As one year ends and another approaches, many people stop and take stock of their lives. On the eve of 2012 (and World Design Capital 2012 in Helsinki) five design insiders share their resolution for the coming year and wish for World Design Capital 2014 in Cape Town.
“Come together”
Y Tsai, an architect living in the Mother City, says: “My new year’s resolution is to be able to be involved with projects … where we can make a positive social change. My wish for World Design Capital 2014 is for all the players – the design community, the city officials and the other stakeholders – to come together to make use of this opportunity, working as a group, to make that positive social change.”
Follow Tsai on Twitter: @TsaiDesign
“Embrace opportunity”
Chloe Townsend, designer of the accessory label Missibaba, says: “My new year’s resolution is to work on my tendency to procrastinate – by doing this I am robbing myself of precious time which is totally ridiculous! My wish for Cape Town as World Design Capital 2014 is for us to embrace this incredible opportunity with open hearts and minds, pooling all of our knowledge, ideas and skills in order to maximise the benefits for our whole community.”
Follow Chloe on Twitter: @Missibaba
“Embed design”
Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, managing director of Cape Town Partnership, says: “I have great wishes for 2012 for myself and for Cape Town. I want it to be a vibrant city, an innovative city and a creative city. My wish is that Cape Town finds a way to embed design in its city development strategies in 2014, and that the “Find Your Yellow” campaign that we started during the bidding process continues to grow. This year, 2012, must be the year that design and city development are intertwined so that the city development strategy has design at the centre of it.”
Follow Bulelwa on Twitter: @Darksjokolade
“Connect the continent”
Mugendi M’Rithaa, a design educator from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, says: “My new year’s resolution is to see Cape Town designers connect more with designers on the continent. My wish for Cape Town, World Design Capital 2014, is to see the lives of people in this city transformed from the grassroots up so that everyone understands the power of design and how design can actually contribute to quality of life.”
Follow Mugendi on Twitter: @MugendiM
“Create a community”
Mokena Makeka, an architect, designer, urbanist, and founder of Makeka Design Lab says: “My particular new year’s wish is that … we’ll be able to create a museum of of design, innovation, leadership and art which will be a meeting place for local and global excellence. My wish for World Design Capital 2014 in Cape Town is that we create a culture where people recognise that design can transform life, where designers see themselves as being an active part of society and really taking a leadership role in our development … and really to create a better type of community in which designers interact, are connected with Africa, connected to the world, and connected to community.”
Follow Mokena on Twitter: @MakekaDesignLab
What’s your wish for 2012, for yourself and for your city? Let us know by leaving us a note below, dropping us a line on Facebook, or connecting via Twitter (use the hashtag #wdc2014).
I wish Durban would do more to make design part of its urban ethos. Right now we are seeing no public art and young designers are not being offered opportunities by the municipality or private sector to inject some much needed life into the city