Creative Cape Town

photo by Yasser Booley

@ Free World Coating, Waterkant St
28^th September 2010

“Design is all around us, engaging with it is not only unavoidable, it is also rewarding and fun.”

-          Leigh Robertson, features editor of House and Leisure

The venue for the Cape Town Design Network gathering smells new, of fresh paint and unchristened seats. It IS new, both as a temporary Design Network venue and as a space in itself.  It isn’t actually even open yet and we are lucky to be some of the first to see it.

Free World Coating looks over Waterkant Street onto the Fan Walk, near the new pedestrian bridge over Buitengracht. The company is a leading international marketer of decorative, automotive and industrial coatings, and a supporter of design networking in Cape Town.Their brand essence mirrors Creative Cape Town’s approach –    free thinking, responsible, and successfully innovative.  The world class auditorium is an apt space to for Creative Cape town to further assist in turning the city centre “into a leading centre of knowledge and innovation in SA.” (Zayd Minty)

If you’re on this page, you’re possibly familiar with Creative Cape Town, a facilitator of dynamic partnerships in the central city, in line with the Central City Development Strategy. The organisation carefully nurtures the creative and knowledge economy and is known for the well received Creative Cape Town Clusters and quality online communications.Its advocacy projects in coming years are design focused, including the World Design Capital 2014 bid.

The invitation to today’s gathering was to come together to better understand our capacities as a city, and exploring needs and questionsof a design capital. Its role was also to put Design editors to the test.

First we enjoyed a blitz introduction to some of the interim Design Network committee, made up of voluntary professionals passionate about Africa Design and living in Cape Town. It includes Design Infestation’s Christo Maritz, Mel Hagan (ex dean of the Faculty of Informatcis and Design at CPUT), Grant Williams (educator) and Ella Löb (an architect “trying to go freelance). Then it was the speakers’ turn.

Leigh Robertson is the features editor of House and Leisure, a magazine that positions itself as the authority of stylish living in South Africa. Her suggestions for a more sustainable Cape Town included a greater pedestrian and cyclist presence giving priority to bicycles in the inner city, a focus on Cape Town as a safe nightlife destination (and a vision of a 24 hour city that reaches beyond the Engen on Orange St.!) as well as optimising Long Street for nightlife, with galleries open later, and no lull in activity during weekend days.  She also pointed out that ease of communication is key to healthy living, and gave her vote to free wifi internet in the inner city.  She wants to see more publicly accessible design, in the form, perhaps, of installations along the Sea Point Promenade.

Kelly Berman, Deputy Editor at Elle Decoration spoke about finding sustainable, aesthetically pleasing solutions to living in a mixed-world context of Cape Town, especially noting the work of architect Alejandro Aravena, principal of  Alejandro Aravena Architects and the executive director of Elemental, a do-tank focusing on projects of social impact. He featured at Design Indaba 2010 earlier this year, and was “the only speaker to get a standing ovation.” His work incorporates the inevitability of ad-hoc, informal additions to low cost housing into its structural and visionary design, something we would do well to note for the benefit of millions living in burgeoning, unsustainable informal settlements on home turf.

Giuseppe Russo, editor/owner of One Small Seed magazine and its new media affiliates, OneSmallSeed.net and OneSmallSeed.tv, emphasised the showcasing of young talent in creating a more sustainable South Africa. Being a newcomer from another country, he found that a neutral approach to the South African paradigm helped him integrate and innovate in professional Cape Town. If the international distribution of One Small Seed is anything to go by, South Africa certainly has a lot to offer global design. Are we expecting it to be easy? No.  “No easy path is worth going for” he reminded the audience, citing his 3 essential ingredients for success as passion, vision and product. Of course, he also mentioned his magical ingredient – creating his own ideal client. All it took was one small seed.

So the elders have spoken; let us keep planting and nurturing together towards a healthier, happier, more creative Cape Town.