by Uno de Waal (@Unodewaal) On Design Annotator this week, we’re taking a look at: 
- Field notes from days 1-3 of the Design Indaba conference
- Absa’s Make Think Become Did initiative
- MTN’s Seed It campaign
- The XooXity hackathon, hosted by Hellocomputer and 10and5
- A catchup with last year’s winners of the Absa L’Atelier competition
- An interview with Marissa Pretorius about her job at Cape Town-based florist, OPUS
- The simple, hilarious work of illustrator Jaco Haasbroek
- The Blink Project by Stefanus Nel, in which he’s travelling using drawings as currency
- A chat with multi-talented artist Nardstar*
DESIGN INDABA
Field Notes from Design Indaba, days 1-3
Like the years before it, the 2014 Design Indaba conference did not fail to provide a flood of inspiration to all who attended. For those who weren’t able to, we’ve put together field notes from each day of the conference, containing our highlights and favourites out of all the sharings.
On day 1 we saw everything from the Whitney Museum of American Art’s responsive W to Agi Haines’ Transfigurations and Phonebloks by Dave Hakkens:
Day 2 gave us DJ Stout from Pentagram, the Nestle Chocolate Museum by Michel Rojkind and Films4Peace by Athi-Patra Ruga:
Finally, on day 3, we saw the works of the legendary David Goldblatt, banana juice packaging by Naoto Fukasawa and The Happy Show by Sagmeister & Walsh:
Absa | Make Think Become Did
This year, Absa took its sponsorship of Design Indaba to a whole new level by creating a platform to actively stimulate creative inspiration in the country’s designers, and help bring to life their innovative, ground-breaking designs.
To participate in the Make Think Become Did initiative, conference attendees submitted their ideas through the DRD App to be illustrated. A winning idea was chosen on each day of the conference, at the end of which a final winner was chosen.
Read more about Make Think Become Did.
MTN | Seed It
At this year’s Design Indaba, MTN measured all the data usage through its sponsored Wi-Fi, calculated how much CO2 was emitted and set out to offset this. It also tracked the usage of #designindaba and @designindaba on Twitter, and offset the CO2 created by any shares using that hashtag or handle.
Furthermore, any tweets using the above were pinned to tweeters’ handles, and tweeters received a message directing them to the MTN Design Indaba Expo stand to collect seeds for planting in order to offset their CO2 footprint at home.
Read more about MTN’s Seed It.
GOOD TO KNOW
XooXity Hackathon | Hosted by Hellocomputer and 10and5
Together with Hellocomputer, we’re hosting a XooXity Hackathon to prototype an interactive and light-inspired project.
The winning prototype will be exhibited at the XooXity tech, music and art festival in Mary Fitzgerald Square, Johannesburg, 2-3 May 2014. You will also have R15 000 to build the final installation.
Techies and creatives, find out more and RSVP here.
Absa L’Atelier | Last year’s winners
The Absa L’Atelier is South Africa’s most prestigious art competition. It rewards young artists between the ages of 21 and 35 with the opportunity to develop their talents abroad.
As the deadline for submissions draws near, we touch base with last year’s winners, Pauline Gutter, Jaco van Schalkwyk, Kathleen Sawyer and Mongezi Ncaphayi, to find out what their experiences have been so far.
Find out what last year’s Absa L’Atelier winners had to say.
My Day Job: Marissa Pretorius | OPUS
OPUS is the Cape Town-based florist that specialises in ‘potless gardens’, as well as innovative flower arrangements and floral installations. Started in 2011 as a passion project by Marissa Pretorius, OPUS has blossomed into a fully-fledged and awarded design brand in just these few years.
We chatted to Pretorius to learn more about her path leading her to where she is today.
ART & ILLUSTRATION
Jaco Haasbroek
Jaco Haasbroek is an illustrator and designer living in Cape Town. While refined in his approach, Haasbroek injects his work with an unmistakable sense of liveliness through his clever and humorous play on words.
Here we take a look at some of Haasbroek’s recent work and learn more about him while we’re at it.
The Blink Project | Stefanus Nel is using drawings as currency for his travels
On 2 March, Stefanus Nel left South Africa to take what he calls “The Blink Project” to South America, through which he aims to travel, using his drawings as a currency to trade for the things he needs to get through the day.
As much as we’d like to tag along with Nel on his trip, we settled for the next best thing by asking him a few questions about his fantastic project.
Street artist (and dinosaur fan) Nardstar*
We recently got the chance to have a chat with Nardstar*, a street artist whose distinct work graces walls in galleries to walls in communities, from Cape Town and Johannesburg to New York and Connecticut in the US.
Nard’s work is, however, not restricted to murals as it easily finds a home on other media, from skateboards and painting canvases to t-shirts, helmets and sneakers.
Read the interview with Nardstar*.
Design Annotator is a regular column on MarkLives featuring the top design work from South Africa’s biggest online creative showcase, Between 10 and 5, which is curated by publisher Uno de Waal (@Unodewaal).
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