Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: recent design graduate Leanie van der Vyver speaks to us about her project Scary Beautiful, a pair of extreme, back-to-front high heels, which she presented at Design Indaba in Cape Town. 

Van der Vyver, who comes from Cape Town originally, explains the concept behind the shoes, which she developed as part of her graduation project while at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. “In my thesis I wrote about how humans are constantly trying to reach perfection and the different ways that we practice control over our bodies,” she says. “I looked at what the high heel is traditionally doing and I pushed it over to see where sexy ends and grotesque begins.”

The project drew gasps and laughs from the Design Indaba audience in equal measure when van der Vyver showed video footage of a model walking in the shoes as part of her PechaKucha talk. She explains that the contorting effect they have on the wearer was a key part of the project.

“The effect of the shoe became more important than the shoe, so the shoe became a kind of accessory to the posture,” she says. “What was interesting was that it became an amplification of what the high heel does. So if the girl’s butt is slightly pushed out [when wearing high heels], in these ones she’s almost raring to go, with her butt lewdly sticking out and her legs animalistically flexed.”

Scary Beautiful followed on from an earlier project of van der Vyver’s, a pair of trainers designed to “inflict a gangster swagger” on the wearer (below). It was this project, she says, that made her realise that “you can actually do a lot more with fashion in terms of it altering the body and its performance.”

But while neither project is a serious proposal for new footwear, van der Vyver was surprised by the response Scary Beautiful received from the fashion industry. “People reacted in a positive way from the fashion side of things, they were very excited about it,” she says. “But the general public, not so much.” Read more about Scary Beautiful in our earlier story about the project.

This movie features a MINI Cooper S Countryman.

The music featured is by South African artist Floyd Lavine, who performed as part of the Design Indaba Music Circuit. You can listen to Lavine’s music on Dezeen Music Project.

See all our Dezeen and Mini World Tour reports from Cape Town.

The post “I wanted to see where sexy ends
and grotesque begins” appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: we speak to architect David Adjaye, fresh off the stage from his presentation at Design Indaba, about his relationship with Africa and why he believes the continent provides a great opportunity for architects. 

Adjaye was born in east Africa, to Ghanaian parents, before moving to London at 14. He explains that, after graduating from the Royal College of Art, he felt the need to return to the continent where he grew up.

Above: Nairobi, one of the photographs taken by Adjaye for his research

“I wanted to revisit the continent of Africa” he explains, “but I wanted to revisit it, not through the lens of my parents or through any kind of formal experience, tourism or anything. I wanted to claim it for my own.”

He spent 11 years, from 1999 to 2010, visiting the capital city of each country on the continent “to try to understand the nature of the cities in Africa, to understand their past and their present, to understand their history and their geography.”

Through this research, which was published as a seven-volume book, Adjaye realised the importance of Africa’s unique geography. “It became clear to me that the political map of Africa that we have is a very difficult way to understand the continent,” he says. “Fundamentally, the way we should be looking at it is through geography.”

Adjaye created his own map of the continent (below), divided into six distinct geographic zones, which, he believes, have shaped African culture. “In these [zones], all the civilisations of Africa have manifested themselves,” he says. “Their unique identities come from that, the artefacts of the continent reflect that geography.”

This realisation was important to Adjaye’s own approach to architecture. “I wanted to create a blueprint for how I wanted to work on the continent,” he explains. “I didn’t just want to make contemporary architecture with the usual references of anonymous abstracts and global things, I wanted to find a way of making architecture that could take onboard issues that are big, but also specific enough to make unique objects.”

Adjaye believes that, despite the continent’s considerable problems, Africa presents a great opportunity for architects. “GDP growth over the last decade is anything between 10 and 15 percent, which is extraordinary. It’s greater than what China was doing,” he explains. “This economic drive is changing the political paradigm because as people are becoming more wealthy they are starting to question politically their structure.

“What’s amazing is that, unlike working in Europe or America at the moment, [as an architect] in Africa you can try to ascribe a new paradigm. If you get the right political agency and the right construction environment, you can make extraordinary moments in architecture. That for me is very exciting.”

This movie features a MINI Cooper S Countryman.

The music featured is by South African artist Floyd Lavine, who performed as part of the Design Indaba Music Circuit. You can listen to Lavine’s music on Dezeen Music Project.

Political map of Africa above is courtesy of Shutterstock.

See all our Dezeen and Mini World Tour reports from Cape Town.

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opportunity” – David Adjaye appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: with Cape Town serving as World Design Capital in 2014, we spoke to programme director Richard Perez about how the title can help the city overcome  problems inherited from the Apartheid regime.

During the course of the movie we drive from Cape Town Stadium, built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the affluent waterside area of Green Point, before heading out on the motorway to the impoverished townships between the city centre and the airport.

The sharp divide between rich and poor in Cape Town is one of the issues that Perez hopes the World Design Capital initiative can help to overcome. “The reason Cape Town won [World Design Capital designation for 2014] was not to showcase how good we are at design,” he explains. “Our bid was more about how we can use design to transform the challenges we have as a city.”

The interview was filmed at Design Indaba, where World Design Capital 2014 launched its call for submissions from designers.

