Over the past year I have developed an interest in the concept of innovation through necessity. Designing or making focused around “basic need” first, rather than the luxury of western society.
I intend to focus my third year around design intervention within my home town of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I will be looking at the housing/interior layout of government houses(match-box housing) and shanty towns. I would like to create objects/pieces using the local resources and commissioning local makers where possible, taking into consideration the cultural aesthetic of South Africa. Before returning home, I hope to research into the use of duality within objects and resourcefulness within re-use/recycling. I will be testing and researching these ideas while in the UK, specifically looking at the use and transference of traditional skills within development projects within developing countries, as well as basic design ad manufacturing skills. South Africa has rich source in handi-craft skills, using plastic bags, metal tins and wire work. I will be looking at the use of found/recycled materials specific to South Africa.
Once in South Africa I will begin my research by interviewing various home owners within a township called Motherwell, documenting their homes and movements through the use of photography, film and drawings. I will be visiting a community project set up within the area called Emmanuel Haven. I expect this research to inform the second phase of my projects, where I will be hoping to propose a design solution based around my research at home. This issue may most likely be related to the home and the use of its space
The design approach of the '10 x 10 project' will be helpful to my research, there research in South Africa's indigenous techniques informed there making approach, as well as designing with the idea that 'the simplest way is the best'.
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