Design for Sustainability and re-
a functional representation of our real world problems through ac- flect on views of writers such as
goals regarding a sustainable fu- tual products and design thinking. Papanek, Manzini and Fresco, to
ture. There are, however, various ensure that future products are not
problems facing sustainable prod- Lynedoch Eco Village, and the only desirable, but also contribute
ucts. The one that recurs most is Sustainable Institute located with- to a better, more sustainable world.
that these products are often ex- in the village, is another example
pensive. It is important to view of a move towards a sustainable
any sustainable system or product lifestyle in South Africa. Lynedoch References
within a specified context, and is located in Stellenbosch and, as
also, to consider the long-term an eco village, has three main goals: Bharma, T. and Lofthouse, V. (2007)
consequences of the product. to develop a learning precinct at Design for Sustainability: A Practi-
the centre of a socially and eco- cal Approach. United Kingdom:
nomically viable mixed community, Gower Publishing
A South African to develop practical ecologically Papanek, V. (1971) Design for the
perspective designed urban systems that can Real World. New York: Pantheon
be implemented in other areas, Books
South Africa, and the African con- and to develop the property into a Papaken, V. (1985) Design for the
tinent as a whole, benefits from financially viable project. The Lyne- Real World: Human Ecology and
the focus on and development doch Eco Village represents achiev- Social Change. United Kingdom:
of sustainable design practices. able sustainable living for all. Thames and Hudson.
Given the high levels of violence,
poverty, unemployment, illitera-
cy and medical requirements in One last idea About the author
South Africa, it is imperative that
sustainable systems and prod- We so often hear the phrase, ‘we Vikki du Preez is a multi-disciplinary
ucts are developed to address only have one earth’ and yet, our lecturer at the Cape Peninsula Uni-
these issues. Through various ini- habits as consumers display a versity of Technology. Her focus
tiatives designers have the op- lack of understanding, or complete areas include the theory and his-
portunity to make a difference disregard, for the finality of the tory of Industrial Design and Sur-
to the lives of people living on the statement. Our choices, big and face Design, as well as the research
African continent. The EcoSan Dry small, impact not only on our fu- and development of learner-cen-
Sanitation System, designed by ture but also on the future of tred design education practices. <
Dave Maartens, Anton Maartens those who come after us. The bal-
and Jan Joubert, is a safe ablution ance between a positive prosper- All images courtesy of Jacques Lange
except for top left image on page
system which requires no water ous lifestyle and global devasta-
126 sourced from http://images.
and the AquaNow Portable Water tion is more fragile than many
google.com/hosted/life/ and sustain-
Purification System, designed by would like to believe. Through ed- ability model on page 128 sourced
Ian Vroom and Carlos de Nobrega, ucation, new generations of South from Wuppertal Institut.
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Education is the second of the UN’s eight Recently the design challenge jury adjourned.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Members include prominent design thinkers,
target for this MDG is to ensure that by 2015, including Nii Commey Botchway, communica-
children everywhere, boys and girls alike, are tion designer & educator; Carlos Vasquez, CFS
able to complete a full course of primary Design & Construction, UNICEF; Look White,
schooling. Achieving universal primary edu- CEO, INDEX:; William Fowler, Director, Global
cation means more than just full enrolment. Education, Cisco Systems; Kim Fridbjørg,
This MDG also presupposes quality educa- Architect MAA, creative director, Built Identity;
tion, meaning that all children who regularly Kippy Joseph, associate director, Rockefeller
attend school learn basic literacy and numer- Foundation; Hanne Bak Pedersen, deputy
acy skills and complete primary school on time. director Supply Program, UNICEF Supply;
Elizabeth Scharpf, founder and chief instigat-
Literacy remains among the most neglected ing officer, Sustainable Health Enterprises;
of all education goals, and millions of children Ana Karinna Sepulveda, alumna global leader-
are leaving school before acquiring basic skills. ship fellow, World Economic Forum; Jack Sim,
In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, young founder, World Toilet Organization and Peter
adults with five years of education have a 40% Stebbing, professor Hochschule für Gestal-
probability of being illiterate. About 759 tung Schwäbisch Gmünd.
million adults lack literacy skills today. Two-
thirds are women. More than 1 000 students from 29 countries
across the globe joined the competition,
UNICEF and the Danish-based non-profit or- which resulted in 115 submitted design so-
ganisation INDEX: Design to Improve Life has lutions. These solutions address four issues
challenged design and business students as defined by UNICEF, based on its work in
from around the world to develop solutions disaster areas and developing countries.
that can improve educational conditions in
developing countries. The participating stu- The first two challenges focus on how to make
dents have worked for months on solutions a sustainable and comfortable floor for tempo-
with names such as Soap Shish, Elephant rary use in classrooms without furniture and
Walk Desk, Lilly Pad and Wash Wheel. how waste materials can make environmental
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friendly and inexpensive school furniture. which together account for 3.5 million child
These challenges emanate from the chronic deaths annually.
lack of adequate quality education infrastruc-
ture and facilities, particularly school structures Topping the general hygiene challenges is
and furniture for students. In many cases, the fact that many girls miss school from the
the traditional classrooms and furniture are onset of puberty because they face the em-
either not available or, when they are available, barrassment of menstruation at schools
are old and dilapidated. Furniture is in short where toilets are unclean, have no doors and
supply or undersized and students often use are shared with the boys. Parents also do not
alternative objects such as their books, bags, want to send girls to school during menstrua-
bricks, and logs to sit on or even sit on the tion, sometimes for cultural and religious
bare floor, under trees, or in an open space. reasons, but often because of the lack of run-
The conditions are uncomfortable and de- ning water, safe sanitation and consumables
meaning to both students and parents. such as sanitary pads. For instance, 94% of
girls in Uganda reported problems at school
The third and fourth challenges focus on during menstruation and 61% reported stay-
hygiene issues such as avoiding the stigma ing away from school during menstruation.
of menstruating girls in schools and how to
produce a soap that cannot be stolen or lost, But in a different world not far away solutions
thus ensuring hygiene in schools, especially to challenges like the above are exactly those
for 'un-pure' girls. Poor environmental condi- that can ensure a child's education and give
tions in the classroom can make both teaching them a crucial edge in a future filled with
and learning difficult and children’s ability great challenges. According to UNESCO’s 2010
to learn may be affected in several ways by Education for All Global Monitoring Report
inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene the number of children out of school has
conditions. Statistics show that diarrhoeal dropped by 33 million worldwide since 1999.
diseases, intestinal worms and other debilitat- In South and Western Asia the number of
ing parasites affect unacceptably high num- children that are not in school have more than
bers of schoolchildren – about 40% of an halved – a reduction of 21 million. But the
estimated 578 million school-age children latest numbers show that 72 million children
are infested with worms. are still out of school and if the trend con-
tinues, 56 million children will still be out of
Schools are described as places with intense school in 2015. Improvements are urgently
levels of person-to-person contact, as high- needed and every small step counts.
risk environments for children and staff
and are likely to exacerbate children’s par- The finalists of the challenges, selected by
ticular susceptibility to environmental the jury, were invited to Denmark in February
health hazards. The simple practice of wash- 2011 where they worked with international
ing one’s hands with soap is among the and Danish funders, investors and companies
most effective and inexpensive ways to to ensure the realisation and distribution of
prevent diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, their designs.
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padBack is a sanitary protection solution Kigge Hvid has led the development and
for rural areas. The aim is to ensure that girls growth of INDEX: Design to Improve Life since
do not drop out of school due to stigma re- her appointment as founding CEO in 2002.
lated to their menstrual cycle. The padBack In leading the Danish government's mandate
is a self-maintaining system and the pads are to advance the humanist tenets of Danish
made of papyrus and biodegradable non- design, Kigge is a frequent panelist at the
woven fabric. World Economic Forum's annual meeting in
Davos and is a member of the Forum's Global
Reach & Match is designed to create an Agenda Council on Design. In 2010 she joined
educational and playful kit that assists the the board of Danish shipping foundation Lau-
emotional, communicative and cognitive ritzen Fonden as well as the internatioal advi-
development of young children with visual sory board of the Hong Kong Design Centre. <
impairments. It provides children (three to
six years old) with a unique bridge to Braille Images courtesy of INDEX: and the entrants of
literacy. The design provides tactile strategy the Design Challenge.
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TOP: padBack by Cansu Akarsu, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea).
CENTRE: Reach & Match by Lau Shuk Man, Monash University (Australia).
BOTTOM: Soap Shish by Cansu Akarsu, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea).
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Copying the structure of the nano-scales of a TOP: The kingfisher's beak is so aerodynamic, the
butterfly’s wing has made colourful, non-toxic bird can dive for fish without making waves. Photo
paints, fabrics and cosmetics. Photo by Izzy by Flickr photographer wildxplorer, courtesy of The
LeCours, courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute. Biomimicry Institute. BOTTOM: Shinkansen Bullet
Train is based on the shape of the kingfisher's beak.
Photo by Pagemoral.