Many of the problems in Cape Town today are linked to South Africa’s troubled past, Perez says. “Segregation was a design exercise back in the Apartheid years,” he explains. “Everything you see in Cape Town – the segregation and the informal settlements that exist outside the metropole – exist by design. We’re now going through a process of seeing how we can redesign that, or undesign it.”

There are also new challenges to be overcome. As the South African economy continues to grow, the townships surrounding the city grow too, as people move from the country to the city for work. “What you have now is massive population in those areas, trying to commute into the area where the work is,” Perez explains. “The city is trying to play catch-up all the time to provide facilities for these immigrants.”

Perez wants to take design “out of the city centre and into the townships, so everybody can start to understand the value of design so we can create more economic growth within the informal settlements and the informal market.”

However, he understands that the scale of the challenges Cape Town faces means they won’t be easily overcome. “We won’t solve the problems in 2014. But it is an opportunity for us to look at more creative ways of dealing with those problems.”

This movie features a MINI Cooper S Countryman.

The music featured is by South African artist Floyd Lavine, who performed as part of the Design Indaba Music Circuit. You can listen to Lavine’s music on Dezeen Music Project.

Aerial image of Cape Town is courtesy of Shutterstock. See all our Dezeen and Mini World Tour reports from Cape Town.

The post “Segregation was a design
exercise during Apartheid” appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a call for submissions of events and activities for Cape Town’s stint as World Design Capital next year was launched during the Design Indaba conference and expo in the city last week.

Cape Town Design, the not-for-profit organisation set up to organise the programme, officially opened its first call for submissions during Design Indaba last week and designers have until 5 April to send in their proposals. The second and final call for submissions will open in July.

Proposals must be submitted online through the official website, after which a panel will select the ideas that best address the themes of social inclusion, African innovation and sustainability.

As the first African city to be chosen as World Design Capital, Cape Town is planning a programme of design-focused events throughout 2014 to draw attention to its efforts to use design for social, cultural and economic development.

Cape Town’s winning bid, based on the slogan “Live Design. Transform Life”, is focused on socially responsible design and how design could be used to tackle the huge imbalances in South African society.

The South African capital beat off competition from shortlisted rivals Bilbao and Dublin to be named World Design Capital back in 2011, following in the footsteps of previous winners Helsinki, Seoul and Turin.

Dezeen was in Cape Town last week during Design Indaba, where we filmed a movie with the conference’s founder Ravi Naidoo – find out more about Dezeen and MINI World Tour, which continues throughout 2013.

See all news and architecture from Cape Town »

Photograph shows World Design Capital 2014 flags flying in Cape Town.

Here’s more information from Cape Town Design:

Cape Town’s bid to be World Design Capital 2014 forms part of a broader vision to transform Cape Town, through design, into a sustainable, productive African city, bridging historic divides and building social and economic inclusion.

Cape Town was designated World Design Capital 2014 at the International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in October 2011 in Taipei. This prestigious designation is bestowed biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). World Design Capitals recognise the value of design thinking, and are dedicated to using design as tool for social, cultural and economic development. Previous winners have been Helsinki, Seoul and Turin, and Cape Town won the 2014 bid against fierce competition from rival shortlisted cities, Bilbao and Dublin.

Winning the bid means that Cape Town gets to play host to a number of World Design Capital Signature Events during 2014, including an International Design House Exhibition, International Design Policy Conference and an International Design Gala, to name a few. This is good news for Cape Town, not just in terms of a boost in visitor numbers, but also because there will be loads of opportunities for our creative communities to get involved as exhibitors, speakers, delegates, partners and suppliers. Not to mention a myriad of inspiring events for all citizens to experience. Importantly, World Design Capital means that local initiatives will get the benefit of the global spotlight during 2014. Think more media, more exposure and many great networking possibilities.

The central theme behind the city’s successful bid, “Live Design. Transform Life”, focused on the role that design can play in social transformation in the city. It sets the tone and will now form the foundation for the development of an inspiring programme of World Design Capital-themed events and projects. Under the overarching theme, four themes have been developed to bring clarity and simplicity to the process of submission and curation of proposals – and later, to help to allocate content and to attract potential sponsors to the various platforms and WDC 2014 Signature Events. The themes are also designed to ignite the imagination of the public, and to contribute towards a greater understanding of the multi-faceted nature of design.

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its year as World Design Capital 2014 appeared first on Dezeen.

This week Dezeen is in Cape Town so here’s a steampunk-inspired coffee shop in the city by South African designer Haldane Martin.

As the headquarters for local coffee chain Truth Coffee, the cafe occupies the ground floor of an ageing warehouse that Haldane Martin stripped bare as part of the renovation.

The space centres around a huge vintage coffee roaster, which inspired the design concept. “We immediately came up with steampunk as an appropriate conceptual reference, as both coffee roasters and espresso machines display elements of romantic, steam powered technology,” explains the designer.

A leather-covered bar runs along in front of the machine and is clad with shiny panels made from pressed tin, while bare lightbulbs and bells hang down from the exposed timber ceiling rafters.

