MFA Industrial Design Konstfack to Cape Town 2014

The World Design Capital Trip

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Curious of what we brought back from down south? Sure you are! Remember the opening night Monday 17th at 17.00! Have a peek at our journey, have some wine, socialize, chill. Beverages will be served (cash is king!) and South African music played! Warm welcome & see you soon!

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Food & Family in Nyanga / Company’s Garden

We’re back in Stockholm after 12 days of intense and amazing experiences and we would like to share one of our strongest memories. Early on Saturday morning we met up with Danielle & Putter outside the central station to take a local taxi to Nyanga. As we were encourage to leave our valuables at home and only carry small change with us, we had only a vague understanding of what we were about to experience. On the roof top of the very ordinary train station, we discovered a whole new world unknown to a lot of Capetonians.

On first sight it looked like yet another tourist market, but we soon realised it’s a space where locals come to buy clothes, accessories, food and to get their hair done as it is a place where everyone from the suburbs passes on their way to work. On the stations roof, local taxis depart to all Cape Towns suburbs or so called ”townships”, such as Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Langa. We got in to the mini bus departing for Nyanga and waited for it to be filled up with other passengers. The taxis doesn’t depart at any specific time, instead you have to with until the mini bus is full. After around ten minutes of waiting time, the taxi begun it’s journey and we were asked to pay 13 rand ( =9 SEK ). All passengers helped to gather each persons money and passed it forward to the driver. For us, the idea of public transportation got a new level of collective feeling when having to collaborate and interact with the other passengers. Compared to Stockholm where you never need to or may even avoid to interact with other passengers it was very different.

We got off in the central part of Nyanga and met up with George who was going to be our guide for the day. George is living in Nyanga, working as a dance instructor at the Zolani Centre, a part of Safety Labs, a vibrant community & recreation centre where kids and youth can come and take part of dance, music and theatre activities. George told us how important it is to get the youth off the street and instead offer them something useful to do after school. After the tour in Zolani Centre, we headed out for a walk in the neighbourhood to experience the atmosphere, visit the local market and to try different types of food.

Anna Clara trying the local beer in a traditional way inside a local pub.

Food exchange in Nyanga Our main reason for the visit to Nyanga was to experience local food as well as offer a taste of Swedish food, as a part of Frida and Jenny’s Food & Family project, where food was used as a tool to open up for discussion and meetings.

Along the streets, several food shacks were preparing and barbecuing todays meat. We got to try liver and meat from a sheep. The whole process, from slaughtering to preparing and cooking, took place within the same area. Nothing was hidden and as we had a taste of the very delicious meat, we could see the trace of the animal, as fur, legs and blood was laying on the ground. The whole experience was very different compared to visiting restaurants in Stockholm where the food process is totally hidden away from the costumer.

The visit to Nyanga was for us very successful. Before, we had the feeling it would be very strange to go around in the neighbourhood looking as tourist, not belonging and out of place. But since we offered food as well, putting us in the same position, we met as equals. We both experienced how it felt to offer a taste of your own food culture, as well as taste someone else´s. One example is when one of us didn’t like the liver, couldn’t finish it and spit it out and the same happened to one of the locals trying a piece of Swedish liquorice. 

Swedish picnic in Company’s Gardens Park 

In the afternoon, we headed back to the city centre and set up a picnic in a nice park offering visitors to come and taste the same food as we brought to Nyanga. We had designed four dishes with individual packaging that for us represents Sweden - viltklämma, kanelbulle, sillmacka and godis. Each package had a sub-function to work as a questionnaire in order to give us feedback of the taste and experience of the dish. Even though the answers we got was interesting, the conversations that opened up after letting people try the food was the most rewarding. As we hoped, the food encouraged people to start deeper conversations and reflecting about food in their culture and everyday life. 

As another part of the Food & Family project we had prepared a playful communication tool in order to find out more about families habits around food. One family participated and we talked about who did what in different food related activities, such as preparing, cooking, eating and washing up. The ”game” made it easier for us to ask deeper and personal questions. 

Compared to the very chaotic experience in Nyanga the picnic were more relaxed. Instead of offering food directly to a specific person as we did in Nyanga, the picnic set up was more visible and inviting, giving people walking by the chance to participate. 

During this project we have learnt how food can work as an ice-breaker, get people to meet and talk regardless to cultural or socio-economical differences as well as language barriers. It is also a very effective tool to encourage deeper conversations.

See you at the exhibition where you can learn more about our project!