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Imagine we had access to an encyclopaedia In other words, all other species that we share
of ten to thirty million sustainable designs that the planet with, inherently promote life. It all
have stood the test of time for over 3.8 billion seems so obvious and begs the question:
years. These blueprints of sustainable living How is it possible that throughout thousands
could enable us to do all the things that hu- of years of human innovation we have failed
mans need and want to do, but completely to recognise and draw on Nature’s sustain-
without the waste and toxicity that is com- ability expertise? The answer is all about
promising our survival. Well, according to attitude. Humans have long believed that they
biomimics, we do have this extraordinary de- have dominium over the natural world; that
sign resource readily available – we only need it exists apart from us and solely for our use;
to recognise the true and incredible value of that we are entitled to extract whatever we
Nature to be able to start learning from it. like from it and despoil it however we choose.
It is an eco-illiterate view that is bringing us
Biomimicry is described as both a science perilously close to our own extinction.
and an art. The word derives from the Greek,
bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning imi- What underpins biomimicry is a shift to a
tation. It is a term that was coined by natural much saner and hopeful way of viewing the
sciences writer, Janine Benyus in her seminal world. Our industrialised lifestyles may offer
work Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. us delusions of grandeur beyond Nature, but
Biomimicry proposes that we can find the no human technology has ever changed the
answers to all our problems of sustainability fact that we are inexorably part of Nature,
by regarding Nature as our mentor, measure fully dependent on the Earth and its networks
and model. of interconnected living things. Instead of
looking at what we can take from Nature,
All the plants and animals alive on the planet we need to start looking very closely at what
today know how to live sustainably. They have we can learn from it.
innate strategies to feed themselves, har-
ness energy, make materials, store infor- Biomimicry is a growing field of designers,
mation, heal themselves and conduct their engineers, scientists, developers, researchers
business of living. They do all of this not and many others who study Nature’s ideas to
only without harming the eco-systems that better understand not just what works, but
sustain them, but they actually enhance what survives on the planet. By analysing
their environments through living and dying. Nature’s designs and models and by using
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'Lightweighting' is commonly found in nature which makes a design strong and light by
optimising geometry and structure. Strategies include hollow parts, ribs, posts, corrugation,
trusses, and gussets. Photo by Jim Champion, courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute.
Self-cleaning paints, textiles and glass have been made by mimicking the surface of the lotus
leaf. The microscopic structures on lotus' surface are super-hydrophobic, causing water to roll
off and take particles with it. Photo by Claire Houck, courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute.
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Termites live in extremes: extreme heat during the day and extreme The design of Eastgate Centre is
cold at night. Their mounds are ventilation structures that maintain influenced by the passive heating and
temperature, CO2 levels and humidity in the nests below the cooling structures of termite mounds.
ground. Photo by J Brew, courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute. Photo by Mandy Paterson, courtesy of
The Biomimicry Institute.
The structure of owl feathers reduces noise. Photo Humpback whales have bumps on the front of
courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute. their fins, allowing them to turn on a dime
underwater. Photo by Christine & David
Schmitt, Courtesy of The Biomimicry Institute.
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monocultures of needy annuals that are into Nature; exploring, observing and ques-
currently our staple foods. Researchers tioning how life works.
at the University of Arizona are studying
how a leaf captures energy with the aim of Biomimicry South Africa is a network affili-
producing a solar cell the size of a mole- ated to Benyus’s Biomimicry Group and
cule. Others are studying the capacities of headed up by Claire Janisch. Biomimicry
the blue mussel to learn how to create a workshops, training and presentations are
non-toxic underwater glue. Industrial ecol- now available. To contact Biomimicry South
ogists are looking to mature hardwood for- Africa, email claire@biomimicry.net and
ests to model a closed-loop economic sys- for more information about biomimicry
tem. visit www.biomimicryinstitute.org. To be-
come part of the global biomimicry net-
Nature’s store of designs is so tremendous- work join www.asknature.org
ly vast and diverse that it is conceivable that
the solutions to all our design problems al-
ready exist. We just need to know how to
engage with Nature as a teacher. In the About the author
face of our crisis of unsustainability, it is ar-
guable that eco-literacy is an essential 21st Beth Peterson is a professional writer with
century life skill; and for the designers a special focus on sustainability, human de-
who are shaping our world, it is then also velopment and natural history. She also
a crucial job skill. Benyus suggests an im- provides unique ‘writer-at-the-table’ cre-
mersion in Nature and entering into a ative services – ideas generation, storytell-
“sort of intimacy with Life on Earth”. At the ing and strategy for brands and organisa-
core of biomimicry training is getting out tions. <
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Absa Bank Ltd, Reg No 1986/004794/06. Authorised Financial Services Provider. Registered Credit Provider Reg No NCRCP7. The Jupiter Drawing Room 44130
Creativity takes courage.
Just ask Guy du Toit.
Overcoming one’s fears is easier said than done. That’s why we sponsor the
Absa L’Atelier – an art competition that rewards brave, young artists with the
opportunity to live and learn at the world-renowned Cité Internationale des
Arts in Paris. As a look through the list of past winners will testify, when courage
and this kind of opportunity come together, greatness is sure to follow suit.
In August the SABS Design Institute was in- Born in Taiwan, Leimei was raised and edu-
A champion for design promotion across boundaries
strumental in bringing Leimei Julia Chiu to cated in the United States and later in Japan,
South Africa as the international guest ad- offering her a diverse cultural and academic
judicator of the 2010 SABS Design Excellence foundation. This might be the reason why
Awards. According to Adrienne Viljoen, man- she has chosen to help designers and de-
ager of the SABS Design Institute, the pres- sign students to promote their work across
ence of international adjudicators in the national and cultural barriers. She herself has
Design Excellence Award scheme creates traversed disciplines by starting off as a math-
an international benchmark and adds cred- ematician before moving on to become a pro-
ibility to the entire process. It also offers an moter of design.
international perspective on the South African
design industry. Before her current position, Leimei was direc-
tor of the International Design Center Nagoya.
Previous international names that have added She also worked with major Japanese corpo-
lustre to the Design Excellence Awards adju- rations, as well as with governments and aca-
dication panels were Satish Gokhale, award- demic institutions in over 35 countries across
winning industrial designer from India (2004), Europe, North America and the Pan Pacific Rim.
Marcelo Aflalo, architect and designer from She is an executive board member for the ad-
Brazil (2005), Eric Anderson who taught indus- visory council of METI (the Japanese Ministry
trial design at the Carnegie Mellon University of Economics & Industry) to implement na-
in Pittsburgh in the USA (2006) and Lorraine tional design policy in Japan, as well as the
Justice, director of the School of Design at mayor’s advisory council on implementing the
the Hong Kong Polytechnic who joined the 10-year strategic plan (2010-2020) for the
judging panel in 2007. Carlos Hinrichsen, past future of the city of Nagoya and strategic
president of Icsid was the international ad- visions for the economic development of the
judicator in 2009. central Japan region.
Leimei Julia Chiu, by all accounts the most re- A stalwart in professional design associations,
spected and experienced design promoter in Leimei has become Icograda's first female
the world, has never been restricted by bound- president elect. She will preside over this or-
aries. She moves easily across disciplines, cul- ganisation’s 50th anniversary celebrations in
tures and geographical borders. 2013 when she becomes president for the
2011 to 2013 term. Icograda (International
Leimei is currently the executive director of Council of Graphic Design Associations) is the
the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organ- world body for professional communication
isation (JIDPO) and a professor in the De- design. It was founded in 1963 and is a volun-
partment of Visual Communication Design tary assembly of organisations concerned with
at Musashino Art University. graphic design, visual communication, design
management, promotion, education, research
and journalism.
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It is interesting to note that the Good De- Leimei shared the insights on the SABS Design
sign Awards operates on a screening policy Excellence Awards process and products.
that is expressed in five words: She was most impressed by the attention
– HUMANITY: Inspiration for products and the adjudicators paid to the different entries
conceptual embodiments and the knowledge they displayed in a variety
– HONESTY: Perceptiveness toward contem- of fields. Compared to Japan where great
porary society attention is paid to detail and small elements,
– INNOVATION: Concepts to pioneer the Leimei commented about the sheer size of
future many of the entries. She was particularly im-
– AESTHETICS: Imagination for prosperous pressed with the huge treasure of indigenous
lifestyle culture knowledge that was applied to award-winning
– ETHICS: Reflecting on society and environ- products and the fact that most of the prod-
ment ucts were designed to overcome challenges
faced by South African society. So, for ex-
Leimei insists that the Good Design Awards ample, was the award made for a modified
is all about the people who will eventually armoured car to her an example of designing
use the designs. It boils down to a basic phi- for security where a disadvantageous situa-
losophy that design is a humanitarian act put tion could be turned into an advantageous
in the service of the human community. one. The first wholly South African designed
aviation aircraft also elicited positive com-
Leimei believes that the G Mark concept ments from Leimei. She was impressed by
could work well for South Africa, as it has the expertise and research efforts that were
never awarded individuals, but rather com- applied and the fact that collaboration be-
panies, organisations and institutions that tween disciplines and institutions could lead
have excelled in design. With the G Mark to an award-winning product.
comes many training programmes, semi-
nars and more to encourage entrepreneur- Leimei believes that design and design think-
ship and design and this could also help to ing can be applied to building a nation, just as
bolster the South African economy, should the G Mark did for Japan in the previous cen-
such a concept be carried through locally. tury. Japan’s Good Design Award was initially
a vehicle for government to work with indus-
Design can be applied to meet the challenges tries to show how design thinking could help
faced by South Africa at present. Leimei made business to incorporate new strategies to
the suggestion that design could, for exam- become more successful – create jobs, grow
ple, be applied to redesign education, encom- the economy.
passing different disciplines of design like
communication design (for learning mate- It will bode well for South Africa if government
rial), architecture (for school infrastructure) would follow the same strategies here on
and more. Design could also be applied to the tip of the African continent. <
public services to improve infrastructure.
