What is the value of great design?
This is the question that Absa is putting forward to delegates at this year’s Design Indaba.
Hosted every year in Cape Town, the conference enjoys worldwide attention as it explores and celebrates creativity in all its forms. Delegates and speakers come from many different disciplines, be it graphic designers, advertisers, filmmakers, musicians, fashion designers, industrial designers, architects or visual artists.
This year, as proud sponsors of the event, Absa is urging delegates to look deeper into the keynote presentations, big name speakers and installations and ask themselves what truly is the value of the idea they are being shown. Some of the simplest ever creations have had an immeasurable effect life as we know it, from the ballpoint pen, to the paper clip and even a block of Lego. All of these have a value far beyond any price tag that could ever be attached to them.
Colleen Jackson, Brand Manager at Absa, says: “Every year, it’s an exciting challenge to create a campaign that is able to hold its own at a conference that itself focuses on creativity. The executions keep things fresh with insightful interpretations of what everyday objects could be used for – beyond their everyday intended purposes.”
From 29February to 2 March 2012, delegates will be exposed to some of the designs they may take for granted, and see them in a new light. There will also be different large-scale installations paying homage to great design – be on the lookout, for example, for our giant tribute to the humble pen and let your imagination concoct the story behind the wall-climbing stick men. Nathan Sawaya, the artist famous for his Lego sculptures, will be collaborating with Absa as he builds another one of his incredible creations over the course of the Design Indaba.
Being the perfect setting to showcase Absa’s greater involvement in supporting the arts, delegates and the public can visit the Absa Gallery at Design Indaba Expo to enjoy creative masterpieces inspired by the previous entrants of the Absa L’Atelier art competition. Every year, the prestigious Absa L’Atelier competition awards one artist a six-month residency at the world-renowned Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. This year, the Absa L’Atelier campaign focuses on creating your own art child.
“We hope that our continual involvement within the arts and design sphere will go a long way in entrenching our belief that working as a collective will make our country so much richer in every way,” states Jackson.
“This year, we fully expect the conference to blow us away yet again with its innovation and creative thinking. For every speaker that you listen to and all the ideas you see, look beyond what is right in front of you and see the potential. Think beyond, to its real value,” she concludes.
