03 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: barberosgerby, Design Indaba, iris table
Edward Barber and Jay Rosgerby of the London firm Barberosgerby spoke on the second day of the Design Indaba.
They typify the kind of design I used to think Design Indaba was about: minimal re-articulations of chairs, sofas, lamps and vases. However, they surprised me after all. More
03 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
When we came back from lunch on Day 2 of Design Indaba, we were treated to a performance by Gazelle. Certainly woke us up.
03 Mar 2009 1 Comment
in Colour, Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: color hunting, colour hunting, dai fujiwara, Design Indaba, issey miyake
Dai Fujiwara, the creative director of Issey Miyake was one of my favourite speakers at the Design Indaba.
Although his English was broken, this seemed to help rather than hinder his ability to communicate. He charmed us with his self deprecating and oddball sense of humour. More
03 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: Commonwealth design, Design Indaba
David Boira and Zoe Coombes from Commonwealth projects in New York spoke on Day 2 of the Design Indaba.
Here we have a marriage between two cultures – the Spanish Boira and the American Coombes . Its interesting how many of the designers presenting at this year’s Indaba are Spanish. More
03 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: Animation, Masters & Savant, the black heart gang, wickedpixel
The second day of Design Indaba started with a number of South African animators.
First up was Craig Wessels from Wickedpixels More
02 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: Bruce Mau, Design Indaba 2009, In Good We Trust, Institute without boundaries, Massive Change
Last speaker on that first Design Indaba day was Bruce Mau. A large presence and a vision to go with it.
He started off with a bang, presenting us with the core of his talk: “The status quo is not working”. If we rolled out the typical vision of the American dream way of life to the rest of the planet – we would need the resources of “at least four more planets”. More
01 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: 5.5, Design Indaba
The 5.5 designers are Vincent Baranger, Jean-Sébastien Blanc, Anthony Lebossé, and Claire Renard – a group of young french designers.
Here I have to admit a strong prejudice. I found their presentation intensely irritating. Even so, the work was interesting and looking through their site there is much to see. More
01 Mar 2009 2 Comments
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews
Steven Burks spoke during the graveyard shift – that time after lunch when I struggle to keep my eyes open. His presentation was also rather unstructured, and he insisted on having some free from jazz playing as he spoke.
As a result, I struggled to figure out what exactly his talk was about. More
01 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: Design Indaba, incredible india, india, royal enfield, wieden and kennedy delhi
Some of the presentations were a real treat of sumptious images, rocking music and moving content: such were Mohit Jayal and V Sunil from Wieden and Kennedy Delhi. Here was another team of presenters who really connected with the audience.
They are probably best known for their “Incredible !ndia” campaign, which they took from the sublime: More
01 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews
OK so its really rather ridiculous to devote an entire blog post to the lunch break at the Design Indaba. But I had to make space for my photos, and my drawings of Dave Ferguson, who performed during the lunch break.
Dave is a sort of one man band with a harmonica, octave and loop pedals and he got our post lunch digesting energy up again, ready to pay attention to the next speaker. More
01 Mar 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: architecture, Design Indaba, green, housing, Luyanda Mpalwha, South Africa
What I enjoy above all at the Design Indaba is its buzz, all that positive energy. This is created simply by people speaking on subjects they are passionate about. And sometimes you hear about projects which really make a positive difference in the world. Architect Luyanda Mpahlwa spoke to us about his participation in the Design Indaba 10 x 10 low cost housing project. This is a attempt to alleviate our housing crisis by encouraging innovation in constructing low cost housing.
In 2008, Design Indaba invited architects to design ten low cost houses on ten sites in partnership with ten international architects, for ten families. More
28 Feb 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: Design Indaba, electric car, Joule, Keith Helfet
I must admit that, although I am ordinarily not very interested in cars, I cannot continue a conversation when a Jaguar drives by. Another speaker on day one of the Design Indaba was Keith Helfet who has worked for most of his life as an automotive designer for Jaguar. One would expect him to come across as the ultimate arrogant designer, but no:
His presentation was thoughtful, wry and sincere. He was just as happy to share his designs of MRI scanners, as of the F-type Jaguar. More
28 Feb 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: Anthony Dunne, design, Design Indaba, Fiona Raby, Royal College of Art
Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby from the Royal College of Art in London were two of my favourite speakers at the Indaba. Partly, I must admit, because I enjoyed drawing Fiona. She is so deliciously caricaturable:
Before her talk, she came tripping past the P Q at the women’s loos, chirping – “I’m on next – I’m a presenter – sorry!” and vanished into a cubicle. I could not wait to draw her. More
28 Feb 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: design, Design Indaba, Rick Valicenti
The second speaker on the first day of the Design Indaba was Rick Valicenti.
Here he is on stage, taking a picture of the technician who was trying to help him get his presentation started. Actually – it might have been better if that technician had failed. Valicenti without the presentation was much more compelling than his performance with all the technology working. Which was ironic as his main theme was that of “real human presence”.
28 Feb 2009 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: adamsmorioka, Cape Town, design, Design Indaba, Noreen Morioka, Sean Adams
I was lucky enough to be allowed to attend the 2009 Design Indaba – and here is the first in series of posts to share what I heard and saw.
Before I get to the Indaba itself – I must revel in the goodies that came with the conference bag:
I spent the rest of the conference filling that blank book with notes and drawings. More
Masha du Toit 
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