This is not a conference

WORDS: Liezel Strauss | PHOTOS: Sourced

Yesterday marked the commencement of the 17th Design Indaba, and it got off to a wonderfully creative start with speakers from the UK, South Africa, Denmark and the USA before the lunch break.

The ‘opening act’ was Justin Gnomes & Andrew Whitehouse from FoxP2 creative agency in Cape Town. They entered the stage with the theme song from Star Wars playing, a fitting prelude to a session based on the successes of George Lucas and his cult status.

Insights gained from their presentation :

1.    Best practice can not be applied to truly original work

2.    Have the courage to see your work through

3.    Choose the right partners

4.    Better practice can yield better results

5.    Better practice can set you free

6.    Better practice can shape pop culture and push boundaries

7.    Don’t put pants on the Wookie (for the non Star Wars fans: stick to your guns and trust your instincts)

Check out their punchy new don’t drink and drive campaign, Drive Dry

Second up was creative facilitator John Bielenberg from the USA. More than hope, he brings the world ‘design aid’.

Bielenberg’s mantra of ‘thinking wrong’ lives up to his goal of creating a better world. He believes that thinking wrong will generate ideas you would not ordinarily conceive, and in the spirit of true creativity you have to stop thinking traditionally i.e how do I get from point A to B.  He says natural ‘wrong thinkers’ include people like Picasso and Phillipe Starck. Most recently he created Project M that challenges creatives to implement change quickly, with little or no resources. He also admits to never saying no.

The basic principles of ‘Thinking Wrong’

1.    Get out

2.    Fall hard

3.    Make stuff

4.    Let things happen

5.    Do shit that matters

6.    Everything is invented

We are also inspired by his manifesto: “I agree to do something meaningful with my life”, a pledge that he encourages his students and participants to sign. Also check out his Alabamboo bike project and the Pie Lab project.

Next up was our design hero, landscape designer Dan Pearson with images and concept notes from his ambitious project Millennium Forest.

Pearson has an unrivaled understanding of how plants relate to their surroundings and natural growing conditions, and nothing demonstrates this better than this project in Japan. Here he demonstrates the possibility of thinking about a landscape in terms of the timespan of a thousand years. He carved out concave and convex landforms that mirror the perfect yet austere beauty of the northern Japanese landscape.  He also removed acres of invasive Sasa bamboo and planted 35,000 herbaceous plants in an extraordinary randomly-generated pattern.

Dan says he is inspired by Japan and its people. He appreciates that everything is considered and the beauty and detail every element of Japanese design and day to day living. He even draws inspiration from bento boxes which he describes as “little worlds you can get lost in, visually and through taste”.

The conference continues today, so keep an eye out on VISI.co.za for more coverage, or follow us on Twitter (@VISI_Mag) for up-to-the-minute coverage.

More information: www.designindaba.com