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As you know Martha spoke a lot about her range of glitter at the Design Indaba in Cape Town on Friday. It’s the glitter that got to the audience and then onto the twittersphere – what! she’s glittering a ham?
This is the clip she showed us. Glittering a ham with Conan O’Brien. It’s actually fantastic.
PS: She left the country today – her last tweet of the day says “taking by helicopter from vineyard to capetown airpirt the scenery is spectacular the indiab ocen the mountains the vineyards oh la la”
Andrea Nagel did the interview with Martha, which you can read on Monday in The Times. She, that’s Martha was quite lovely.
And then from mass consumerism, too much of everthing and enough of it all, we were treated to a wonderful presention on low-cost housing.
I was late for Alejandro Aravena’s talk but I hope I got most of it – the work he and his team do at Elemental is incredible. He does low-cost housing projects which are for high density living. To create the designs, he workshopped ideas with families and communities and came up with a solution that is both aesthetically beautiful and effective. He got a standing ovation. He addressed what many people having been thinking and talking about – how design can better the lives of people. And in his case, he is addressing the lives of poor people.
Alejandro doesn’t need a job. But I wish Tokyo Sexwale, our housing minister would offer him one. Perhaps they could just meet to chat. Although we do have our own Luyanda Mpahlwa of MMA Architect who has come up with marvellous solutions too.
This is an example of what Alejandro has done in Chile.
A solution.
We’ve just been treated to a preview to the Shout for a safer South Africa music video at the Design Indaba. It’s brilliant. Danny K and Kabelo presented it and the video blew the audience away. They got a standing ovation – the second one today.
The video is a collaboration by South African musicians. After Lucky Dube’s murder a few years back, Danny K initiated this project – we have to do something to stop crime in SA – and this video is what our musicians did. They are addressing criminals and telling them to stop: “Come on I am talking to you”. It’s a reworking of the 80′s Shout Let it all Out song by Tears for Fears (lyrics below). The video will be launched on the 16th of March at the Nelson Mandela Theatre in Johannesburg.
It’s very powerful. Beautifully made. Merci.
Shout, shout, let it all out, these are the things I can do without
Come on, I’m talking to you, come on
Shout, shout, let it all out, these are the things I can do without
Come on, I’m talking to you, come on Read More…
Design Indaba guests found the special speaker to be rather unspecial.
As Martha’s presentation clearly wasn’t going to develop beyond a sales pitch people walked out. We know now all about her business, her 5 houses, and lots about her dogs and then more about glitter. Very bizarre. By the end half the audience in the main auditorium had walked out and most of the people in the simulcast room. In a huff. Outside crowds watched as Martha was being twitterslapped. Great fun. She clearly underestimated South Africans. And she clearly wants to penetrate this market.
Waiting to interview her. But she’s signing books somewhere. There are those who still love her.
UPDATE: Jokes abounded about her presentation during the rest of the conference. Quips from speakers, and the MC, about how many millions they could make from their various projects. 5.5 designers presented an idea of where we will get food from in 2050. Rethink animals. Rats? They showed a picture of dead rats hanging in a French shop window. Horrible, but a good idea. And then said that they will make millions from this idea – MS said this about one of her ideas. The audience collapsed.
I want to start this post by saying my heart has been broken. But I know that I started a recent post with the same phrase, and used it in another one last year. But at the risk of boring you with this theme I will tell you my latest heartbreaking tale. I would hate for you to think that parenting is heartbreaking. It’s not really. Only a little bit. Read More…
Today was another day of inspiring talks and slideshows and presentations and movie clips at the Design Indaba.
These are the thoughts that are staying with me:
reuse-transform-recycle-fantasy-useful-greed control-solutions-journey-green-remix-sharing
And the line “The greenest building is the one that has already been built” makes me feel happy. Read More…
Thomas Thwaites built a toaster from scratch. For art school. He is delightful. The project was curious but his presentation this morning set off a whole long train of thougths about where and how everything around is made, used and the thrown away. Read More…
Vivienne Westwood who has once again wowed the fashion crowd at the London fashion week is a green campaigner – of sorts. She has been reported to have “noted that human beings are destroying their habitat at an unstoppable rate …”
She’s about to open 20 new shops in China. As the designer has acknowledged the damage we’re doing Alice Olins asked her whether she’d implemented changes to make her own manufacturing more environmentally sound.
“She just mumbled about a few organic T-shirts and admitted that nothing had really been done.”
“Just stop buying” she said, repeatedly.”
STOP BUYING. What an interesting concept in this day and age. And what about those shops in China?
Some YouTube footage from the show:
The celebrity homemaker is in SA. She’s here as a guest of the Design Indaba, flown out by South African Airways, but now flying out to the Singita Game Reserve for some photo tourism. She’s due in Cape Town by Wednesday for the Indaba where I’m hoping to catch up with her.
An interesting woman so looking forward to interacting with her in some way.
See Timeslive for the report and more updates.
The perverted negress
Boing Boing posted this – The Perverted Negress is selling race cards which she says could be useful
when you need to:
* Cut in line at banks.
* Remind underlings that, yes, you actually ARE “The Man.”
* Impress those with racial fetishes.
* Levy silent accusations at the staff in fine dining establishments.
* Have an “Oppression-Off” with other beleaguered “People Of Color”