/Frida & Jenny

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Treasure Trade Market

Today was Trade Market Day and we set up our trading session outside Cape Town College, which kindly enough assisted us with tables (thanks heaps guys!).

By noon the tables and cameras were set and we were good to go.

Objects and stories from Stockholm.

Collecting card being filled in. 

Video documentation and footage.

Some valuable insights from the day:

...People were truly positive about the project and several asked for following trading sessions. ...People started to reflect on what wearables and objects they were carrying at the time and what is actually meaningful and valuable to them aswell as for the person receiving the object in return in Stockholm. ...People found stories quite similar to their own which motivated them to trade with that specific person. ...If the person did not have an object to trade at the time, they could trade a secret, a recipe, a skill instead. Realizing this made them reflect even more on their possessions.

We have a number of unexpected and amazing stories to share with you, look out for confirmed exhibition date shortly!

Talk soon! / Fanny Fea Carlsson Tove Johnson

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Breaking hierarchies?

On Wednesday after the visit to Langrug we tried the “What is this” probe in De Waal Park, where we asked visitors and people passing through about, for us, unfamiliar concrete blobs. The people asked were talkative though the probing didn’t give us much new insights and we mostly felt silly. Reflecting over the day, we realized the most important insight about us going to Cape Town was not to do something, to us, meaningless but to actually experience it; to get to know the city and it’s inhibitors.

Today Thursday, commenced with a nice breakfast at café Vovo Telo, Kloof St, by discussion and planning on how to move forward.  Visiting different places with different socio-economic situations generated lots of discussions and strong emotions. Through our observations we identified various societal hierarchies, which led to the discussion about money. 

We decided to just go out and try to collect money to give to someone in better need of it. How would the hierarchies change in this moment? Long story short, we ended up standing singing in Garden park together with a Capetownian mother to 2-year-old Zia, before we were asked to leave by the security guards. Now - back in a tiny hostel room - we ask ourselves: Instead of giving Chandre the money we earned together and by doing that putting ourselves back into the initial hierarchy we were trying to break - we should have shared it equally. To be continued… / Fanny Fea Carlsson Ela Celary Tove Johnson Anna Clara Rendahl

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Today's office! We're preparing the food workshop we're holding on Saturday. A lot of folding!

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Visiting Rlabs

Today we visited Reconstructed Living Lab (Rlabs) which is situated in Athlone, a suburb located in Cape Flats. We met with Clinton Liederman, one of the founders of the organization that works with social innovation, education and research. They consist of three main components; Living Lab, Training Academy and an Incubator and are now spreading to twenty-two countries. The innovation incubator gives young community members an opportunity to develop their idea, which all must have social impact, be sustainable and scalable.  During the nine months long process they will get training in communication, leadership and entrepreneurship until the final day when they will pitch their idea to the community. A part from entrepreneurship and developing new businesses Rlabs have a function to work as a social platform within the community and give the youth dreams and hopes for their future.

 After driving through a quite rough area we could really feel the positive energy and the power that Rlabs creates when walking in to their colorful office. The atmosphere inside really reflects their core values and it was very inspiring to see young community members so engaged in their own different projects around social innovation.

One of Rlabs projects is a Youth Café where money doesn’t exist, creating equality for people regardless of socioeconomic situation. Instead of money, good deeds will generate Zlato, a virtual currency which can be used at the café. A future potential development could be to implement the currency in other parts of the community, such as barbershops and metro stations. Rlabs works not only for but also with the community. They sometimes hold workshops where they take a walk in the neighborhood to point out problems and where new projects could be developed.

In order to strengthen the community from different angles, they also invite women to learn about new technology once a week. The workshops have a different topic each time, for example online security and it’s also an opportunity for women who are mostly at home to meet and reflect in a safe space.

As same as in Langral, we once again got to experience the power of the community in order to create social innovation, as well as how important it is to encourage and support the dreams and hopes of the youth.   

If you want to learn more about Rlabs check out their website.

Above: Creative work in progress.

Above: A prototype for one of the projects.

Above: Clinton telling us the interesting story about Rlabs.

Above: Office space at Rlabs.

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Different realities

The second day of our Cape Town visit brought us outside of the city center. We have been visiting two close by sites, that even though they both depend on each other, are profoundly different.

The first stop of our tour went to Babylonstoren. This was an extremely beautiful and peaceful organic vineyard and botanic garden. We got to know various indigenous and foreign species of both decorative and eatable plants. This was another great illustration of how the different cultures in Cape Town have contributed to change and diversify the floral landscape of the city and its surroundings.