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DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA
A new lens on the known world
By Jess Henson
The 2010 FIFA World Cup helped South Africans and their continental
compatriots to wake up and work together to welcome the world
with a vigour not seen before. If your goal is to live and thrive in the
metaphorical global village of 2011, this is the time to focus and find
out about DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA.
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2010 was big. We worked hard, amazing. And if we can learn from to the fan park, sharing a vision,
played even harder and joyfully it, we can build on it. For that, we celebrating and achieving. It’s a
hosted an event of global propor- need to focus and put ourselves pretty picture, in retrospect, and it
tions that boosted South Africa’s centre stage. can serve a greater purpose than
social, economic and infrastruc- beautifying the mantelpiece of
tural development by leaps and Perhaps the most profound achieve- our national pride.
bounds. Most importantly, we ment of 2010 was that we have
did this by ourselves. If last year’s begun to believe in ourselves in a Planning and strategising for a
successes are anything to go by, global context. We became one new year means looking back and
2011 is going to be even more – sharing workloads, sharing lifts learning from the previous one.
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LEFT: Safety and traffic flow are key in any inner city. Thanks to collective vision and a new pedestrian bridge,
crossing Buitengracht Street in Cape Town is now easy, and it comes with a view. Photo by Cape Town Tourism.
CENTRE: Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium is a new icon on the city map and an architectural feat that proves
that the country’s talent is capable of creating and producing first-class products. Photo by Bruce Sutherland
and City of Cape Town.
But how can you confidently step identity. It’s not instantly obvious returning friends. A concentrated
into the new if you’re not sure what just when and where, and who and portion of these came from South
you’re looking at? what were done to make us proud America.
of our cities and the souls living in
them, of our hard work and hope. Connectivity saw Brazil importing
In the wake of the It feels as if we were thrown into a its samba musicians and capoiera
World Cup time machine, and by some miracle, dancers on dedicated cultural ex-
came out clean, ready and really change programmes “to enhance
The FIFA 2010 World Cup was ex- happy to be in the present. That an awareness of Brazilian culture”
citing and overwhelming – so much ‘miracle’ is called connectivity. as 2010 Western Cape co-ordinator,
happened so fast. Most of us have Dr Laurine Platzky stated. They
mental snapshots of moving Connectivity means that South joined us in the streets, on stages,
through the streets with strangers African cities fed into design and in the stadia and behind the scenes.
or monumental stadia filled with architecture, which fed into a
waving arms. There were thou- world event, which fed into the Connectivity resulted in experts
sands of related events and new economy, building the country. from all disciplines and fields
initiatives, roads being remodelled, pulling together to prepare for
airports revamped and media cam- Connectivity brought us first-time the event, and the country deliv-
paigns redesigning national visitors and turned them into ered, on time, to the masses, to
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Urban realities and shantytowns at the entry and cultural commentator, Zahira As-
sustainable solutions exit of every major city and town mal, lived and worked in Lisbon.
in South Africa is a clear indica- There she met with a group of de-
Urbanism – a word referring to tion that thorough planning is sign critics and editors while work-
urban character or an urban way necessary as population density ing on the ExperimentaDesign
of life – is not just a thought trend; increases. Biennale.
it’s a worldwide movement. More
than half the world’s population DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA is tak- “It was an opportune time to in-
now lives in an urban centre and ing notes in the hope that every- vite the world’s most illustrious
open-platform thinking is neces- one will get involved in the conver- design critics and editors to South
sary to connect the dots. sation, from expats to experts, Africa – it being the World Cup. I
students to street sweepers. Plan- was also curious about what urban
In keeping with global population ning means looking at the whole and design projects were kicking
and development trends, South picture. The whole picture involves off developments, and how the
African urbanisation is on the in- the whole world, as the project national government, municipal-
crease as more and more people origins illustrate. ities, tourism agents, architects
migrate to economic centres to and designers were working to-
thrive. The blossoming, colourful, DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA start- gether to ‘Design South Africa’
haphazard sprawl of informal ed in 2009 when creative and for the World Cup.
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“I invited the editors to key urban on the topic of South African de- came third in the Best City cate-
centres in South Africa to explore sign and urbanism across the gory.
the developments with me, meet world.
the relevant people, as well as While still in its initial stages, in
experience first-hand what they The project’s multimedia documen- 2010, DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA
would report in their respective tary platform, www.designing single-handedly engaged a dia-
publications, with the aim of pub- southafrica.com, features in-depth logue with the United States,
lishing a book on the impact of panel discussions on nation de- the United Kingdom, Spain, Bra-
the 2010 FIFA World Cup on South sign and identity, lessons learned zil, Japan, Germany, Belgium and
African cities. from the World Cup, and new ur- China. The project invited and
banism and World Cup legacies. hosted visitors from international
independent media. The positive
Contributing to the Johannesburg was nominated spin-offs included one-on-one
dialogue for the Wallpaper* Design Awards exchanges between media and
2011 for 'Best City' due to DESIGN- field experts, as well as dedicat-
In the past year, DESIGNING_ ING_SOUTHAFRICA hosting the ed urbanism and design-related
SOUTHAFRICA has established prestigious international life- articles in nine high-profile, in-
itself as a vehicle for information style magazine in South Africa in ternational publications cover-
exchange, generating dialogue 2010. The result: Johannesburg ing transport, architecture, graphic
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design and brand identity. Nota- to serve on the DESIGNING_ Onwards, upwards,
bly, a cover on the November SOUTHAFRICA Advisory Panel.” outwards – The
2010 issue of Wallpaper* maga- DESIGNING_SOUTH
zine. DESIGNING_SOUTHAFRICA The experts making up the panel AFRICA directive
coverage extended to five conti- include Edgar Pieterse, urbanist
nents in nine languages. and director for African Centre In its endeavour to support a wider
for Cities; Mokhena Makeka, an interdisciplinary discourse and
architect who focuses on sus- tell the story of new spaces, new
Experts from all areas tainability and durability; and identity and new thought in the
Henning Rasmuss, director of wake of the World Cup, DESIGN-
A notable World Cup success, Za- Points Architects and Urban De- ING_SOUTHAFRICA makes a
hira notes, is that “design thinking signers. point of:
and applied design work was se- • engaging government, munic-
riously contracted, the result be- ”Perhaps this is an opportunity ipalities, the private sector,
ing a cohesive national expres- to create a national council to tourism agents, designers, ar-
sion that was celebrated by advise on all South African crea- chitects and educators in the
South Africans and the world. tive executions.” delivery of efficient service
We want to continue on this tra-
jectory and have sourced experts
155 >
LEFT: Johannesburg city from the sky. The World Cup has
helped South Africa reach a global audience and express
itself in an authentic, natural and newly South African
way. Image by Michael Meyersfeld.
• shifting negative perception Cup and the 2016 Olympics. A other and ourselves. “Nation build-
to positive ones, locally and visit to Brazil in January will forge ing and development require
globally ties. In addition to sharing knowl- collaboration,” concludes Zahira.
• highlighting development ini- edge of lessons learnt in the World “No city is an entity on its own
tiatives and achievements in Cup, Zahira says that “we have anymore, especially with com-
design, architecture, public similar social and developmental munication technology, and the
transport and public spaces concerns that I would like to ex- ease with which people travel.
• granting global access to South plore with the Brazilians”. We have to collaborate and
African expertise, and enabling share information and expertise.
sharing of expertise between With South Africa now included It’s essential.”
Brazil and Africa. in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia,
India and China) as a developing
The near future sees DESIGNING_ nation of increasing power on About the author
SOUTHAFRICA publish a book the world market, sharing knowl-
with panellist insights and expert edge can be invaluable going Jess Henson covers the arts, de-
essays, roving international exhi- forward. sign and urbanism for print and
bitions (Durban, London and pixel with a focus on integration,
Berlin), as well as a focus on Bra- 2011 is already looking good. We education and elevation. <
zil, host of the FIFA 2014 World would do well to invest in each
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KNITTING
FOR INITIATES
By Maran Coates. Laduma Ngxokolo, a Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore,
young South African knitwear designer, has United Kingdom and South Africa. The com-
been named the top new creative talent in petition required that all entries show evi-
his field by the UK-based Society of Dyers dence of colour use as an integral component
and Colourists' (SDC) annual International of the design process as, well as incorporat-
Design Competition 2010. Laduma’s range ing social responsibility. Laduma’s range was
of jerseys titled The colourful world of the inspired by his culture and heritage but more
Xhosa tribe was awarded first place at the specifically, traditional Xhosa beadwork and
prestigious evening ceremony held at the food. However, the most fascinating consid-
Clothworkers Hall in London. eration of Laduma’s jerseys is his intended
clients: initiates.
