Archive

Leading international creatives have been unfolding new worlds of possibility and inspiration at the annual Design Indaba Conference since 1995. Designers, executives, fanatics and delegates have come to see the experience as an idea tonic.Read more

In 2008, the Design Indaba Conference was sold out for the fourth year running. Two weeks before the event, the continued demand from local creatives encouraged the opening of the Young Designers Simulcast to professionals. Nonetheless challenged by having to restructure its event to have Expo followed by Conference, Design Indaba decided to see it as a strategic growth point. Read more

Judged the best conference in the world by EIBTM in Barcelona, Design Indaba had established itself in the national and international consciousness of professionals and the general public. The 10th edition of Design Indaba in 2007 was about upsizing.Read more

By the time of the ninth Design Indaba in 2006, the event had not only confirmed its South African stature, but consummately entrenched itself on the international design calendar. This edition of the Design Indaba exemplified the gradual shift of focus from graphic to product design that had developed over the years.Read more

By 2005 the Design Indaba brand had stabilised as a cornerstone of South Africa’s creative landscape. The Design Indaba workshops continued to expose scholars around the country to leading international designers, the Design Indaba magazine continued to win awards, and, each year, the number and calibre of speakers at the event itself continued to increase.

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Having “come-of-age” the previous year, the seventh Design Indaba in 2004 saw the event “grow up”. Relocating to the plush surrounds of Cape Town’s International Conference Centre, it was clear to any observer that the event had come a long way.Read more

The sixth Design Indaba in 2003 was heralded by the press as the event’s “coming-of-age”. A solid core of delegates and speakers were returning year after year and the Design Indaba’s reputation had gone beyond media presence, slipping into South Africa’s consciousness. Read more

In 2002, the fifth Design Indaba broke the biannual cycle of Design Indabas to become an annual event. Read more

After the international success of Design Indaba 1999, the fourth Design Indaba Conference in 2001 refined its ideals by promoting more discussion of issues and trends relevant to design in the service of communication. Read more

The line-up of the third Design Indaba Conference in 1999, which included Lewis Blackwell, Terry Jones, Oliviero Toscani and David Carson, positioned the Design Indaba as a growing event on the international circuit. Read more

Design Indaba knew that instilling their ambitious curatorial vision from the outset was key to the event’s sustainability and success. Humble beginnings aside, the better the speakers’ credentials, the more credible the event would be. As such, by the time the second Design Indaba Conference came around in 1997, we had expanded our scope and doubled our efforts.

A roadshow in 1994 to canvas support from the fragmented South African design community was not met with the expected enthusiasm. The overwhelming advice was not to take the project an inch further. Read more