Quarter 04 / 2004

We have carried a torch for design for the last decade, and as we prepare for the 8th edition of Design Indaba (it started as a bi-annual event, but has been annual since 2001), we renew our commitment to our cause celebre. We have a clear conviction that design enhances competitive advantage and when executed well, it can improve the quality of life. It is a pervasive force that touches every facet of the economy and our lives. It is estimated that from dawn to breakfast, an average person, in an urban context, would have interacted with some 150 types of design, from the posture-support of the bed that one rises from, through to the car in which one drives to work!

We have a clear conviction that design enhances competitive advantage, and when executed well, it can improve the quality of life. It is a pervasive force that touches every facet of the economy and our lives.

And so we invite you to join us in Cape Town during the last week of February 2005 as we celebrate design - with the flagship conference and the showcase of South African design, at the Design Indaba Expo. We have every continent represented in a stellar cast of designers across an eclectic range of disciplines - from product, jewellery, fashion, new media, graphic, furniture, architecture through to broadcast graphics. Our Expo, in its second year, sees significant improvements with a series of pavilions, all designed by local architects, featuring the entire creative industry - from fashion to visual art and décor to craft. We expect this event to promote more sales for local designers to international buyers, and initiative facilitated by our national Department of Trade & Industry.

Design Indaba 8 also sees the addition of three new events: a separate Architectural Indaba, Fashion Indaba and Jewellery Indaba. This would ensure that we give special attention to sectors that require a boost in the local economy - and allow these specialists to focus on their industry-wide imperatives.

As always, we never rest on our laurels - and have nurtured a constant state of creative tension to try to make Design Indaba better, and more relevant to the challenges we face as a country, and as a continent.

Allow us to host you in Cape Town next February, when we promise you inspiration - with ideas that will enhance your business. It’s been the hallmark of Design Indaba since 1995! Go to www.designindaba.com to register for the various events.

In this issue, apart from interviews with leading designers that will present at Design Indaba 8, we present reports on three recent Design Indaba Workshops in Cape Town and Johannesburg. We hosted Ilse Crawford, Oscar Pena and Malcolm Garret at these stimulating and highly interactive sessions with students - at no cost to the institution or the student! We are convinced that the future of design is in great shape - take in their work from pages 50 to 69.

A better future, by design. - Ravi Naidoo