The SDC’s annual International Design Com-
petition received 500 entries from 100 terti- Once the young initiates (amakrwala) rejoin
ary institutions representing ten countries society, they are required to throw away all
including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, their old clothes that they wore as a boy and
157 >
then to don new clothes. This uniform of sorts Once young Xhosa initiates rejoin
consists of smart trousers, a blazer or jacket, society, they are required to don
new clothes which commonly
hat and formal shoes. Though there is an el-
consist of smart trousers, a blazer or
ement of individuality about the garment jacket, hat and formal shoes. Photo
selection, the whole body has to be covered by Araminta de Clermont at Joao
for three to six months. Once dressed, the Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, from
young men have to appear and behave as the series A New Beginning.
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Presentation
boards of
Laduma Ngxo-
kolo's winning
entry for the
Society of Dyers
and Colourists'
annual Interna-
tional Design
Competition
2010.
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a question that he constantly poses: “What heritage on to him – and this is his greatest
relevance can the work that I design have in source of influence. His mother was a seam-
the present and the future”? stress, his grandfather an artist and his sis-
ter is a fashion student. Laduma is in a good
With this in mind, the quality of the garment position to one day pass something of great
is most important, using premium quality value on to his own emerging generation.
mohair and merino wool provided by his
sponsors, Cape Wool and Mohair South Africa, Laduma has just completed his BTech at Nel-
both of whom awarded Laduma bursaries son Mandela Metropolitan University in Port
for his studies. Elizabeth and is planning to use his winnings
(£1 000 – ZAR10 900) to set up a business
For Laduma the idea of passing something that will make his knitwear designs available
on from one generation to another is truly key to the world. <
to his view on Xhosa culture in a culturally
evolving South Africa. His creative family
have passed their skills and also their
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Do you ever fast forward during The theme for the 2010 Vuka!
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thing that struck us with these stories with Kyle McIntyre to produce the
is that all these young, young kids sound which is an integral component
came to South Africa because they of the PSA and ties the animation
saw the country as ‘this shining bea- together beautifully.
con of hope’ on the continent. They
thought that they would be taken When asked about their creative
care of and be able to live a normal process and involvement with Jesuit
life. But the reality was very far from Refugee Services, the students af-
that. These kids live in poverty and firmed that by the end of the project,
go to school with other children who they had all changed their percep-
don't want them there. They all said tions. One team member even ex-
that if they had a choice, they would claimed: “we started as quite a use-
not want to be here.” less group to be honest, compassion
wise, only to become a bloody power-
From their findings it became clear house of refugee-loving strength! If
that for the most part, South Africans nothing else, and if no one else, this
do not understand who refugees are, project changed the four of us.”
why they are here and why they are
allowed to be here. This seemed to be The feedback from the students is
the main problem and gave the team heartfelt and demonstrates the
a clearer idea of what content to focus worth of participating in such a project.
on for their PSA. Consequently, the Social innovation and creative collabo-
team decided that what they needed ration are also key drivers for M-Net’s
was “a non-sentimental, punchy ani- corporate social investment so they
mation that showcased the facts” continuously strive to improve and
and illustrated the difference between sustain their projects. During the past
an illegal immigrant and a refugee. two years, M-Net has spent time exam-
ining all aspects of the Vuka! initiative.
They kept the execution simple and Koo Govender, M-Net director of Cor-
the text straightforward. The visual porate Marketing & Communications,
style incorporates cell animation, promises that “in 2011 the Vukas! will
photography and hand drawn type be a more holistic experience with a
to keep the communication interest- bigger focus on training and develop-
ing and fresh. The students worked ment opportunities and more viewer
participation”.
The Vuka! Award for Best Newcomer All the Vuka! finalists are flighted on
went to the team from the University
air for a year, beginning January 2011.
of Pretoria for their innovative animated
For the full list of 2010 winners and
PSA for the Jesuit Refugee Service, with
its stirring message of fighting finalists click here. <
xenophobia by beating ignorance.
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LIFESTYLES
VASES
FOR
By Erin-Lee Saunders. With a tangible This year’s initiative was themed VASE-a-
current of vibrant creativity floating Lifestyle and 133 aspiring product design-
through the air, the moment had finally ar- ers submitted their prototypes with the
rived for Carrol Boyes to announce the hope of winning one of the cash prizes to-
three winners of the Metal 2010 New De- talling R90 000. Only ten finalists had the
signer Search Competition. The prestigious opportunity to present their original and
event was held at her new store in Canal beautifully crafted designs and I suppose
Walk offering the ideal setting for the that the decision must have been a rather
announcement and to show off the well- tough one.
executed prototypes.
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I was particularly attracted to the Towering on display. Towering Tree-Ou took the third
Tree-Ou, which was designed to display all prize in the competition and was designed
parts of a flower, including the stem. The by Christopher Bradnum who is a practicing
vase is made up of two cast metal compo- design consultant and head of the Depart-
nents that are repeated three times to ment of Industrial Design at the University
form the vase structure, a glass holder and of Johannesburg.
a hinging base. I was also attracted to the
fact that the top diameter of the vase can Second prize went to Eclipse, an inverted
simply be adjusted via a cable to accommo- vase designed by architect, artist and de-
date a variety of thicknesses of the plant signer, Cobus van den Berg. Eclipse is part
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I was truly inspired by the wealth of talent Carson claims that he has not yet had suf-
that this year’s ten finalists exhibited, es- ficient experience in the product design
pecially when I saw heads turning and industry and sees his win as a great oppor-
watched how faces lit up when the winner tunity to be able to learn from Carrol
was announced. Boyes, who is one of the leading product
designers in Africa.
Carson Smuts took home first prize and
earned himself R50 000 for his vase called For this project Carson experimented with
Urchin. Carson says that he feels highly resins and 3D prototyping that enabled
honoured to win this prestigious award. A him to produce the accuracy and details in
Bachelor of Architectural Studies graduate the curvature which he had initially required.
from the University of Cape Town and cur- “Coming from an architectural background,
rently enrolled in the Masters of Advanced I feel that there should also be a synergy
169 >
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between structure and beauty. My intent sustainable business based on the power of
was to create a vase that was structurally design. “I am very excited to see this com-
sound, yet elegant.” petition continuing in the years to come.”
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ALL
REIJER VAN DER VLUGT
STARS
School of Advertising. “I am qualified in any-
thing I put my mind to,” says Reijer.
BELOW
his day-to-day schedule. He mentions that
he could work until 2am on one day and ar-
rive at work around 2pm the next day, as
long as the workload is managed according
to a deadline, anything goes. He says it can
By Erin-Lee Saunders. Developing and
be very stressful at times but liberating if
nurturing young talent is essential for fu-
one enjoys it.
ture growth. The Loerie Awards, first held in
1978, is passionate about this aspect and
Generally, Reijer believes in approaching a
initiated the Loeries Young Creatives Award
brief from as many angles as possible. As an
in 2007 which recognises outstanding
art director, he works very closely with his
achievement of talented individuals’ at the
copywriter. Together they would get a brief
beginning of their careers. Individuals under
from a client and think of how they’d inter-
the age of 27 working in brand communica-
pret and express the requirements in the
tion (advertising, communication design or
most creative way. His working process of-
experiential media) submit a portfolio of
ten consists of lots of research, thinking,
their work and the winners receive a Gold
continuous drawing, writing, going for a
Loerie Award, as well as an all-expenses-
brisk walk, trying out the actual product/
paid trip to an international award show.
service, an incredible amount of coffee, ex-
This year saw some new categories being
perimenting, learning what doesn’t work,
introduced which included a section for cre-
the list goes on and on as each brief is
ative professionals. In between the riveting
unique. “The only consistent formula that
sounds, flashing wonders and nail-biting
works for me is: find the truth, say it simply
moments, the most talented were an-
in an interesting or beautiful way.”
nounced.
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Project: Print campaign fo Master Lock Agency: FoxP2 Creative Directors: Justin Gomes,
Andrew Whitehouse Art Director: Reijer van der Vlugt Copywriter: Justin Osburn
MBUSO NDLOVU
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Client: UNICEF Agency: Y&R Johannesburg Chief Creative Officer: Michael Blore
Executive Creative Director: Liam Wielopolski
Copywriter: Ian Franks Copywriter: Sebastian Schneider
Art Directors: Alison Stansfield, Mbuso Ndlovu
177 >
he gained while working on many interna- He has also been working on a couple of big
tional accounts. “It is pretty enlightening to projects such as repositioning one of SAB’s
realise that, as the creator, one can change major brands. He is very excited to travel
and impact on the mindsets of consumers abroad, especially to meet his peers at the
around the world.” He continues that having international awards show: “It will be great
global clients also present its own list of lo- to make relevant contacts which could fur-
gistical problems and sometimes these cli- ther enhance my learning and career!”
ents try to direct the brief and delegate
what they think is best for the South African
market. Mbuso says that this approach to 2010 STUDENT LOERIE
the South African market does not always AWARD WINNERS
work.
Students also did well at the 2010 Loerie
According to Mbuso a creative must always Awards and from 380 entries, 109 were
question the brief; understand if the strat- short-listed as finalists. Two student Gold
egy is spot-on for the brand; identify the Loeries were awarded to Chrizanne van
target market; identify methods of engage- Breda, Marize Engelbrecht and Shannon
ment by its users and see that the concept Devy, from AAA School of Advertising Cape
is in line with what they are trying to achieve Town, for their National Geographic Calen-
through any of the creative vehicles. Gener- dar and Clayton Swartz and Jessica Crozier,
ally, this is how Mbuso approaches each brief. from AAA School of Advertising Johannes-
He finds brainstorming useful and surfs the burg, for their print advertising campaign
Internet for inspiration, looking for cool vid- for Leatherman.
eos, artworks, design, movies and blogs.
