Design Indaba

We met up with visual artist and Design Indaba Emerging Creative alumna, Neo Mahlangu as she exhibited her work at 100 % Design in Johannesburg.

Neo Mahlangu’s work is simple in its ex*****on, yet it there is so much more to it than that which is seen at first glance.

We caught up with the artist at 100% Design in Johannesburg where she was exhibiting not only her drawings, but her highly profiled project with South African Mint.

Mahlangu was approached by South Africa Mint, the company that mints all rand coins, earlier this year to design brand new coins.

It forms part of a collection of newly released R2 and R5 coins which showcase different aspects of South Africa's constitutional democracy, as part of the country's 25th anniversary of democracy.

Other artists involved are Lady Skollie and Pretoria-born Maaike Bakke.

Mahlangu was asked to think about things that are specially important in this country. This led to the artist designing two new Two-rand coins which featured themes surrounding education and children’s rights.

The children's right coin is one that challenged her, reveals Mahlangu, but in the end, she went for expression of feelings as a key focus. “I just chose an age range and chose expressions that captured joy and laughter,” she says.

The second coin focused on the right to education. In this, she looked at her own experiences as a scholar, and chose graduation caps to symbolise that. “This thing is full circle. Whether you are in Grade R or doing your PhD you are always in that cap,” she explains.

You will see in Mahlangu’s work that the design of the coin was nothing new to her as she always focuses on using facial expressions to tell a story, and to showcase human interaction.

“I obsess about human connections and about how people interact with each other,” she explains.

We first met Mahlangu is 2018 where she was part of the Design Indaba Emerging Creatives programme .

Mahlangu revealed that she’s most appreciative for the workshop opportunity that came with being a part of the programme. This was hosted by industry professionals and former Emerging Creatives who have made a name for themselves.

“It taught me how to become a creative entrepreneur. What I learnt from this was that I’m more than my work. I can be a great designer, artist and illustrator, but if I only concentrate on that, then it will be a handicap to my business,” she explains.

“Designing shows that there’s so many possibilities because there is no one truth. There is power in not knowing.” Lucas De Man

The actor, playwright and theatre director Lucas De Man graced the Design Indaba stage not only as an MC, but to also deliver a rousing talk on creativity.

He took the audience on a humour-filled journey of his various projects and installations around the world.

Professionally trained as a theatre-maker, De Man was very clear in his description of himself: “When people ask me what I am, I always say I am a creator… It means I professionally create…that means I create and somebody pays me for it…sometimes…hopefully”.

His company New Heroes focuses on art projects and urban actions that aim to foster social cohesion.

Speaking about the way he and his team works, he says: “we always have the same work method. We follow our gut. Our gut tells us we have to do something, or we need to do something, or a client comes to us and asks us to do something. If there’s a gut connection, we say yes or otherwise no..”

Lucas De Man echoes all the questions people have thrown at him as to why he does what he does. With emotion in his voice, he says quite simply that it is because “I am a creator…it is in me.”

He shared that being a creator is not easy. Among the things that stand in the way of the creator are self-doubt, lack of funds and ruthless critics.

He says that no artist, or person is better than the other because no one knows the answer to why we are here, the purpose of life, all of it.

He echoes the teachings of the late physicist Stephen Hawking that there is no one truth alongside Descartes’ philosophy that: “I think, therefore I am,” which Lucas De Man says is incorrect.

He reckons that what should replace it is “I don’t know therefore I am.”

In essence no one knows what they’re doing and therefore anything is possible.

“Designing shows that there’s so many possibilities because there is no one truth. There is power in not knowing.”

Watch his talk here
https://www.designindaba.com/articles/conference-talks/lucas-de-man-being-creator-and-following-your-gut

Natsai Audrey Chieza, is pioneering new models for design and technology that are driven by ecological thinking.

We sat down with the biodesigner for this interview, when she came to speak at the Design Indaba Conference.

Textile dying in the fashion industry is one of the biggest causes of pollution. This is something that Zimbabwean-born bio-designer and researcher Chieza is tackling head on through her work at London-based multidisciplinary design agency, Faber Futures.

She contends that we can take molecular level design and create systems that enable us to apply this research in the real world. “Design is becoming more than human,” she asserts.

“Microbes are becoming material, so we need more tools to better understand these co-dependencies outside of science.” We have cultured only 2% of microbes to date, so there is a lot that is still to be discovered, she says.

In the meantime, we are harnessing the properties of microbes to solve problems within a variety of industries, from fashion to construction.

Her studio won an INDEX award for one of its key research projects, Project Coelicolor.

In this project Chieza looked to integrate the inner workings of a pigment-producing bacteria called streptomyces coelicolor with design processes, to try and find a more sustainable way of dying textiles.

The bacteria lives in soil where it helps to decompose organic matter. It also produces an antibiotic called actinorhodin, which ranges in colour from blue, pink and purple, depending on the acidity of its environment.

This method for dyeing textiles is not only chemical-free but it also uses up to 500 times less water than commonly used dying processes.

Besides her leadership at Faber Futures, Chieza is on the founding and curatorial team of Ginkgo Bioworks’ Ginkgo Creative Residency in Boston. The residency offers creatives three months in Boston to work on projects that intersect with different creative disciplines and biology.

Visit the link in our bio to watch more design talks and interviews.