Making It! 2026: Scaling South Africa’s Creative Economy

In March 2026, the Kramerville Design District becomes more than a destination. It becomes a barometer. Making It! 2026 marks 25 years of the Craft and Design Institute (CDI) shaping South Africa’s creative economy, convening designers, founders, strategists, investors and cultural leaders from 24 to 25 March 2026 in a district synonymous with design ambition.

Since its establishment in 2001, the CDI has expanded from supporting 63 makers to a national network of more than 8,300 creative enterprises across all nine provinces. The growth is more than numerical; it signals a sector that has matured, sharpened its ambition and shifted its focus. The conversation has moved decisively beyond participation and into scale.

Making It! is designed for established practitioners and those forging their path. It offers a rare convergence between leaders who have navigated complex markets and continue to innovate within them, and emerging voices ready to enter that arena. Across two days, industry leaders, brand strategists, cultural thinkers, fintech experts and founders will interrogate what growth truly requires: the transition from local recognition to national presence, from creative practice to structured enterprise, from isolated talent to connected industry.

This shift, the programme suggests, does not occur by accident. It takes candour. It takes the open exchange of experience and the examination of hard lessons. Above all, it requires the right people in the same room.

A Sector Coming Into Its Own

The speaker line-up reflects a creative ecosystem in confident evolution. Internationally recognised artists sit alongside executives shaping funding and policy landscapes, entrepreneurs building scalable ventures and systems thinkers examining how design operates within broader economic frameworks.

Serving as MC is Shado Twala, Chairperson of the CDI — a respected broadcaster, entrepreneur and arts consultant with more than 25 years in radio and television.

Material innovation and ancestral knowledge converge in the work of Mozambican artist and textile designer Wacy Zacarias, founder of Woogui and co-founder of Karingana Textiles. Her practice bridges regenerative textiles, sustainable accessories and storytelling through cloth.

Johannesburg-based Mbali Mthethwa, founder and creative director of The Herd, reimagines traditional beading as a living language of identity and place, while fibre artist and researcher Khensani Mohlatlole explores African fashion history and sustainability through practice-led investigation.

Systems designer Sanskruti Shukla positions design as inquiry, with participatory and material-led co-creation at its core. In KwaZulu-Natal, Sinegugu Ngxongo’s Bambizulu studio advances contemporary woven products rooted in indigenous knowledge while leading a craft innovation programme at the intersection of tradition and technology.

The creative economy is further expanded through the lens of tourism and urban renewal by Dawn Robertson of Jozi My Jozi. In animation and visual effects, Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt drives the global rise of African content through Chocolate Tribe, while CDI founding CEO Erica Elk reflects on more than two decades of sector-building and digital expansion.

Beth Arendse of Business and Arts South Africa articulates the arts as both cultural force and investable sector, while Bielle Bellingham of CHOMMIES brings brand strategy into dialogue with African craftsmanship. Consulting CMO Heidi Brauer contributes her distinctive brand-building philosophy, and Joey Khuvutlu of Daily Store explores scalable manufacturing rooted in contemporary African design sensibility.

Ceramic artist Andile Dyalvane, known for monumental hand-coiled terracotta works inspired by Xhosa tradition, exemplifies how deeply local narratives resonate on global stages. Legal and environmental frameworks are addressed by Carlyn Frittelli Davies and Cyril Naicker of ENS, ensuring growth aligns with ethical and sustainable systems.

Digital strategist Dave Duarte of Treeshake offers insight into campaigns that shape public engagement, while Dr Motsane Seabela of the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History interrogates heritage and indigenous epistemologies.

Interior and product designer Glorinah Mabaso of Renaissance Design, Dr Lebogang Matholwane Mathole of the University of Johannesburg and hemp textile pioneer Mahlatse Mohlala of Green Route Hemp Industries each illuminate the intersections of entrepreneurship, luxury markets and material innovation.

Fintech leaders Ronald Makomba of Yoco and Thulani Masebenza of Bloo Money focus on infrastructure that enables freelancers and small enterprises to thrive. Cultural worker Thuli Gamedze, curator Tracy Lynch of Clout/SA and Nando’s Design Programme, architect Prof Emmanuel Nkambule and architectural researcher Simphiwe Mlambo expand the discourse into spatial, policy and heritage contexts.

In digital storytelling, 3D artist Nthati Machesa brings African history into contemporary visual form, while documentary screenings by Motlatjo Mogoboya and Frances van Hasselt foreground heritage, media representation and the environmental narratives embedded in textile production.

Together, these voices represent founders who have scaled, strategists who have repositioned brands, academics interrogating markets, financial leaders strengthening infrastructure and cultural thinkers ensuring that expansion remains grounded in identity.

The Setting

The conference unfolds at Level Three in Sandton, with an evening reception at Katy’s Palace Bar in the heart of the Kramerville Design District — a fitting backdrop for a gathering concerned with design as both cultural expression and economic engine.

Making It! 2026 is presented by the Craft and Design Institute in partnership with Jozi My Jozi, W&R SETA, the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, the City of Joburg, Arts Alive, the Kramerville Design District, Katy’s Palace Bar, Level Three Premium Venue, Weylandts, Business & Arts South Africa, the Department of Small Business Development, the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, and Design Week South Africa, with media support from Arena Holdings, SA Decor & Design and IQOQO.

Virtual attendance is available from R850, with in-person tickets from R2,500 for two days. CDI members receive a 20% discount on in-person tickets.

At 25 years, the CDI stands not only as an institution but as an indicator of what is possible when creative practice is treated as serious enterprise. Making It! 2026 positions South Africa’s design and craft sector not as a peripheral industry, but as a disciplined, scalable and distinctly rooted force within the national economy.

Full programme details are available here

Tickets are available at Quicket