In an interview with EgoDesign Serge Mouangue discusses his design philosophy and latest project - Nuvu:
NuVu is a concept car, designed for Nissan and showcased in (October) the 2008 Paris Motorshow. It’s an eco friendly vision for the future of urban transportation. Wafrica is a more personal experience, exploring issues of cultural identity, transforming timeless icons and values. I have...
The Haldane Martin "furniture collection consists of 31 unique, furniture products all originally designed and produced in South Africa. The designs have won a number of design awards, and have been exhibited in New York, London, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The furniture has been featured extensively in the local press and international newspapers and design...
Update from the world of fabbing the folks over at OpenSourceMachine designers of the Multi-machine covered earlier have released the freely accesible how to build a multi-machine book......
Googles Project 10^100--Project 10100 (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th") is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
via neXt...
From wheelchairs to police cruisers Jr Neville Songwe founder of Joneso Design "experience follows form" philosophy espouses the "...creating and developing of concepts that optimize the function value and usability as well as usefulness of products,for the mutual benefit of the end-user and...
From the Google Africa blog:In February, we launched the East Africa Gadget Competition that saw students from 10 universities in 6 East African countries compete in creating and developing the "next big thing". Following several other such competitions around the world, the East Africa contest was the first of its kind for those of us on the African continent. It gave East African students in...
At Core77 Niti Bahn and Dave Tait write:
Recent observations in the field on the BoP consumer's lifestyle and buyer behavior in Africa led us to conclude that their product choices and decision-making criteria are based on an entirely different set of values than those that influence the design of most consumer products today. A combination of factors such as local culture and history, as well...
From Perspective 2.0:
Mobile phone maker Nokia is set to open a regional research center to study consumer behavior in low income communities. The study is aimed at understanding the need of mobile users in Africa in order to create concepts that address the needs of consumers.The research Lab dubbed Nokia Research Africa is partnering with a local Non Governmental Organization and local...
Nyakio Kamoche Grieco founder of Nyakio covered earlier launches Safi her perfume line. In an interview with LadyBrille she states:
Safi carries base notes that represent Africa including bamboo, papyrus, and muhuhu wood. At the heart you find fresh cut freesia, stargazer lily, and neroli (orange blossom), and at the top rests fresh pineapple, black currant and fresh lychee, notes that I've...
The Make Philosophy continues to blossom,G. Paschal Zachary writes in the NYTimes:
“A lot of people get lost in the world of computer simulation,” says Bill Burnett, executive director of the product design program at Stanford. “You can’t simulate everything.”
Using computers to model the physical world has become increasingly common; products as diverse as cars and planes, pharmaceuticals and...
Over at Social Edge, former Acumen Fund Fellow and current IDEO employee is leading an online discussion about designing for social impact. This is a natural topic for Jocelyn, whose blog - Design and Reach - covers these topics. Beyond her blog, Jocelyn has - in her IDEO capacity - worked with The Rockefeller Foundation to develop a very handy workbook and guide for companies looking to design for social impact. Finally, she wrote a guest post about the project over at NextBillion.net, the Acumen Fund / World Resources Institute blog exploring development through enterprise and base of the pyramid strategy.
The Social Edge-hosted online discussion is underway. Jocelyn has introduced it as follows:
Design and innovation have been increasingly recognized as important factors in the...
Fabrication in South Africa writes about the need for a "Maker" Culture:
The biggest problem with doing your own fabrication is the tools. Most of the tools such as laser cutters and mills are very expensive and the ordinary person/student doesn't have access to these tools...The aim of this blog is to discuss various options for fabrication in South Africa. I'm not talking about major...
Knowledge@Wharton reports on Global Resolve's smokeless stove system:
The group developed a system that could be deployed in rural Africa using only components and materials available in Ghana, Brad Rogers (professor at ASU) explained. The resulting system consists of four integrated subsystems:
1. Corn is milled and steeped, exposing the starches and converting them into fermentable sugars.
2....
From the TED Website:
Stanford researcher Kwabena Boahen is looking for ways to mimic the brain's supercomputing powers in silicon -- because the messy, redundant processes inside our heads actually make for a small, light, superfast......
G. Paschal Zachary writes in the NYTimes:
While engineers in the United States lavish attention on expensive phones that boast laptoplike features, in Kenya there are 10 million low-end phones. Millions more are used elsewhere in Africa. Enhancements to such basic phones can be experimented with cheaply in Nairobi, and because designers are weaned on narrow bandwidth, they are comfortable...
