Design Indaba is a three-day conference dedicated to the latest ideas and innovations from the international design community. The world's most esteemed designers promise to inspire and intrigue with their insights into the way design is going - from web design, to fashion, to architecture, to photography, to graphic design - all the latest trends will be presented.
The line-up of speakers include English design pioneer Sir Terence Conran; Irma Boom, the Amsterdam-based bookmaker; Malcolm Garrett, London's digital-design prodigy; and Saville Row designer extraordinaire Ozwald Boateng. (For a full list of all 22 speakers go to www.designindaba.com).
Cape Town Major Events look forward to hosting you in the Mother City from 26 to 28 February 2003 for what promises to be a truly inspiring event.
Full Indaba: R3000
One Day: R1250
Two Days: R2250
Enquire about special rates for academics, group bookings and registered students under 21 years of age.
The ticket price includes lunches and refreshments at tea breaks. Your Full Indaba ticket also gets you free entrance to the Design Indaba party, where you can mingle with the speakers and network with fellow delegates.
Please email Michelle () or call her on +27 21 418 6673 for a Design Indaba programme or registration form. You can also register online at www.designindaba.com.
Still not convinced? Well, you don't have to take our word for it. Here's what was said about last year's gig:
"The organisation is flawless, its really up there and weights better than the many conferences that I've been to." (Erik Spiekerman, Germany)
"I've never been to a conference of this quality. I'm blown away by the content of the different lectures. It's been incredible." (Li Edelkoort, Trend Union Paris)
"I think there was a common concensus among everyone I spoke to that this was the best organised event of its kind that we had ever been to. Personally I found the event fantastically stimulating from start to finish." (Patrick Burgoyne, Editor Creative Review, UK)
"Loved every minute - found it inspirational."
"Well done on another brilliant Indaba."
"The quality of speakers is as good as any conference I've been to."
Sir Terence Conran requires little introduction. A graduate of the Central School of Arts and Crafts, he started his career as a designer in 1952 when he set up his own furniture-making business in a basement studio in London's Notting Hill. By the time Sir Terence divested of his interest in Habitat in 1990, his stylishly utilitarian design ethic was already entrenched as the benchmark of British design.
A keen cook and gastronome, Sir Terence has transformed the landscape of London with his stylish eateries. Bibendum, Bluebird, Mezzo, Orrery, Quaglino's; the list of his projects is as endless as they are successful. With his company Conran & Partners, he has also proven himself equally adept at product and graphic design as he is with architecture and interior design.
"I've always seen myself as a designer first, rather than a businessman," he once confessed. London's resplendent Design Museum evidences this belief, Sir Terrence investing £20-million of his own money into the project. Knighted for his services to British industry and design in 1983, this is a privileged opportunity to hear Sir Terence speak on his first visit to South Africa.
Irma Boom, an Amsterdam-based book designer, once remarked: "If there is something in common about my books, it is the roughness; they are all unrefined. Very often there is something wrong with them." Having designed nearly 200 books, it would seem that Irma is also clearly doing many things right.
One of her most celebrated projects is a book commissioned by the Dutch company, SHV Holdings - The SHV Holdings Tome. Offered an unlimited budget, complete editorial and visual freedom, and a five-year deadline, Irma presented her client with a 2136-page book. Despite weighing 3.5kg and having eight bookmarkers, the SHV anniversary book has been praised as a model of control and editorial refinement.
A graduate of AKI Art School in Enschedé, Holland, Irma started her career working as a senior designer for the Government Printing & Publishing Office in The Hague. While internationally recognised as print designer, Irma has also flourished as an educator. She has taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the California Institute of the Arts. In 1992, she was appointed lecturer in graphic design at Yale University.
The recipient of numerous international awards, Irma has worked for clients as diverse as Ferrari and architect Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Her work has been featured in ID, Creative Review and Eye, and exhibited in the United States, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
"The worst mistake you can make is wearing an ill-fitting suit." This sage bit of advice comes from Ozwald Boateng, the innovative men's wear designer based at 12a Saville Row, the fastidious epicentre of London's centuries-old craft of men's tailoring.
Born to immigrants from the Asante region in Ghana, Ozwald discovered his talent for tailoring by accident when helping his then girlfriend to produce a fashion show. In the intervening two decades, Ozwald has set about rewriting contemporary perceptions of men's wear and tailoring. The first black tailor to hang out his own shingle on Saville Row, Ozwald's international sales base includes such prestigious venues as Selfridges in London and Les Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
As influential commentator Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has observed of Ozwald, his designs strike a balance between bland assimilation of English traditions and a strident racial self-assertion. His striking sense of form is meticulously complemented by a deliciously bold sense for colour. "A big believer in being Asante," Ozwald's designs capture the contradictory energies of England's emerging multiculturalism.
Awarded the title Best Male Designer at the 1996 Trophées de la Mode in Paris, and Top Menswear Designer at the 2000 British Fashion Awards, his bespoke tailoring is worn by the likes of Will Smith, David Coutlhard, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Robbie Williams and Matt Damon. Even London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, is a Boateng regular.
A true pioneer of digital design, technology and thinking, Malcolm Garret's iconic and intelligent design is widely recognised as a major influence on developments in contemporary English graphic design.
While still at college, Malcolm designed classic record sleeves for punk and new wave bands such as the Buzzcocks, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Simple Minds and Peter Gabriel. As design director of the graphic design consultancy Assorted Images, from 1978 to 1994, Malcolm went on to produce a wide range of highly influential graphic identities, exhibition designs, television graphics, and print designs.
An early adopter of new technology, Malcolm's Assorted Images was the first graphic design studio in London to adopt totally digital tools. Having also worked with Bob Cotton and Richard Oliver on their definitive document summarising the new digital arena, 1993's Understanding Hypermedia, Malcolm is highly conversant in the complexities of design for interactive media.
While still with the company AMX, he created unique design solutions to address the complex strategic and practical demands of corporate clients such as Barclays, British Telecom and The Woolwich.
A visiting professor at London's Royal College of Art and Central St Martins, Malcolm is a respected educator and design ambassador. His wealth of professional experience, coupled with an irreverence that is true to his early punk roots, has earned him a privileged place amongst England's cultural, digital and design community.
Malcolm Garrett is one of the judges of the 3rd Construction New Media Awards, which takes place on 28 February 2003 in association with the 6th International Design Indaba.
For more information about CNMA and how to enter the competition please go to www.constructionaward.com.
David Kester (London)
David Kester was appointed Chief Executive of D&AD in 1994. Over the past eight years, the organisation has grown and extended its activities as a professional association and educational charity with a mission to set creative standards, provide education, and promote design and advertising to industry.
D&AD is best known for its Awards, familiarly known as the Yellow Pencils, which attract 20 000 entries from around the world; a wide-ranging £1.5-million education programme; and for having a membership of 2 500 leading creative practitioners.
David is also a Council Member of the Royal College of Art, Chairs the Art Directors Club of Europe, and sits on both Government and joint industry committees. He has worked previously in the design industry, environmental sector, and within the arts.
David will be charting the key developments in design from 1962 to the present day (and beyond), demonstrating his ideas with fantastic content spanning four decades of creativity.