Three Craft Gold Loeries were awarded to
Having fun while you work is a priority for Chad Goddard, from Vega, the Brand Com-
Mbuso and working in the creative industry munications School Johannesburg, for his
makes this all very possible and accessible: book, Fortywords; Michael Tymbios, from
“Kind of learning while having fun doing so.” AAA School of Advertising Cape Town, for
He believes that the UNICEF Child Soldiers his graphic novel, Onwards!; and Johan
and XBOX Need for Speed are by far the best Horn, from AAA School of Advertising Cape
projects that he has worked on to date. Town, for his publication, 10 Things you should
These projects have been awarded and rec- know about sport.
ognised both locally and internationally and
he specifically enjoyed the craft detail that Other tertiary institutions that received Sil-
went into executing each piece. ver, Bronze and Craft Certificates were from
North-West University, Vega, the Brand
Mbuso is currently working as a designer/art Communications School, Red and Yellow,
director at MetropolitanRepublic, a cross- Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Pho-
platform agency. He particularly loves work- tography, The Open Window, Greenside De-
ing on local accounts such as MTN, SAB, sign Center, City Varsity and Tshwane Uni-
FNB, Wimpy and Vuzu.tv, to name just a few. versity of Technology. <
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By Janine Johnston. In most people’s the world’s wealthier 20% who consume
minds design means veneer, the finishing 80% of global resources. If the 80% less for-
process, the cherry on the top. Nothing tunate individuals want to adopt the models
could be further from the true meaning of of consumption so widely and powerfully
design. Steve Jobs got it exactly right when promoted by contemporary industrial soci-
he said: “Design is the fundamental soul of ety, they will not find the resources to do so:
manmade creation.” When we recognise de- there is insufficient clean air, water, energy
sign sensibility at the core of our business and land for 6 billion to consume in the
– people and environmental development – same way as the ’rich‘. This environmental
only then will we create sustainable success. pressure creates social and political ten-
sions. The ratios 80/20 and 20/80 express
Sustainable design entails the theories and the desperate need for alternative life-
practices that cultivate ecological, economi- styles, new proposals and designs on how
cal and cultural conditions that indefinitely we can improve our choices and actions so
support human wellbeing. We’re at a stage that these are more sustainable and envi-
where environmental intervention must be- ronmentally friendly.
gin at a product’s conception because even
though the world is filled with remarkable A new design revolution is underway, one
people, we are still consumers and we’re not seen since the Bauhaus movement of
consuming at a rapid rate. the 1920s: ‘Eco design’ takes the emotional,
ecological and economic factors of our soci-
Consumption is emotional; purchases are ety into account. This is design for a sustain-
status symbols and style is transient. The able future. Innovators and inventors are no
Journal of Advertising Research published a longer waiting for overall change in the sys-
study that showed emotions are twice as tem – they’re driving the change. Projects
important as facts when people make buy- are approached as ’solutions for people‘–
ing decisions. These are characteristics of making new products and services accessible
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to the widest possible audience with the “If there was no design there would be
least possible negative impact. Efficient de- nothing to do and nothing would progress
sign carefully measures the energy, resourc- or get better. The world would fall apart.” –
es, costs of production and its influence on Anna, age 11.
local and global communities.
Maybe it is time, after all, to put the design
Sounds like a walk in the park, but in reality, of our future in the youth’s hands.
and particularly in Africa, we are faced with
enormous social and environmental devel- Enter the Eco Design Initiative, a South Afri-
opmental challenges that push the design can non-profit organisation with the objec-
sector from centre stage. Designers practis- tive to develop opportunities for youth en-
ing sustainable design are challenged even trepreneurship in the field of sustainable
more than those just doing conventional de- design. By facilitating skills and cultural
sign. There’s a lack of education and under- sharing amongst youth, the Initiative aims
standing about sustainability in design and to raise awareness and understanding about
the choice of materials is limited. So, our sustainability and to encourage the adapta-
creative communities are faced with these tion of sustainable design practises.
hurdles as well as other common design
challenges, such as costs, short schedules During 2011 Eco Design Ambassadors from
and meeting client demands. South Africa and Sweden will participate in
an interactive skills and cultural exchange
Management guru, Tom Peters, sees design which will entail the Fresh Talent Workshop
as the principal reason for emotional attach- and the Eco Design Showcase, to be hosted
ment (or detachment) relative to a product in Cape Town and the City of Malmö.
or service or experience. “Design is arguably
the no.1 determinant of whether a product- Calling for positive action towards our sus-
service-experience stands out – or does not. tainable future, the Initiative calls for No
Furthermore, it’s one of those things that Kak! This is a vernacular South African way
damn few enterprises put – consistently – of expressing one’s intolerance to nonsense
on the Front Burner.” and this campaign implies no waste, no pol-
lution and absolutely no harm.
Designers are the catalysts that make a sus-
tainable future possible. Today’s ultimate The Eco Design Initiative debuts in Cape
design challenge is to create durable prod- Town in February 2011. Cape Town is one of
ucts and services that minimise adverse im- Africa’s most important design hubs. It’s
pacts on the environment, while making beautiful setting, pedestrian-friendly city
everyday life simpler and more pleasant. centre and interesting urban landscape is a
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magnet for creative people. “We are proud While the exhibition is running in Cape
to be one of the global cities championing Town, the Fresh Talent Workshop will engage
sustainability through various redesigns of 30 eco -inspired designers in an intensive
the way we live, work and play and we feel learning, skills and cultural exchange pro-
it is enormously appropriate that we host gramme which will run from 28 February to
the new and exciting Eco Design Initiative. 4 March. Twenty South African participants
We truly believe that design can play a ma- were selected as finalists in the Eco Design
jor role in future-fitting Cape Town for gen- Competition in 2010, which called for en-
erations and we feel sure that this initiative tries from design students and entrepre-
will bring that message home even more neurs across South Africa. For the past few
clearly,” says Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, months, these ’Fresh Talents’ have been
CEO, Cape Town Tourism. producing their sustainable design proto-
types to be the feature of the international
The Eco Design Showcase will be a spectacu- Eco Design Showcase. They meet with Eco
lar display of design prototypes, sustainable Design Ambassadors, Apokalypse Labotek,
concepts and design stories, as portrayed by Righteous Fashion, Swedish Ninja and Liv
young Swedish and South African partici- Andersson (from Sweden) and the LIV Green
pants. The exhibition launches at Iziko Slave Design team (South Africa) to be inspired to
Lodge, Cape Town on 25 February and will innovate with sustainability as the front-of-
be open to public until 9 March. mind objective. The Fresh Talent Workshop
programme will also include contributions
Built in 1679 by the Dutch East India Com- from South African design educators and
pany to confine the Company’s slaves, the sustainability champions.
Slave Lodge is today a museum dedicated to
highlighting histories of slavery and human The challenge presented to the participat-
rights. Under the umbrella theme From hu- ing designers will be to reinvent the space
man wrongs to human rights, and through of an under-resourced youth centre, using a
permanent and temporary exhibitions, the supply of waste materials. With the partici-
museum strives to increase awareness on is- pating designers’ creativity and ability to in-
sues such as human rights, equality, peace novate, waste will be up-cycled to create
and justice. “Such issues are directly affect- products of greater value to better serve
ed by climate change and the Iziko Slave our community. This positive community ac-
Lodge is therefore pleased to host young tion inspires respect and pride in diversity,
designers’ perspectives on possibilities for while encouraging the application of good
our sustainable future,” says Fiona Clayton, design to improve the lifestyles of all our
curator, Iziko Slave Lodge. society’s people.
181 >
The initiative is included as a case study in The winner of the Eco Design Competition
Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 bid will enjoy a Sustainable Design Tour to Swe-
book for this prestigious international title. den to attend the launch of the exhibition in
The Eco Design Initiative’s headline activi- Malmö on 15 May. The no kak! ingen skit! Eco
ties are staged when the city is ’buzzing de- Design Showcase will be open to Scandina-
sign and creativity’, coinciding with the vian audiences until late October.
launch of Cape Town’s bid activities during
Design Indaba 2011. “As much as it is about These exciting activities are the first steps in
positioning our city as a place with great de- the Eco Design Initiative programme to fa-
sign capacity, bidding for this title is an im- cilitate more qualified educational exchang-
portant way for us to hone our ability to use es between South Africa and Sweden.
design thinking in addressing many of the Through sharing skills, culture and innova-
social challenges we face as a city.” tion amongst talented youth, the campaign
aims to further global sustainable develop-
This impactful meeting in Cape Town will ment objectives.
then proceed to the international leg of the
Eco Design Showcase at Malmöhus, Scandi- The Eco Design Initiative is supported and
navia’s oldest surviving Renaissance Castle. sponsored by an impressive list of organisa-
Malmö Museum has cooperated with muse- tions which include: The Swedish Institute,
ums and organisations in South Africa for Swedish Arts Council, Proudly South African,
many years, with particular focus on issues Swedish Industrial Design Foundation (SVID),
related to the democratisation of cultural Malmö Museum, Iziko Museum of Cape
heritage, diversity, empowerment and hu- Town and DESIGN>MAGAZINE. <
man rights.
