South Africa's Fresh Talent competition winners head to Sweden

Six promising young South Africans are heading for Sweden where their designs will be exhibited in an interactive, multimedia production, which opens at the Form/Design Centre in Malmö on 14 June.

This marks one of the final stages of the annual Fresh Talent competition, hosted by the Eco Design Initiative in South Africa.  Every year the Eco Design initiative invites young people to design sustainable solutions for a range of challenges faced by people and the environment.  

The 2011-2012 Fresh Talent Competition winners are, Gabriele Birkenmayer for Shoots –A Grassroots Bamboo Project (first place), Wayde Dyers for his Vermiculture Growth System (second place), and Marieke Adams for the Ikghuphu Sleeve (third place).  

Janine Johnston, CEO of Eco Design Initiative said: “In addition to the winners, we will also be sending three "Wildcards" to Sweden. We select these candidates based on the potential of their design concepts, as well as their participation in a challenge we gave them and their appointed mentors to work together on a specific community project. Our wildcards are Peggy Ntsepe, Jenna Skead, and Keziah Suskin.”

This year the Fresh Talent competition was titled Home is where the Heart is and designers were called to submit sustainable and innovative concepts under this theme. Submissions could span various contemporary design fields from product, communication and surface design (wall, floor or any other surfaces) to systems, services and interactive design as well as large-scale systematic design.

Gabriele Birkenmayer, who came first in this year’s competition said: “The driving force behind my concept was to try solving multiple problems with one solution. With SHOOTS I aimed to 'help' the environment by using bamboo as a sustainable material; rural communities through training, skills development and providing an income.  The end consumer will benefit from durable, beautiful and affordable furniture. Together with my mentor I’m busy working on the formal business plan and hope to get funding to implement my concept.

 The Fresh Talent competition has given me a taste of what 'real world' design is all about and has also confirmed what I want to do once I graduate. I have made both local and international contacts which will prove to be invaluable in the future.”

The Fresh Talents will also collaborate with Swedish design students and given an assignment to complete as part of their exchange.

Says Johnston: “Our submissions this year really showed a wide range of diversity in terms of sustainable design. For example our winner, Gabriele’s concept SHOOTS showed real understanding of the triple bottom line: People, Planet, and Prosperity. Her concept encompasses a full-cycle approach to sustainability that produces well-designed, good quality consumer products, while addressing unemployment in South Africa and caring for the environment.

"Wildcard" Keziah Suskin built a prototype of an alternative to low-cost housing, which she's been living in. The cost of this building (excluding windows and doors) is under R3000. What our experience is showing is that a creative approach to sustainability generates innovation that can deliver wide scale impact, without extraordinarily high costs. These solutions and innovations have the potential to make a significant difference to local development challenges, while being relevant in a global context.”

The exhibition in a Malmö, produced by the Eco Design Initiative in collaboration with SVID, the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation, is an interactive showcase that shares the experience of young South African designers in their pursuit of social, environmental and economic wellbeing.

ENDS

Issued by MANGO-OMC on behalf of The Eco Design Initiative

For media enquiries contact: Stefanie Elliott                      

Tel: 021 461 9244                                                

Email: stefanie@mango-omc.com            

Editors Notes:

The Eco Design Initiative is a South African non-profit organization with the objective to develop skills and opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in the field of sustainable design. The Initiative mobilizes global youth and creative industries in positive action towards our sustainable future.

The theme for the 2011-2012 cycle of events is “Home is where the Heart is”, since “home” is relevant to everyone, no matter our background or experience or interpretation. “Home” relates to our immediate environments, our cities, our countries, our continents and ultimately all have one home in common – our planet.  As a global community we have a common destiny and therefore share responsibility to shape our sustainable future.

AWARD WINNERS 2011-2012

1st: Gabriele Birkenmeyer

Shoots – a grassroots bamboo project

“Shoots” is a full-cycle approach to sustainability that produces well-designed, good quality consumer products, furniture in particular, while addressing unemployment in South Africa and caring for the environment.

Shoots aims to involve rural communities in the planting and farming of bamboo in areas that require rehabilitation, such as those affected by soil erosion or water pollution. Bamboo is known to enrich and stabilise soil due to its root system that soaks up heavy metals and aids in water purification. Bamboo is also a highly sustainable plant, reaching maturity in 5 – 6 years and since it is a grass and not a tree, harvesting bamboo does not kill the plant. A bamboo ‘clump’ can be selectively harvested annually for over 100 years. Bamboo also produces up to 30% more oxygen than any other tree, making it not only a sustainable material, but also very environmentally friendly.

The rural communities responsible for growing these ‘plantations’ will be trained in harvesting the plants, converting it into laminated or strand woven boards and how to convert these boards into self-assemble furniture which will ‘last a lifetime’ – in terms of both material durability and non-conformity to any fashion trends.

2nd: Wayde Dyers

Vermiculture Growth System

The Vermiculture Growth System is a compact composting and rain harvesting system utilizes the benefits of worms – nature’s own recyclers, to convert food waste into nutrient rich, 100% organic fertilizer while harnessing the benefits of rain water to feed plants in home, vegetable and potted gardens.

The Vermiculture Growth System is easy to use and versatile. The unit, which is compact enough to fit on a balcony, in a shed or shaded outdoor location, is made from 70% recycled plastic.

The Vermiculture Growth System consists of five trays and a water catchment. The composting worms, Red Wigglers, start off in the first working tray and they simply eat their way up, “wriggling” into the working trays above, where they can detect the food scraps. Along the way, the worms produce castings (manure)  - also known as “black gold”; trays of which can be removed, diluted and hydrated using the water collected in the system’s rain harvester for plant nourishment.

The cycle is never ending.

3rd: Marieke Adams

Ikghuphu Sleeve

Ikghuphu is a series of laptop sleeves made from wet suite factory waste. It draws inspiration from the Ndebele’s abstract patterns decorating clay walls, translating the colours and patterns into a multi-dimensional textile that provides tactile interest and additional protective cushioning for the product inside.

Made using neoprene offcuts –factory waste, and traditional hand crafting techniques this design combines influences of traditional and contemporary homes, in both function and material.

The traditional stitch and craft techniques used in the production of Ikghuphu Sleeves create more opportunities for skills development, job creation and economic empowerment, especially for women. Using “waste” materials reduces the environmental impact and significantly reduces the material costs of production.

The Ikghuphu Sleeve is a sustainable design that appeals to the global contemporary market of laptop users and improves opportunities for sustainable development.