Part of the Project
Forty gifted youngsters have been selected from more than 380 entries to participate in South Africa’s most prestigious creative developmental programme. Design Indaba’s Emerging Creatives platform, which has been supporting South Africa’s fresh talent for 17 years, is pleased to announce its Class of 2022.
“We are delighted to continue our annual support for our country’s young creatives, particularly in a constrained pandemic environment,” says Design Indaba founder Ravi Naidoo. “We are grateful to our partner, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, for its ongoing commitment to stand with the rising stars of tomorrow.”
The young designers handpicked for the 2022 edition will be introduced to the public via an extended virtual exhibition and Design Indaba’s thriving social media channels. The Class of 2022 will also benefit from masterclass sessions with international and local experts, like UK-based Artsthread, documentary video sessions, and dedicated personal profiles on designindaba.com. The Emerging Creatives programme is designed to hone talent and provide participants with strategies to take their work to the next level and to market.
Over the years, the Design Indaba Emerging Creatives platform has successfully launched the careers of a number of gifted creatives, including the likes of Mpho Vackier, Russell Abrahams, Daniel Ting Chong, Crystal Birch, and scores of others.
The Class of 2022 was selected by curators Lukhanyo Mdingi and Ditiro Mashigo - both well-known fashion designers who also happen to be former Emerging Creatives themselves. Both were impressed by the high quality of the submissions.
“I’m incredibly inspired to see the brewing and exceptional talent of the Emerging Creatives,” says Mdingi. “Year after year, Design Indaba has provided a platform for aspiring designers at large to showcase their work and what they have to offer the industry. They are to be commended for this.”
In sifting through the many submissions, Mashigo’s agenda was to seek out "innovation in design-led problem-solving and an honest point of view from South African emerging design talents on issues of climate change, socio economics and equality."
The 2022 inductees are:
Lindiwe Irene Rethebile Gugushe
“Congratulations to all those who have come through the rigorous curatorial selection process – this year’s Emerging Creatives are enormously talented, and we look forward to seeing the Class of 2022’s contribution. The pandemic has shown us that creative thinking is not a luxury but a survival skill, so nurturing creative talent is vital. We are proud to partner with the Design Indaba once again to invest in the future of the South Africa’s creative industries,” says Dr Stella Khumalo, Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC).