For more information visit www.nokak.com
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SHINES
been realised. Pertinent and purposeful,
their commitment to cultural and social re-
sponsibility comes naturally and is reflected
BRIGHTLY
through context, content and creativity.
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EDUCATION
DIPLOMA IN
INTEGRATED BRAND
COMMUNICATIONS
BA DEGREE
IN BRAND BUILDING
& MANAGEMENT
BA HONOURS BA HONOURS
IN BRAND LEADERSHIP CREATIVE BRAND
COMMUNICATIONS
BA DEGREE
CREATIVE BRAND
COMMUNICATIONS
HIGHER
CERTIFICATE
IN PHOTOGRAPHY
IMAGES
FOR CHANGE:
A SUSTAINABLE
BOND WITH
SPACES AND
PLACES
WE OCCUPY
Liani revealed to ED> how her curious
nature, a handful of disposable cameras
and a group of young people managed
to challenge her role as an architect and
sole creator to move beyond the design
of buildings towards the design of new
creative processes of engagement.
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Activity: Capture/
Investigate
Equipped with a disposable
camera the participants
were given three days to
visually document the
subjective reality of their
everyday life and
environment before the
next activity took place. An
accompanied ‘instruction
book’ served as a quick
reference of technical
things to remember, and
included a list of emotions
and themes to consider
whilst exploring their
environment.
During the run of my studies in sustainable develop- their environment, then respond and reflect on their
ment I became progressively interested in how I findings, together with an opportunity to visualise
could use the design process as a problem-solving future solutions – all of this through the means of
tool and deploy my skills to empower users to de- a camera lens.
mand more from the places and spaces they occu-
py. My master’s thesis investigated the social im- Equipped with disposable cameras the young peo-
pact of the built environment and allowed me to ple were given three days to visually document
challenge my role as sole creator and architect by their everyday life and environment before the rest
involving children and young people on a social of the activities took place. An accompanying ‘in-
housing estate in Kingston (where residents experi- struction book’ served as a quick reference of tech-
ence poorer health than in more affluent areas of nical things to remember, and included a list of
the borough), in developing ideas to improve their emotions and themes to consider whilst exploring
environment during a participatory workshop. their surroundings. Photography was favoured as
medium as it puts less pressure on young people to
Faced with the daunting task to deliver a weeklong be verbally articulate and neither do they need par-
workshop during the summer holiday in a foreign ticularly good drawing skills to express their ideas.
country with no specialist knowledge on how to en-
gage with children or facilitate a workshop, I was Once developed, the collection of photographs
ready to throw in the towel. But design is considered taken by the participants was used as a resource to
a solutions-orientated discipline, and I soon realised promote critical dia¬logue about positive and nega-
that I could use my design skills to plan a creative tive issues within their built environment. A series
process to assist the participants to firstly explore of activities challenged the young people to voice
191 >
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Activity: Photo-voice
enting different spaces Discussions about the photographs produced during the
e were pinned up, where week, gave the young people the opportunity to pick their
to comment on how these favourite photographs out of the group, as well as the preferred
e however restricted to do picture which they took themselves. The activity did not only
bad, glad or sad. allow them to select their favourite picture
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AUTHENTIC
AFRICAN
STORIES.
THE REAL DEAL
Over the past two years South African media organisation, Africa
Media Online, together with Dutch organisations, World Press
Photo, FreeVoice and lokaalmondiaal, have been running a
project called Twenty Ten: African media on the road to 2010 (and
beyond), training over 120 journalists from 34 African countries
to tell Africa’s story from an African perspective on the run up to
and during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Africa Media Online’s man-
aging director, David Larsen, tells the story.
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By David Larsen. It was early July 2008. I had just World Press Photo and another Dutch-based or-
sent out a blog posting on our Digital Picture ganisation, FreeVoice, had conceived to empower
Library Manager blog when I received a phone call African journalists ahead of the 2010 FIFA World
at our offices in Pietermaritzburg from Maarten Cup. At last we had found some common ground!
Koets, deputy managing director of World Press
Photo. I had been introduced to Maarten via email During the next month Maarten, myself and Africa
some years previously by Shahidul Alam, head of Media Online’s media manager and owner of Moon-
the Drik photo agency in Dhaka, Bangladesh, while shine Media, Dominique le Roux mapped the pa-
Maarten was still head of training at World Press rameters of that common ground, in the midst of
Photo. Since then I had been trying to find some the Cape Town leg of the APEP programme.
common ground between us around the training of
African photojournalists. World Press Photo not By the time we were done, Maarten looked across
only runs the world’s largest annual photojournalism the table at Dominique and I, laughed and said:
competition, but has also conducted innovative “When I share this with everyone in Holland people
training programmes for photojournalists in Africa. are going to fall off their chairs. It is so huge!”
My blog post had been about our up-and-coming What we all recognised was that the 2010 FIFA
African Photo Entrepreneur Programme (APEP) World Cup was a massive opportunity, not just for
that we were about to run in August 2008. Maarten South Africa, but for all of Africa. What we had
picked up the phone to say that what we were do- worked out was a plan to make sure that we as
ing with APEP was exactly in line with a project that Africans get to tell Africa’s 2010 story from our
Learners from a high school in Cape Town take in A visitor is captivated by the Twenty Ten On the
some of the multimedia productions produced Road Exhibition at the Waterfront in Cape Town.
during the Twenty Ten project at the Twenty Ten © David Larsen/Africa Media Online.
On the Road Exhibition at the Waterfront in Cape
Town. The travelling exhibition was a major output
of the Twenty Ten project and will travel to five
other African countries. Other outputs included a
photo book, content to sell to media around the
world and a documentary film. © David Larsen/
Africa Media Online.
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perspective. This fitted in with Africa Media Online’s He was right. At a glittering award ceremony in Am-
passion to enable locals to tell Africa’s story. sterdam in February, Twenty Ten: African media on
the road to 2010 (and beyond) was presented with a
The plan was to recruit and train over 100 journal- cheque for €2.2 million from the Dutch Postcode
ists from all over the continent including photo, ra- Lottery. Soon afterwards the organisations met in
dio and text journalists. These would be known as Amsterdam to work out the details and the project
the All Stars. These journalists would then report on began to take shape.
the lead-up to the event from their home nations
and the content would be distributed to African We built an application system and hundreds of pro-
and global media markets. Participants, or their em- fessional journalists from all over the continent ap-
ployer media organisations, would get 50% of all plied for the training programme. From September
revenue from sales. From these All Stars, a Dream 2009 to February 2010 we ran six training blocks in
Team of 18 journalists would be selected to come Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia.
to South Africa during the World Cup and report on Journalists were trained in radio production, writ-
the event while other members of the All Stars con- ing, photojournalism and multimedia. All-in-all over
tinued to report from their home nations. 120 journalists from 34 countries in Africa were
trained. After receiving the training each journalist
The partner organisations would work to their had to produce three stories, two while being men-
strengths – World Press Photo would train photo- tored and one on their own.
journalists, FreeVoice would train radio and text
journalists, Africa Media Online would provide the From the 120 or so All Stars a panel of judges se-
technological backbone to recruit the journalists, lected the top 18 journalists to become part of the
market and sell the content through its global dis- Dream Team. The Dream Team was invited to come
tribution network and provide the logistical sup- to South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup to
port for the Dream Team while in South Africa. An- cover the event. At the same time, in the run-up to
other Dutch organisation, lokaalmondiaal, would
represent the content to the Dutch public via the
website www.roadto2010.nl and write a book
about the project, which would be published by the
Topenmusem Press in Amsterdam. Tropenmuseum
would also produce an exhibition about the 2010
FIFA World Cup in South Africa in their main exhibi-
tion hall that would become a major gathering
point for the Dutch public to engage with the event.
the World Cup, All Stars as well as Dream Team website, as well as being distributed to Africa Me-
members were commissioned to do stories from dia Online’s network of agents around the world.
their home countries for which they were paid. Sev- The content was also used to produce a book, Afri-
eral All Stars continued to be commissioned during ca United, and a travelling exhibition Twenty Ten on
the event while the Dream Team was in South Africa the Road.
producing work on the ground.
Most aspects of the project worked well and in
An editorial team guided the journalists in what spite of the usual attrition of journalists who for
they produced and ensured the work was of suffi- one reason or another did not continue with the
cient standard to be offered to the market. Fea- process, we certainly saw significant progress in
tures that were produced were published in news- skills development in a number of journalists, par-
papers and websites around Africa and were sold ticularly in the Dream Team. Perhaps the most dis-
directly by Africa Media Online’s special project appointing aspect of the project was the sales of
TOP: Nigerian photographer, Andrew Esiebo, capturing with trainers Greg Marinovich (South Africa) and Chris
sound on a playing field in a Lusaka township as part De Bode (Netherlands). © David Larsen/Twenty Ten.
of a multimedia production. Andrew and other photo- RIGHT: Danesius Marteh from Liberia captures sounds
graphers learnt skills in the production of multimedia of Lagos traffic as part of a production of a radio story
feature stories. © David Larsen/Africa Media Online. during a Twenty Ten workshop held at the Nigerian
BOTTOM: Photographers from six different African Institute of Journalism in Lagos. © David Larsen/Africa
countries participating in the Ghana workshop together Media Online.
