Cape Town has long been held as a standout city for design lovers. Design Indaba, voted World’s Best Design Conference, has been held in Cape Town for 25 years. The city was named as the World Design Capital in 2014 and now, it has been proclaimed as a UNESCO City of Design. Cape Town is indeed a melting pot of architectural, craft and contemporary design excellence.
The new Cape Town Design Trail, running from 1-30 June 2021, has been launched to re-engage an industry starved of interaction and connection over the last year of lockdown. The trail offers an exciting programme of events for the month of June to re-ignite the passion for design among the public and industry members alike and allow for greater engagement with design, and each other. From industry talks and professional networking events and a series of online platforms, the programme is aimed at inspiring collaboration, a sense of community and showcasing brands.
The Cape Town Design Trail, conceptualized by Decorex Africa, will consist of several routes with maps of design destinations and landmarks around the city. Visitors can stop off along these routes and engage with design in several ways – whether through product launches, and visits to concept stores, or visiting staged window displays, private art viewings, and meet-and-greet sessions with designers. The carefully curated series of open studios includes designers, architects, decorators, artists and even venues in the hospitality sector.
A number of Design Indaba alumni are on the list of participants, including renowned furniture designer Haldane Martin, lighting designer extraordinaire willowlamp, and celebrated ceramic artist and former Design Emerging Creative Andile Dyalvane – founder of Imiso Ceramics. You can also visit furniture design duos Bofred, and Kino – both champions of collectible finely crafted pieces.
Also on the map is the Norval Foundation, the dhk-designed art and lifestyle destination. Solo shows have in the past included such stars as Ibrahim Mahama, a #DI Speaker in 2020. The Silo Hotel is another participant, with its stellar architecture designed by acclaimed architect and #DI Speaker Thomas Heatherwick.
Th event extends over four weekends to give visitors time to cover the expansive list of venues (there are over at 200 participating sites) and discover as many exhibitions and installations as possible. It is free to attend – register via www.decorex.co.za.
Here’s more:
Ghana’s wunderkind Ibrahim Mahama shares his monumental artworks at Design Indaba 2020.
We talk to South African ceramicist Andile Dyalvane.
Thomas Heatherwick: Designing the new Silo project.
Thomas Heatherwick's Zeitz MOCAA wins Cultural Architecture Award.