Aside from some vintage pieces, Martin designed all of the furniture for the cafe. This includes high-backed leather seating booths, steel tables with ornate profiles and smaller tables shaped like giant cogs.

A seven-metre-long table runs through the centre of the space and was made using industrial pipes and the building’s old ceiling panels. Stools swing out from underneath and power sockets hang overhead as charging points for laptops and mobile phones.

Original cast-iron columns are dotted across the room, while new glass doors open the cafe out to the street.

Dezeen is in Cape Town all this week on the first leg of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. Keep watching for more details here.

Past projects by designer Haldane Martin include lamps with ostrich-feather shades and the Slant shelving system.

Photography is by Micky Hoyle.

Here’s a project description from Haldane Martin:

Truth Coffee – Steampunk roastery and café – designed by Haldane Martin

A turn of the century warehouse building on Buitenkant Street, in the Fringe innovation district of Cape Town, was stripped back to its bare bones, and transformed into a Steampunk coffee roastery, café and barista training school. With the exception of the authentic vintage fixtures, all of the furniture was specifically designed for Truth Coffee by Haldane Martin.

Truth Coffee approached us in 2011 to design the interiors of their cafés including a new 1500m² headquarters in Cape Town Fringe innovation district. We were briefed to deepen Truth Coffee’s brand identity and promote their coffee roastery business through interior design.

We immediately came up with Steampunk as an appropriate conceptual reference, as both coffee roasters and espresso machines display elements of romantic, steam powered technology. Steampunk’s obsession with detail and sensual aesthetics also captured the essence of Truth Coffee’s product philosophy – We roast coffee. Properly.

David Donde, the main face behind Truth, loved the idea, as this Victorian futuristic fantasy style and literary philosophy resonated strongly with his “maverick inventor” personality. David worked closely with us throughout the design process, and he and his one business partner Mike Morritt-Smith, physically built many of the designs that we developed for them.

A three story, turn of the century, warehouse building on Buitenkant Street was chosen by the Truth partners to be their new headquarters. The building was stripped back to its bare bones, exposing beautiful cast iron pillars, Oregon pine roof trusses and floors, and original stone and brick walls. We also opened up the ground floor façade onto busy Buitenkant Street with a series of tall steel and glass doors. Most of the buildings natural, aged patina was kept intact and complimented with raw steel, timber, leather, brass, and copper finishes.

The top two floors were converted into creative studio office rental space. The 600m² ground floor was kept as Truth’s headquarters and needed to include a 120 seat restaurant, café, bar and kitchen, their newly acquired 3 ton Probat roaster, a barista trainee school, public event space, coffee bean warehouse, espresso machine workshop, management office, and restrooms.

The huge, fully functioning vintage roaster became the kingpin for the space. Once this was located centrally on the ground floor plan, everything else fell naturally into place. We surrounded the roaster machine with a 6m diameter circular steel shelving structure, reminiscent of a Victorian gasworks.

The leather top main bar, clad in pressed tin ceiling panels, is located symmetrically in front of the roaster shelving. Purpose designed overstuffed, leather and steel, chairs, barstools and copper clad tables create a formal raised dining area in front of the bar. A series of 5 horseshoe shaped, deep buttoned, high backed, banquet seats run down the right hand wall of the space. Each private banquet seat surrounds a leather clad, long, narrow, profile cut steel table.

A small cocktail lounge of blue leather chesterfield couches and a crazy pipe bookshelf is located behind the original industrial lift and a raw steel staircase that leads to the upper floors.

The front café space is dominated by the longest table in Cape Town, a 7.2m long communal table with swing out stools. It is built from industrial pipe, malleable castings, and a table top made from Oregon pine reclaimed from the building’s stripped out ceilings. A flickering candle bulb lighting and power cable installation hangs over the table, cleverly providing laptop and cellphone charging access for the café patrons.

Further café seating is provided by the vintage French worker chairs. The over scaled cog teeth on the edges of the Café tables tops, encourage groups of patrons to engage tables together to facilitate larger informal gatherings.

Further café seating is provided by the vintage French worker chairs. The over scaled cog teeth on the edges of the Café tables tops, encourage groups of patrons to engage tables together to facilitate larger informal gatherings.

The barista coffee school is located in the front right hand corner of the space and has a coffee & sandwich hatch open onto the sidewalk for passing pedestrians. Vintage steel stools and old worn school desks placed on the sidewalk create the ideal environment for a quick coffee break for the creative entrepreneurs that work in the area.

The kitchen, public event space, coffee bean warehouse, espresso machine repair workshop, and management office is located towards the back of the space.The owners of Truth Coffee demonstrated their understanding of the value of taking a concept all the way through to the finest details by allowing us to treat the restroom spaces with the same Steampunk aesthetic – exposed copper pipes, Victorian tap levers, pull chains and floor tiles, spun brass basins, and brass shaving mirrors. The Little Hattery also created the most outlandish Steampunk uniforms and hats for the eccentric staff to complete the look.

With the exception of the authentic vintage fixtures, all of the furniture was specifically designed for Truth Coffee by Haldane Martin and his interior design team. The result is an iconic space with true Steampunk character.

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Haldane Martin appeared first on Dezeen.