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the content. Africa Media Online was driving that hoped Twenty Ten would become the kick-start for a
aspect and in spite of significant effort and distri- continent-wide features agency that could continue
bution networks that reached around the globe, to tell Africa’s story from an African perspective.
sales of the content were minimal. There were a
number of reasons for this including the glut of While market realities did not allow this to happen,
free content that was available to editors at the there is perhaps a silver lining to this cloud. What the
time. The fundamental issue, however, was that the inability to create a sustainable market for this mate-
Twenty Ten project produced feature stories – pho- rial had done was to bring into sharp focus the in-
to, radio, text- and multimedia features. The markets creasing reality of the new markets where the pro-
for features have changed radically in the past few ducers of content are able to interact directly with
years and there are now very few places, locally and the consumers. The mass media mediators in the
internationally, that features can be placed. middle are being cut out and it is the age of the per-
sonal market. For us at Africa Media Online the Twen-
With the markets absent there could be no ongoing ty Ten project has pinpointed the need, not just to
production of this kind of content after the project equip professional journalists with hard skills in media
had run its course which was certainly a desired out- production, but also in entrepreneurial skills and an
come of the project. We at Africa Media Online had understanding of markets and ways to access them.
Twenty Ten workshop in Ghana. World Press Photo's Workshop in Accra, Ghana training African photo-
Friederiek Biemans discusses a photo story with graphers and text journalists. South African Twenty Ten
South African participant photographer Alexia photographer, Davina Jogi (centre far side) gets a
Webster. © David Larsen/Twenty Ten. different perspective to the local press. Participants
in the project were taught how to create in-depth photo
stories, and not simply capture the obvious. © David
Larsen/Africa Media Online.
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To this end the final element of the Twenty Ten ABOUT THE AUTHOR
project comes into its own. Africa Media Online is
pulling together a team of international experts to David Larsen is managing director of Africa Media
write an online resource that will be freely available Online. A journalist and photographer by trade,
to photographers all over the continent. Known as David graduated from UCT with a BA in social an-
the African Media Entrepreneur Programme thropology and environmental and geographical
(AMEP) the resource will seek to give photogra- sciences, and also graduated with a DipCS and MCS
phers an understanding of the markets for their from Regent College, Canada. He founded Africa
work, how to place themselves in those markets, Media Online in 2000.
how to access them and how to deliver quality
products that meet the markets’ needs. We are ex- David's passion, to see Africans telling Africa's story
pecting that the online resource will operate as the to African and global audiences has led him to de-
basis for online mentoring and the running of phys- velop systems for the effective delivery of media
ical courses. content, develop training that ensures African me-
dia and museum professionals are keeping up with
global trends and standards, and develop markets
for Africa's story. <
Nigerian photographers Adolphus Opara (centre) Dutch trainer Chris De Bode (centre) and South
and Andrew Esiebo (right) hone in on a Ghanaian African trainer Greg Marinovich (right) discussing a
cheerleader at a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying shoot done by Ethiopian photographer Michael
match between Ghana and Sudan. Ghana won the Tsegaye. The workshops held in six countries
match and was the first African team to qualify for around Africa were focused on the production of
the World Cup. © David Larsen/Africa Media Online. features that had the potential to be sold to
publications and broadcasters. © David Larsen/
Africa Media Online.
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By Suné Stassen
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Karen Suskin is a true change agent. Her home 12 years ago. She achieved this with
commitment and passion for design educa- the help of husband Anthony, family and a
tion and her exhaustive search for new and small local workforce.
more integrated ways of doing design have
lead to the development of a creative and Karen explains that Cross-Pollination ad-
innovative teaching practice. A practice dresses change within and outside the de-
shared in Cross-Pollination. “The Cross-Pol- sign studio. Its teaching methods are
lination workshops explore the role of de- aligned with David Sogge who said: “learn-
signer as mediator between culture and na- ing has to move to the heart of practice.”
ture and endeavour to understand nature as
a powerful source to stimulate an organic
type of thinking that is fluid and flexible. A
thinking which enlivens the ability to per-
ceive connections between things – the con-
nection to us, others and that of the envi-
ronment,” she explains.
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The problems we face have been caused in group. The other area that Cross-Pollination
large measure by the disconnected way in focuses on is the emergent design student”
which we think about, do and relate to the says Karen.
world. We can no longer afford to view life
through the familiar lens of materialism The student programme helps designers un-
alone, but must evolve to a way of thinking derstand that the primary function of de-
that recognises nature as our teacher. We sign is not perfecting form. This definition is
must expand our field of vision to encom- far too narrow and completely ignores de-
pass the living world as our university. By sign’s vital connection with cultural life and
returning to nature's genius, we may find nature, hence the title of the workshops.
that we can craft interconnected and intel- Karen says that design education cannot be
ligent design solutions, which benefit both excluded from this mismanagement and
people and nature” says Karen. material manipulation. She continues:
“there is enough evidence that we are doing
Karen explains that the Cross-Pollination se- something wrong. Cross-Pollination creates
ries of workshops that she presents is really a forum in which to learn individually and
a response to the above and an invitation to collectively, and where the principles of self-
all who want to explore and develop new organisation and transformation are ex-
ways of thinking, learning and doing design plored.”
in a more connected and intelligent way.
“The challenge is to make space for the Cross-Pollination is part of the Cape Penin-
emergence of new insights through devel- sula University of Technology’s design pro-
oping our self-knowledge and consequently gramme and is presently being offered to
expanding and enhancing our engagement all design institutions across disciplines na-
with the world which we inhabit.” tionwide. Karen, Haldane Martin, an indus-
trial designer, process art and social facilita-
So who exactly is the Cross-Pollination tor Helen van Zyl and two social development
audience? Cross-Pollination creates a forum practitioners Alan Kaplan and Sue Davidoff,
for design educators interested in exploring facilitate a week-long residential process.
better practice to come together to develop This takes place bi-annually in a wilderness
their personal skills as well as a sense of area outside Cape Town where students and
camaraderie within their field of expertise. professional designers from diverse disci-
The workshop series is relevant to all design plines participate in an extended creative
educators committed to self-study and process, inspired by close observation of na-
building future capacity. “Support is given ture.
for developing new learning systems,
developing partnerships and future networks So why is it so important for designers to
in the form of cross-institutional collaboration, become agents of change? The current
envisioning and re-structuring of a depart- ecological crisis and the social dilemma we
ment, or developing an institutional working are facing call for a different type of action.
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Cross-Pollination programme and guides to their best ability the experiential nature
understanding towards our own individual of each process and create space for a deep
purpose and that of humanity. I believe this emersion into each project.”
is the way to empower designers in leading
design to the heart of a sustainable future.” Although the studio space is informal and
the workshops broadly experiential, the
The intention of Cross-Pollination is that course is highly structured and disciplined.
each designer finds the courage with which The creative process will stimulate both per-
to cross self-imposed boundaries and dis- sonal and collective dialogue around new
cover a living balance between their holistic ways of thinking that is in tune with issues
mode of thinking – which includes imagina- such as social revitalisation, ecological sen-
tion, intuition and inspiration and acknowl- sitivity and new economical development.
edge these faculties as trusted modes of
cognition – alongside the complementary And the difference between the Cross-
analytic and rational mode of thinking. “This Pollination methodology and that of
way we can reground our knowing through biomimicry? Karen concludes: “I see Cross-
lived experience, enabling us to find new Pollination as a universal approach to design
ways of being in the world in the future. that doesn’t only consider the technical
““Now the design process becomes more aspects of design challenges, but also the
conscious and our actions all the more re- transformation of the designer and his/her
sponsible,” explains Karen. relationship to society and the environment.
Cross-Pollination shares the values and life
She says that the six modules included in principles subscribed to by biomimicry, and
the workshops are “sensitively designed to both are inspired by a vision of a just and
embrace change and redirect attention sustainable world. Cross-Pollination is an
from the object or end product to the proc- integrated approach to design that strives
ess, the journey. The designer is cautioned to avoid creating the problems that require
not to try and fix the design result prema- technical solutions.” <
turely with a solution, but rather understand
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SKETCH
of photography, communication design, in-
dustrial design, fine art, clothing design,
production design and architecture. The en-
SKETCHING
exhibition would have benefitted from re-
ceiving the brief that the Sketch Assembly
was a visually-based educational project,
By Melissa Haiden. At the beginning of not a body of new commercial artworks.
2010 Andrew Putter began his fellowship at
the Gordon Institute for Performing and The previous two movements in Putter’s
Creative Arts (GIPCA) at the University of Hottentots Holland cycle took the form of
Cape Town (UCT). The Sketch Assembly sumptuously staged, pristinely styled pho-
project subtitled The Merry Company, was tographs inspired by the merging of the lo-
born out of his desire to set up a project cal contemporary and the local historical.
that would straddle his interest in arts edu- Sketch Assembly can be seen as the third in-
cation, interdisciplinary collaboration and stallation, and although the outcome was
histories of interracial contact in the Cape. more a display of the process work rather
than the final products, it clearly communi-
As his collaborators, Putter selected a group cated what goes on behind the scenes of a
of 30 young creatives working in the fields photographic shoot.
