|
Message From The Host
Greetings to all of you! Welcome to Design Indaba 2009. We could not have imagined back in 1994, when we first mooted the concept with a few design colleagues, that this would be taken up with alacrity! In fact, it is very counter—intuitive to some people that this popular movement is happening, with some success, in Africa!
You see, it was considered quite esoteric and somewhat frivolous to talk about design in the immediate afterglow of the first democratic elections. “What does a country with an emerging economy have to do with design?” was often voiced. “It’s about water, sanitation and housing — these are the issues of the day,” they went on. To which we countered that we thought that these were actually design issues. But they looked at us strangely.
It was difficult to find sponsors — unlike this gorgeous array of some of our country’s and globe’s leading companies, that we have now. Our first event had only two cash sponsors of just R25 000 each — one of whom gave us computer hardware that we had to sell in the grey market to release the funds. And then, sweat equity made up the balance!
And now, looking at the amazing creative professionals from across the globe that come to Design Indaba as speakers, and increasingly large representation of the world as delegates... I am glad we hung on by our fingernails. The tide has turned. And South Africa itself is going through a creative purple patch — with gold from Oscars, Clios, Emmys and Cannes in the past few years.
For all that Design Indaba has become, we owe a debt of gratitude to a cast of hundreds from across the country and the world — that have shown such goodwill to the event — and have helped us make this possible — from past speakers to government officials, sponsors to suppliers, agencies to NGOs, academics to media. This has been a considerable team effort spanning the world.
While we have bigger support for the conference, the total Design Indaba undertaking is still fraught — With even more risk — as we keep adding on the complexity! For example, we invested in new platforms like the Design Indaba Expo — that has yet to break even but has started to gain critical mass as of this year, with more South African designers producing world—class work. But we know with absolute conviction that we are on the right path — the results are there to see in the exports that it has generated, and the profile it garners for home grown talent.
The biggest news may have gone unnoticed to some — but will create a sea change in this country, for sure — and that which has us feeling very gratified — is the inclusion of the creative industries by the government as one of 9 sectors that they will focus on as part of the new accelerated growth strategy — in going for a 6% GDP growth rate. That is going to be a massive impetus for our industries.
The temperature has changed globally too. Internationally, design made it onto the agenda at Davos — at the WEF talkfest. Its further acknowledgement of the value of design and innovation to the economy. So maybe as creative professionals, our time has finally come. And more and more, corporate South Africa have come in numbers to the Design Indaba — as they now place a premium on innovation and creativity.
Come see evidence of the blossoming creative industries at the Design Indaba — and at the adjacent facilities, over seven days this February — at the Conference and the Expo. We promise a treasure trove of ideas and inspiration — and we have delivered this since our first event in 1995!
See you in Cape Town!
Best regards,
Ravi Naidoo
|