The nicely laid out gardens of Babylonstoren

Following this picturesque excursion we crashed into a completely different reality, the informal settlement called Langrug. There we got to meet some people working for the municipalities and other organizations, as well as local residents, who showed us around in the area and informed us about the current situation that the people of Langrug are going through. In particular, we found out about two local design initiatives regarding hygiene. The main focus of the projects was to provide better and more accessible solutions for toilets, laundry and shower facilities. One of the first examples we experienced of this was having a delicious meal in their communal room, also used as a vertical garden and housing a hairdresser. The future sanitation facilities that are currently being built plan on offering Wi-Fi access to for instance supporting students in their school work, as well as screening movies for the families of the community.

This is the result of co-creation between the people of Langrug and the organizations, in which a majority of the designers and builders had no formal training what so ever, but still managed to create a very democratic and functional building, that is really improving people lives.

Despite being two very different realities, these places have lot to relate with each other. The informal settlement would never exist here if it wasn’t for the vineyards, and the vineyard could never offer these affordable products to a rich middle class if it wasn’t for the access to cheap labor.

If you want more info on the project in Langrug visit:

http://sasdialliance.org.za/building-the-siphumelele-wash-facility-innovation-centre-in-langrug-stellenbosch/

Children on the streets of Langrug

Eating delicious food in the communal sanitation center

Part of the design team in Langrug

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Finally in Cape Town!

The first day of Konstfack goes Cape Town started off with a tour around the area with splendid guides. Reflecting upon our experiences we see a red thread that goes through people, architecture food and flora – diversity. We’ve learned that the people of Cape Town are called “the rainbow people”, cultures from all over the world are mixed, and of course, we’ve been discussing many facets of this topic… The architecture originates from different cultures, and asking around, we haven’t been able to identify what’s “typical” South African food is. Crossing a street led us from one neighbourhood that for us felt familiar into a foreign surrounding, the more afro-influenced part of town. We got to try Cape Malay Koeksisters, a deep fried coconut covered pastry freshly made by a woman of the third generation Malaysians living in Cape Town. She told us about how some of the beaches of Cape Town were destroyed when the harbor was built, “-it used to be a beach town”.

Our first impressions, Cape Town accumulates diversity across different fields, we are curious to discuss and find out more about how they are related.

  View from Signal Hill

Indigenous plants are mixed with alien plants such as the stone pine tree, brought here by settlers.

Cape Malay Koeksisters

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We are on way!! Checked in and ready to take off!

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COUNTDOWN:

3 days

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Last preparations before leaving...

The preparations are on...and everybody is working hard for finishing the probes and interventions...

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Trade Market at Konstfack

The Trade-fair events at Konstfack were successful, thank you all for contributing with objects and stories!

We’re looking forward to trade what we collected in Cape Town next week – who knows what we’ll return with!?

In Cape Town we’ll do several interventions around the city which we’re preparing for right now here at Konstfack. We all have different interests and the interventions/probes/mini - events have different themes such as food & family, 3D-printing, city planning, tattooing and much more!

We’re collaborating with Cape Town based DOO.co-lab, a design-led platform that develops strategies for sustainable design and social innovation. Doo.co-lab will guide us around different World Design Capital projects and help us with our action research - the urban interventions.

Follow our work on the blog! From now on there will be regular posts here!!

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It's close people! Careful planning of tasks to do before Friday and travel day!

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What happened so far

We are pleased to announce... A total of 3 scholarships have been received for the whole class to participate in WDC'14. Great warm thanks to the Estrid Ericson -, Prins Carl Gustaf- and Ulla Fröberg-Cramér Foundations! Accommodation has been carefully researched and booked for the whole stay. We will stay in central CT. A collaboration have been initiated between the work group and Danielle Ehrlich - Experiential Design Consultant from DOO.co Lab in Cape Town  -and Jörn Messeter - Adjunct Professor at Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Associate Professor at School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University. More info about that further along but we are extremely positive about this! A contact established with the South Africa Association in Stockholm. They have monthly get-togethers in town, pub nights, music events etc. and furthermore of course a lot of valuable knowledge to share. The next pub night will be 27 June. Currently there are summer holidays for the class which naturally stand in direct relation to the amount of blog posts... Sorry in advance, we will do our very best! So long! / Fanny Fea Carlsson

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The dates are set and and the flight tickets are booked!