The Cherryflava Show heads to the Design Indaba Expo

Posted on 26. Feb, 2008 by Jonathan Cherry in Streetflava

From customised Vespas to condoms which are packaged in a cartoon and slip on in just 4secs, we went to go see what was new and cutting edge at this year’s Design Indaba Expo.

However, we couldn’t help but feel disappointed in the quality of the creativity on show. Beaded handbags and trees made from recycled plastic bottle tops are nothing new or innovative and for us there was just a lack of an overall X-factor that is going to launch South Africa as a world player on the design stage.
There is clearly a abundance of talent around and the Design Indaba Expo is an awesome platform to showcase that radical creativity to the public, but those talents need to be focused on changing society and the world though forward-thinking, problem-solving African inspired design and innovation rather than just nice pieces of art.

Critical? Yes we are, but we just know that we as a world-class design centre can do so much better.

4 Responses to “The Cherryflava Show heads to the Design Indaba Expo”

Jo

26. Feb, 2008

I agree totally. I visited the Expo yesterday afternoon and it generally had the feeling of a large African craft market. Too many of the exhibits looked like souvenir stalls. And there was a LOT of jewellery. Where is the cutting-edge, clever design that will get the world talking? Points go to Haldane Martin for his shongologo sofa (although rehashing the ostrich feather lampshades felt a bit tired) and Design Africa for playing so beautifully with light. Previous Expos have shown more of this sort of visual innovation – sadly, this year’s was pretty disappointing.
coda

26. Feb, 2008

It was my first Design Indaba Expo and I left feeling very uninspired. The most interesting thing I found was probably the recyclable and biodegradable paper experiment by The Jupiter Drawing Room which says a lot. Also the food choices were pretty boring. I was also hoping to see more design variety – like Jo says, way too much jewelery and African crafts. The Madiba wire sculpture at the entrance was impressive though.
Gareth

27. Feb, 2008

Hmmm… Was my third Design Indaba now..for the record and all i can say is.. there was hardly anything new. One thing that struck me immidiately was the Emerging Creatives section.. i cant remember if that was there the previous years but I really enjoyed see’ing what those guys could do.. some awesome graphics and packaging there..
Otherwise, there was the usual stores.. Coke doing the same thing..Smirnoff too…and Vespa Having exactly the same stand as last year..and those people covering a car with vinyl..sigh well atleast they had some other new machines at there stand. and you cant forget the boring old African arts and crafts.. I agree with Jo that, that Madiba sculpture was the only wire sculpture that struck me.
I didn’t like the positioning of the stage for the fashiopn shows and other talks and presentations.. as i pretty much struggled to find it, but sat down to enjoy a good laugh from the show that a Design College did..cant remember the name now..
In terms of new and upcoming designs.. i saw pretty much nothing.. or maybe that was because i had to skim through the place as i didnt have a lot of time! Being in Matric definitely has its upsides and downsides!
All in all.. i think its definitely growing every year in leaps and bounds regarding the media and the amount of people coming to have a look.. i just hop its not as putting down as this next year.
Cheers
coda

28. Feb, 2008

Those Coke packaging stands (did they really need two?) were such a laugh. I went over to one of them to look at the designs and one of the promo girls asked me if I wanted my own 500ml bottle wrapped with a design of my choice. Wow, how exciting.
I was tempted to tell her that I’ve never seen a worse piece of marketing wank before in my life. At least the girls were worth a look..