Search Speakers: Design Indaba 2005

Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, educator, curator and publisher based in Paris. She has fostered design’s creative talent as chairwoman of the Design Academy Eindhoven between 1998 and 2008.

Michael Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Prior to joining Pentagram as a partner in 1990, he was vice president of graphic design at Vignelli Associates.

Nathan Reddy studied design in Natal at the ML Sultan School of Design. He began his career as a junior designer at FCB design where he remained for three years before moving to TBWA Hunt Lascaris as the head of design.

“My goal is to design jewellery that is so distinctive to the individual, that even if they are not wearing it, one could know who it belongs to”.

Daljit Singh is creative director and founder of Digit, one of the world’s longest established digital agencies. Working with brand leaders including Coca-Cola, Gucci, Habitat and Unilever, Digit creates award-winning online environments and content punctuated with humour and personality.

Architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens have spent the past 14 years developing a “hand-crafted haute couture” body of work in Africa. Part of their design philosophy has been to live on site in exotic locations, doing one project at a time, developing a total design and creating a new language of architecture and lifestyle particular to each situation.

Thomas Heatherwick trained in 3D design at Manchester Metropolitan University and the Royal College of Art. He founded Thomas Heatherwick Studio in 1994 to bring together architecture, design and sculpture.

Together, Andrew Makin and Janina Masojada lead OMM Design Workshop, an architecture practice based in Durban, South Africa. That they are a multiple award-winning team is hardly surprising – the firm defines itself by the quality and relevance of its conceptual design, production and final resolution.

Born in Tokyo in 1940, Shin Matsunaga completed the design course at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1964. From there, he worked in the advertising division of Shiseido Co, Ltd. In 1971 he founded Shin Matsunaga Design lnc.

Born in 1968 in Pretoria, Sean O’Toole is a Cape Town-based journalist and writer. Currently editor of Art South Africa, a quarterly print magazine focusing on contemporary South African and African art, he also writes a weekly column on photography for the Sunday Times and a biweekly art column for the Financial Mail.