Masha du Toit

(The last speaker – Mark Dytham – was just impossible to draw. Maybe I was too tired and overfull of ideas.)

He is one of the originators of the Pecha Kucha manner of presenting work. This is an evening of young designers showcasing their work in slide shows – each slide lasting for 20 seconds, and only 20 slides may be shown. This has been a very successful phenomenon, there are apparently Pecha Kucha shows all over the world by now. Here is a link to a site about Pecha Kucha

Mark Dytham showed us many images of many projects. It was difficult to listen after a long day of sitting still and absorbing – and he seemed very uncomfortable with the situation – speaking quickly and impatiently. Nonetheless the presentation was interesting and diverse.

The projects he showed tended to be a sort of re-cycling approach to renovating space. For example, an office created out of a bowling club.

There is a great emphasis on the practical, cheap, common sense approach to design, while keeping a real magical quality. Many nature references, and a loose and flowing feel. What looks like reflections on the image below is a vinyl cutout of a bamboo grove.

Here is a very cool interactive screen they devised:

A screen for a building site that grows and changes:

And a constant facination with the various aspects of Japanese culture –

The screen below has a green bamboo print on it – so from one angle its traditional Japan, and walking past it, it changes into this Akira version.

Too many projects to include here. Such energy!