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Conference Talks

Watch the full talks from Design Indaba's world-renowned 24-year Conference in this archive of videos going back to 2006.

From our archives: Michael Bierut on how to think like a designer
Conference Talks • Design Indaba Conference 2015 • Duration 00:39:15
Michael Bierut runs us through some of his major projects and the thought processes behind them: a rare opportunity to get into his award-winning mind.
  • Watch
    Designers Leta and Wade on living and working together successfully
    Graphic Design & Illustration
    The couple talked about honesty, creativity, their project Complements and the universal strangeness of love.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Michael Bierut runs us through some of his major projects and the thought processes behind them: a rare opportunity to get into his award-winning mind 00:39:15
    From our archives: Michael Bierut on how to think like a designer
    Graphic Design & Illustration
    Michael Bierut runs us through some of his major projects and the thought processes behind them: a rare opportunity to get into his award-winning mind.
    Design Indaba Conference 2015
  • Watch
    Kye Shimizu is coding to fix the wasteful fashion industry
    Design Activism / Design Thinking / Fashion & Jewellery Design
    His project Algorithmic Couture merges tradition and technology to produce zero-waste garments.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Kordae Henry imagines an alternative African history and future
    Design Activism / Film & Animation / Music & Sound Design
    The artist combines science fiction, Afrofuturism and cinema to speculate on the myths of the future.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Adebayo Oke-Lawal Watch
    Adebayo Oke-Lawal is rethinking masculinity in African culture
    African Design / Craft / Design Thinking / Fashion & Jewellery Design
    The Nigerian designer’s brand Orange Culture embraces those who do not fit in and celebrates their individuality.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Kiko Farkas on nature's role in his work as a graphic designer
    Graphic Design & Illustration
    He took the Design Indaba audience through his most famous project and showcased how nature inspired it.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Steph Foster Watch
    Steph Foster focuses his lens on the American prison system
    Art & Photography / Design Activism / Information Design
    Interdisciplinary artist Steph Foster is using his art to investigate and address what's wrong with the United States criminal justice system.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Faith XLVII speaking at Design Indaba Conference 2019 Watch
    Faith XLVII on the power of collaboration
    Art & Photography / Creative Economy / Design Activism
    "Entering into collaborations with key people in my life has helped me rediscover my root inspiration."
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Shaina Garfield on how we can benefit the Earth after death
    Craft / Design Thinking / Product Design
    She shared how her project Leaves proposes a sustainable coffin that will help the body decompose naturally.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Mirjam de Bruijn's work explores the border between function and aesthetics
    Design Activism / Design Thinking / Product Design
    She speaks about Twenty, a range of waterless dissolvable capsules that take away the need to use 80 - 95% water to make these products.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Tshepo Mokholo on the transformational power of architecture to inspire
    African Design / Architecture & Interiors / Design Activism
    The African Design Centre graduate on how growing up in an unusual house in Soweto would later inspire his career in design.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Carolien Niebling Watch
    Carolien Niebling is creating the sausage of the future
    Creative Economy / Design Thinking / Food Design / Product Design
    Product designer Carolien Niebling believes that people can make a difference if they just take a moment to look at things a little differently.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Hannah Barry Watch
    How Hannah Barry is revolutionising the London art scene
    Architecture & Interiors / Art & Photography / Creative Economy / Graphic Design & Illustration / Interaction Design / Urban & Landscape Design
    She may not call herself an art curator but Hannah Barry explains how she revived an art scene via an abandoned car park.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Annabelle Selldorf Watch
    Annabelle Selldorf on architecture's responsibility beyond the building
    Architecture & Interiors / Design Activism / Design Thinking / Urban & Landscape Design
    The veteran architect questions the greater role architects need to play after erecting projects in underresourced areas.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Kacper Pietrzykoswki Watch
    Ida is a non-invasive, painless way to test blood/glucose levels
    Design Activism / Design Thinking / Product Design
    “When designing for these diseases, you’re not designing to please or impress. You design because people are on fire and you might just have the water.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Alice Rawsthorn on bad design
    Design Activism / Design Thinking
    “We desperately need good design in this world and we desperately don't need bad design. That's why it's so important that we should come to terms with it.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • John Pawson Watch
    John Pawson on the discipline of minimalism
    Architecture & Interiors / Design Thinking / Urban & Landscape Design
    “It takes great discipline to reduce until you can't further subtract anymore."
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Dong-Ping Wong Watch
    Dong-Ping Wong on his ambitious work at FOOD architecture studio
    Architecture & Interiors / Design Activism / Design Thinking / Industrial Design / Urban & Landscape Design
    The architect's projects include an idea for a pool that also purifies the East River as well as collaborations with Kanye West and Virgil Abloh.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • mariam kamara Watch
    Architecture's ability to alter narratives with Mariam Kamara
    Architecture & Interiors
    At Design Indaba Conference 2019, the Niger-born architect shared how she is using her work to shift perceptions of her home country.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Lucas De Man Watch
    Lucas De Man on being a creator and following your gut
    Craft / Creative Economy / Design Activism / Design Thinking / Interaction Design
    “Designing shows that there’s so many possibilities because there is no one truth. There is power in not knowing.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Ane Crabtree’s labour of creative love
    Fashion & Jewellery Design / Film & Animation
    “What I do is act like a kind of connector or conduit of emotion. Emotion in words, in pace, in visuals across the screen.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Kagiso Lediga on storytelling, failure and staying true to who you are
    Craft / Creative Economy / Film & Animation / Interaction Design
    “You need to be honest when you’re telling your story…it has to be a truth from inside.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Meet the cyborg artists who have merged themselves with technology
    Art & Photography / Design Thinking / Interaction Design
    Neil Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull that allows him to feel colour, while Moon Ribas has sensors in her feet that allow her to feel earthquakes
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • markus kayser Watch
    Markus Kayser's work enables collaboration between tech and biology
    Design Thinking / Industrial Design / Product Design
    “The promise of design is to inspire industry to follow suit in the quest for better methods to produce using solar energy and abundant resources.”
    Design Indaba Conference 2019
  • Watch
    Designers Leta and Wade on living and working together successfully
    Graphic Design & Illustration
    The couple talked about honesty, creativity, their project Complements and the universal strangeness of love.
    Design Indaba Conference 2019

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