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process that has been demolished long be- Dutch scenes of high society to create hy-
fore the final presentation. It’s like when we bridisations of the original culturally distinc-
see a sculpture on a plinth in an auction tive and segregated source material. One
house; the traces of the generative process clear stipulation was that all the costumes,
such as the working and pre-photographs, props and scenery had to be drawn from the
sketches, dirty rags and redrafting have original bodies of source.
long-been thrown away or hoarded back
into the artist’s workbox.
THE COLLABORATIVE ASPECT
The opposite was true for Sketch Assembly. Collaboration always connects the partici-
The Sketch Assembly exhibition was a meta- pants and their shared workplace, letting
phorical workbox. Those who attended the them explore multiple possibilities through
exhibition could not have missed the con- sharing of ideas and dilemmas they face
versations set up by the intricate physical along the way through a wider pool of refer-
documentation of discoveries, diversions ences and experience. The collaborators
and dead ends. These preparatory tests and were constantly showing their work to each
sketches were arguably presented as crea- other and testing out the compatibility and
tive works in their own right. thus they concretised the development of
abstract concepts and thoughts. It was a
valuable experience to have creatives from
THE SUBJECT MATTER AS so many different disciplines, collaborating
SECONDARY FOCUS in one space. Experimentation was key and
The work featured in Sketch Assembly was collaborators were encouraged to work out-
strictly based on the hybridisation of two side their comfort zone and field of exper-
bodies of source material. The project was tise, sharing their valuable experiences and
geared towards the self-conscious imitation skills with the rest of the group.
of the first body of source: four Dutch ‘merry
company’ prints (popular art in Dutch house- Joint ownership is always an issue with col-
holds of the 1600s). The second body of source laborative work, which presents its own
material consisted of the rare drawings of problematic financial implications. In this
the Khoikhoi and San living at the time. case the collaborators were not affected
since Putter ensured that the project was
The new images were to be a mischievous not geared toward commercial ends. The
re-imagining of the early interaction be- fact that Sketch Assembly was not a com-
tween indigenous Khoikhoi and the Dutch mercial project was also liberating and in a
youth of the Dutch East Indian Company in way alleviated the pressure of having to
the 1600s. The structure of the Dutch Merry please the audience who were familiar with
Company images would be translated into Putter’s previous work.
the contemporary format of digital photog-
raphy depicting models of European ethnic-
ity carousing with models of mixed ethnici-
ty. The Khoikhoi and San subjects and
elements would be integrated into the
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Water Jar, Yangshao culture, Neolithic period ca. 5000 - 3000 B.C.
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DESIGN
civilisation. The Sumerians are also credited
with perfecting the potter’s wheel and mak-
ing clay bricks, which were used to build
FOR YET
temples and cities.
AGE
rekindle interest in the ceramic manufactur-
ing industry. This was the time of the Indus-
trial Revolution, where machines and facto-
ries began mass-producing utility objects
for sale to consumers. Finding much of the
products made in this manner to be dull and
devoid of ‘life’, Morris instigated the Arts
By Angelique Kendall. Ceramics is one of and Craft Movement. Thanks to this move-
the oldest applied arts disciplines going ment, we now have designers employed in
back more than 30 000 years, sometime dur- manufacturing companies, bringing their
ing the last Ice Age. During this time people keen artistic eye to visually enhancing prod-
learnt to fashion objects out of mud and fire ucts and making them more desirable as
them at high temperatures as a means of worthy and cherished objects. No doubt
making them more durable. Besides func- marketers also soon realised the impor-
tional ceramics made and used for practical tance that aesthetic appreciation holds for
purposes such as the storage of food, statu- consumers.
ettes and figurines of both animals and hu-
mans were also fashioned for ritualistic and
spiritual purposes. By studying the remains CLAY AND ITS CONNECTION
of ceramic shards and intact objects, archae- TO AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY
ologists have uncovered a spectacularly vast
trove of treasures that tell the story of hu- Clay also features in certain creation myths
man history and the development of civilisa- from around the world, including tribes in
tion. Africa. Myth has it that Wongengi, the crea-
tor goddess of the Ijaw people of Nigeria
In ancient Mesopotamia one of the earliest fashioned dolls from clay and breathed life
forms of writing – the cuneiform – was in- into them to create humans, while the chief
scribed upon hundreds of thousands of clay god of the Congo’s Bambini people created
tablets, documenting the daily lives, eco- people from clay; black clay made black peo-
nomic transactions, literature and spiritual ple, white clay made whites, and red clay
beliefs of the highly advanced Sumerian made the pygmies. A little closer to home,
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Kgobeane, the son of the high god Kgobe in beautiful things, whether those things are
the Northern Sotho tradition, sat like a pot- functional or not. As people’s tastes are so
ter making a vessel, fashioning humans out diverse there is really no limit to the variety
of clay. of styles that can be designed.
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ABOVE: Works by Emily Myers. Image from The Art and Craft of
Clay – A complete Potters handbook, 4th edition by Susan and
Jan Peterson.
RIGHT: Ceramics used in space vehicle. Image from The Art and
Craft of Clay – A complete Potters handbook, 4th edition by
Susan and Jan Peterson.
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By Suné Stassen
GROWING YOUNG TALENT
fined teamwork and communication skills
are known to be critically important, not
just for effectively communicating one’s
ideas, but also for building honest and trust-
worthy relationships and mutual respect
amongst all participants. It’s also about
sharing great ideas and allowing someone
else to make them even better. In a world of
innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship,
working together as a unit is vital if you
are striving for success.
Their integrated business, identity and For the Freedom Fighters teamwork
marketing strategy impressed the MTDTD was the essence of their success and
judges enough to comment that the they had regular status meetings dur-
team members, Bianca de Beer (17), ing which they discussed all aspects of
Lanthe Louw (17), Mareli Jooste (18) their campaign: “The meetings were
and Bianca Boshoff (18) “showed ma- very important to us because that is
turity, professionalism and creativity where we brainstormed and shared
beyond their years”. ideas.”
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known symbol of freedom and for us rep- into a magazine format. I spent hours paging
resents what the company stands for.” through inspiring magazines to get a good
grip on the look and feel of a professional
Freedom Fighters followed a pretty impres- layout. For the catalogue, which was our
sive and structured design process, starting main focus in the magazine, I experimented
with extensive brainstorming that included with different solutions and developed op-
a lot of sketches and ideas doodled on pa- tions to share with the group. They then
per, careful planning and setting deadlines, gave me feedback and the final solution
assigning responsibilities, experimenting was a real group effort. The idea for the
with colour, fonts, photos, fabrics and many catalogue was to give it a relaxed yet pro-
ideas. They then made comparisons and fessional tone. I then focussed on the main
eventually chose the best concept, collect- look en feel of the clothing range and used
ed and bought fabrics to construct the first it as a guide for most of the final solutions.
garment. They then developed storyboards
for the television and radio commercials For Biance Boshoff editing home videos in
and the layout of a magazine. Finally they the past gave her some experience in filming
went through an evaluation process that the TV commercial but she had to learn a lot
included individual and team reflections on more on the job. “The outcome was based
the final outcome. on a series of experiments that came out well.
Some of the shots that I originally imagined
“We believe that we had a good balance be- didn’t work out so well because we didn’t
tween planning and creating. We also had have professional cameras or lighting.”
open and honest communication through-
out the process. Every team member had a She continues: “We listened to a lot of music
chance to share her ideas and feelings and for inspiration. It was very important to have
nobody’s opinion was nullified.” For them, the right audio for the video because we didn’t
communication skills were vital and the have any dialogue and the music would set
group quickly realised the importance of re- the emotional stage for our commercial. I
flecting and sharing crucial information: “We wrote and visualised the type of scenes we
also had confidence in each other’s design would use and roughly sketched it. Luckily my
skills and creative abilities.” mind works like a movie so the angles and cuts
came easily. I wanted to create a big contrast
Yet, everything didn’t go as they had originally between being a prisoner and having freedom.
planned, but that’s always part of the real We used the city, taxi rank and parking lots in
world design process. the first part and a wide-open field in the sec-
ond. We used two days for the shoot and a
Bianca de Beer who was responsible for friend as our actress. Editing took a long time
the magazine explains: “We looked at the and I still think I could work on it more. We
six anchor campaign components – logo, were very privileged to have a musician friend
merchandise, prototype, TV ad, radio ad and who composed the audio for the video.”
print media – and how to incorporate those
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And the shoot? “We all had a hand in choosing Being in matric brought on a different set
the wardrobe for that exciting day but the of stresses for Mareli and Bianca Boshoff as
weather was a challenge. On the day of the studying for their final exams could certainly
photo shoot it was cloudy and we were a bit not be ignored and late night emailing to
disappointed. At the end it was the clouds check on progress and little sleep were the
that added a stunning and dramatic backdrop, order of every day. Yet, that is part and parcel
a unique effect that was really perfect! of what careers in the creative industries
Shooting the taxi scene while it was raining require.
was not ideal but eventually added a per-
fect droopy and sombre feel that was a good Bianca Boshoff hopes to follow a career in
fit for our storyline,” says Bianca Boshoff. design while Mareli wants to study dramatic
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RECOMMENDED
READING
DESIGN>MAGAZINE No. 18
DESIGN>MAGAZINE No. 17
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DESIGN>ART No. 2
Diane Victor by Gordon Froud
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