Companies we need more of...From Kenya's Numerical Machining Complex to the machine tools manufacturer,Harp and the precision engineering firm Sheaf, along with others covered earlier Sub-Saharan Africa cannot escape the unavoidable necessity of the Toolmakers.
The NMC for example, a progenitor of what could be the substrate of a locally assembled car the Nyayo, would if successful and moreso...
Mwangi of Displaced African has a conversation with David Kobia creator of Mashada and co-founder of the award winning...
From the TED website:
Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity -- to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics......
Rob Katz at Next Billion highlights a provocative take on how Appropriate Technology is derived :Sriram Thodla is a dual-degree student at the Institute of Design // Indian Institute of Technology. When not studying for his Masters in Design or MBA, he writes a great blog appropriately titled Musings About Innovation and Design. A recent post argues that design FOR the base of the pyramid is...
TED fellow Erik Hersman reports at Afrigadget:
Gikomba is a part of Nairobi that is well known for metal working. I had been meaning to come this way for a while, and today afforded me the perfect opportunity to drop down into Gikomba and see what kind of enterprising activities Kenyans were up to...I ran into a George Odhiambo, a bulk fabricator of everything from wheelbarrows to chisels. The...
"...Appropedia is a living library of appropriate technology and open design, also covering sustainability and broader international development issues including public health, water, sanitation, community development, agriculture, renewable energy and urban...
In
Sanitation,
food,
science,
Agriculture,
income generation,
industrialization,
development,
entrepreneurship,
Education,
Innovation,
manufacturing,
invention,
fabrication,
design
Has it really been a month?
I designed some t-shirts, and you can have one too. Worldwide exclusive, etc, etc.
Click on the picture for more info. More designs coming soon, including, by popular demand, one for Mundeles....
AfroCoffee "...started out as a café in downtown Cape Town,” said founder Grant Rushmere. “Our concept was to harness a Pan African view of contemporary urban Africa. The pop art nature of African design inspired us to create our own brand of coffee instead of the usual Italian coffee that most cafes use. Our goal was to refocus people to the origins of coffee – that it in fact originated in...
Founded by Hekima Hapa and Ngozi Odita, Harriets Alter Ego "...boutique serves as a fashion hub for those who understand the fine art of style. In their new location, clothing is displayed as art against a beckoning backdrop of exposed brick, grounded by hardwood floors. What began as a den for deconstructed clothing has evolved into a boutique catering to the whole...
In an Afromusing interview Dan of Just A Band said that:
Kenyanimation isn’t actually a Just A Band project, but I work as an animator, and I put up my JAB animation projects there. That blog was set up to bring together animators and animation fans who are from/work in Kenya, just to show people that there actually is such a thing as Kenyan animation, and hopefully be a launching point for...
The Interior Decoration firm La Maison D'Ai offers a range of decorative items and accessories which include:
-Bedroom linens
-Lamps
-Furniture
-Room Dividers
-Curtains
via...
Trio Craft "...produces a line of handwoven, handknit and crocheted products using organically grown cotton. Trio’s looms are much wider than most, enabling them to custom weave curtains, tablecloths and carpets, and offer a broad array of beautifully textured products for the home. Trio was established to create employment and preserve artisanal skills, to bring Ethiopian textile art to the...
Science in Africa reported in 2003 on the work of Menker Wolde Kiross:
Menker believes there is great potential in developing effective farm equipment in the country(Ethiopia)...The latest and potential bestseller is a foot-driven water pump, which cost around US $1,000 to develop. The original idea was based on a design from Kenya that Menker modified.Many of the ideas developed at his workshop...
Founded by Carol Muthiga Kipepeo "...embodies the notion of freedom and freedom of expression through fashion...a true labor of love,it has evolved to include tees and tops, hats, bags, denim wear,jewelry and...
Singer Songwriter,TED Global performer Abenaa Frempong-Boadu , reveals another one of her hats with the launch of Gwyneth Shoes a company in which she is a co-founder:
Gwyneth is a line of sophisticated, comfortable shoes for real women. At Gwyneth we believe that we should not have to compromise fashion for comfort. Our patented sock cushions and flexible soles on every shoe make sure that we...