Skills & Culture Exchange for Sustainable Design between South African and Swedish Youth
December 2010
Designers are the catalysts that make a sustainable future possible – and today’s ultimate design challenge is to create durable products and services that minimize adverse impacts on the environment, while making everyday life simpler and more pleasant. The design of our societies influences our development and therefore the Eco Design Initiative is mobilizing youth in the design of our sustainable future.
The dictionary defines an initiative as a leading action – so appropriate to this campaign. Through the Initiative, Eco Design Ambassadors from South Africa and Sweden will participate in an interactive skills and culture exchange, namely the Fresh Talent Workshop and the Eco Design Showcase, to be hosted in Cape Town and the City of Malmö in 2011.
Calling for positive action towards our sustainable future, the initiative campaigns for No Kak! … A beautifully South African way of expressing one’s intolerance to nonsense, which implies no waste no pollution and absolutely no harm!
The campaign debuts in Cape Town in February 2011. Cape Town is Africa’s design capital. It’s beautiful setting, pedestrian-friendly city centre and interesting urban landscape is a magnet for creative people. “We are proud to be one of the global cities championing sustainability through various redesigns of the way we live, work and play and we feel it is enormously appropriate that we host the new and exciting Eco Design Initiative. We truly believe that design can play a major role in future-fitting Cape Town for generations to come and we feel sure that this initiative will bring that message home even more clearly.” says Mariette Du Toit-Helmbold, Cape Town Tourism CEO.
The Eco Design Showcase will be a spectacular display of design prototypes, sustainable concepts and design stories, as portrayed by the young Swedish and South African participants. The exhibition launches at Iziko Slave Lodge (Cape Town) on 25 February 2011 and will be open to public until the 9th of March 2011.
Built in 1679 by the Dutch East India Company to confine Company’s slaves, the Slave Lodge is today a museum dedicated to highlighting histories of slavery and human rights. Under the umbrella theme ‘From human wrongs to human rights’, and through permanent and temporary exhibitions, the museum strives to increase awareness on issues such as human rights, equality, peace and justice. “Such issues are directly affected by climate change and the Iziko Slave Lodge is therefore pleased to host young designers’ perspectives on possibilities for our sustainable future”, says Fiona Clayton, Iziko Slave Lodge curator.
While the exhibition is on show in Cape Town, the Fresh Talent Workshop will engage 30 eco inspired designers in an intensive learning, skills and culture share programme between the 28th of February and the 4th of March. Twenty South African participants were selected as finalists in the Eco Design Competition, which called for entries from design students and entrepreneurs across South Africa. For the past few months, these “Fresh Talent” have been producing their sustainable design prototypes to be the feature of the international Eco Design Showcase. They meet with Eco Design Ambassadors Apokalypse Labotek, Righteous Fashion, Swedish Ninja and Liv Andersson (from Sweden) and the LIV Green Design team (South Africa) to be inspired to innovate with sustainability as the front of mind objective. The Fresh Talent Workshop programme will also include contributions from South African design educators and sustainability champions.
The challenge presented to the participating designers, will be to rework the space of an under-resourced youth centre, using a supply of waste materials. With the participating designers’ creativity and ability to innovate, waste will be up-cycled to create products of greater value to better serve our community. This positive community action inspires respect and pride in diversity, while encouraging the application of good design to improve the lifestyles of all our society’s people.
The Initiative is included as a case study in Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 bid book for this prestigious international title. The Eco Design Initiatives headline activities are staged when the city is “buzzing design and creativity”, coinciding with the launch of Cape Town’s bid activities during Design Indaba 2011. “As much as it is about positioning our city as a place with great design capacity, bidding for this title is an important way for us to hone our ability to use design thinking in addressing many of social challenges we face as a city.”
This impactful meeting in Cape Town will then proceed to the international leg of the Eco Design Showcase at Malmöhus, Scandinavia’s oldest surviving Renaissance Castle. Malmö Museum has cooperated with museums and organizations in South Africa for many years, with particular interest in issues related to the democratization of cultural heritage, diversity, empowerment and human rights.
The winner of the Eco Design Competition will enjoy a Sustainable Design Tour to Sweden to attend the launch of the exhibition in Malmö on 15 May 2011. The no kak! ingen skit! Eco Design Showcase will be open to Scandinavian audiences until late October.
The City of Malmö is a Climate Friendly City situated in the south of the country and in 2009, Fast Company voted Malmö as the 13th Most Creative City in the World. Connected to Copenhagen by the Öresunds Bridge, living and working in an environmentally smart fashion is enabled by the region’s practical sustainable design solutions, such as energy from waste, integrated green areas (including indigenous plant roof tops) and energy efficient transport solutions. The City of Malmö aims to be climate neutral by 2020 and by 2030 the whole municipality will run on 100% renewable energy. The destination offers an abundance of inspiration for pure design plus integrated sustainability that will leave a lasting impression on the young South African designer that is selected as the winner of this prize.
These exciting activities are the first steps in the Eco Design Initiative programme to facilitate more qualified educational exchanges between South Africa and Sweden. Through sharing skills, culture and innovation amongst talented youth, the campaign aims to further global sustainable development objectives.
About the Eco Design Initiative
The Eco Design Initiative is a South African non profit organization with the objective to develop opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in the field of sustainable design.
Through facilitating skills and culture sharing amongst global youth, the Initiative aims to raise awareness and understanding about sustainability and to encourage the adaptation of sustainable design practises.
About the Eco Design Initiative Sponsors and Associates
The Swedish Eco Design Ambassadors’ participation is supported by the Swedish Institute, which seeks to establish cooperation and lasting relations with other countries through strategic communication and exchange in the fields of culture, education, science and business. Relationships and exchanges contribute to development through increased contacts and new networks, knowledge and innovative ideas can be shared and applied in the future to all areas.
Swedish Arts Council is a government authority whose principal task is to implement Sweden’s national cultural policy determined by the Parliament. Culture is a dynamic, challenging and independent force based on the freedom of expression. The Swedish Arts Council champions for everyone to have the opportunity to participate in cultural life as creativity, diversity and artistic quality are integral parts of society’s development.
Proudly South African sees the Eco Design Initiative as an exciting opportunity to boost job creation and pride in “local” by promoting South African design talent and their ‘home-grown’ clean, smart design ideas. This project has the ability to activate all sectors of South African industry in sustainable consumption and production behaviours, while making a direct investment in enabling our youth with the tools needed for the country’s development.
SVID, Swedish Industrial Design Foundation
SVID is convinced that design delivers a good return on investment and sees it as an important and necessary development force for both businesses and public organizations. SVID has recently produced a Sustainability Guide which aims to plant a seed that will grow into an understanding of design methodology’s role in moving society towards sustainability.
The museum is one of four climate arenas in the City of Malmö. Together with other departments, Malmö Museum works with education for sustainable development, focusing on ecological, social, economic and cultural sustainability.
Iziko Museums of Cape Town are African museums of excellence that empower and inspire all people to celebrate and respect our diverse heritage.
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Details
Eco Design Showcase at IZIKO Slave Lodge, Cape Town 25 Feb to 9 Mar 2011
Fresh Talent Workshop, Cape Town 28 Feb to 4 Mar 2011
Eco Design Awards Ceremony 2 March 2011
No Kak! Ingen Skit! Eco Design Showcase at Malmö Museum 15 May to Oct 2011
For further information, please contact: Janine Johnston 0046 732 033 938 Janine@globalgreenagency.com
