Creative luminaries abound at the Design Indaba conference 2017

02 March 2017 - 14:04 By Andrea Nagel, Yolisa Mkele & Sylvia McKeown
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Yinka Ilori.
Yinka Ilori.
Image: FACEBOOK/YINKA ILORI

There's no shortage of inspiration at the annual Design Indaba conference, which draws its lineup of speakers from the world's most creative minds. We meet three of the best

DESIGNER YINKA ILORI

This London-based designer (pictured above) specialises in up-cycling vintage furniture, inspired by the traditional Nigerian parables and African fabrics that surrounded him as child. Humorous, provocative and fun, each piece of furniture tells a story that brings Nigerian verbal traditions into playful conversation with contemporary design.

The first thought that comes to mind when looking at your creations is colour. What inspires the palette you use to create your pieces?

Colour plays a huge part in my practice and was a special part in my life growing up in a Nigerian house. My earliest memory, and first introduction to colour, was my cousin's wedding.

It was fascinating, seeing how people applied colour - a flash mob of brightness.

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You up-cycle discarded furniture. Where do you find the parts from which you make your pieces?

I find all the pieces in charity shops, council estates and on the streets of London. You'd be surprised at the amount of discarded furniture thrown away in London. When I rode the bus I'd get off at every stop because I'd always see a chair standing alone on a corner of a street. I wanted to retell the story of the chair.

Is your work art or design or both?

It crosses between mediums. I like that because it makes people think about the stories that I am telling.

I'm always focused on the narrative and making sure I've conveyed something powerful, so whether people think its art or design I don't mind. I just want to create work that embodies characteristics of my culture and heritage, and that celebrates life.

ARTIST OLAFUR ELIASSON

This artist works across so many mediums that it's hard to pin him down as an artist - he should instead be considered a visionary.

Driven by his passion to create experiences that question the viewer's sense of self - as he searches his own - he's never bound by the constraints of a gallery space. He creates his objects in a studio with over 90 craftsmen, technicians, architects, archivists, administrators, programmers, art historians and cooks, who come together to build giant prisms, rivers in rooms and sometimes even the sun itself.

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Many artists are known for their distinctive style or medium, so what's the common thread running through your work?

Everything I create is connected to the world, and each work deals with matters outside of itself, like climate, energy and social infrastructure.

You have talented people helping you in a workshop in Berlin. At what stage of your career did you decide to collaborate on your creations?

I've always loved working with lots of people to develop my ideas. Collaboration is something I believe in. My team grew naturally. Without them I wouldn't be able to do what I do as well as I do or to such a high standard.

Though it's been almost 15 years since 'The Weather Project', you're still best known as the man who brought the sun to the Tate Modern. When conceiving the artwork, did you think it might become part of your legacy as an artist?

My art must be considered under what I call the three Cs: content, context and the conditions of the experience. When I create an artwork I'm disconnected from whether it will be a success or not.

The Weather Project was partly so successful because it was in a large city on a very large platform - The Tate is one of the most well- known galleries in the world - so it was a very exposed piece of art.

WATCH: Find out more about The Weather Project

 

TECH GURU LUIS VON AHN

Known for co-creating language learning app Duolingo and Captchas (those little tests your computers make you do when they want to be sure that you are human), Von Ahn spends his days being a computer science professor and entrepreneur.

Is it possible to become proficient in a language using only an app?

Yes, it's possible to achieve a reasonable level of proficiency in a new language through regular use of Duolingo.

In fact, we've received messages from thousands of users detailing how learning a language on Duolingo helped change their lives and we often feature them on our Facebook page.

But this doesn't happen by magic and it requires regular practice.

One interesting thing we've found by looking at our data is that it's better to use Duolingo for five minutes each day than for 40 minutes once a week.

An independent study conducted by the City University of New York has shown that 34 hours on Duolingo are equivalent to a university semester of language classes.

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We're having a big fight about university fees in South Africa. Namely about whether tertiary education should be free. What kind of solution would you suggest for those who want a university level education but can't afford it?

In many parts of the world including the US and Latin America, where I'm from, higher education is out of reach for many people.

Technology has the ability to close the gap between people who can afford higher education and those who can't. This is largely why I created Duolingo.

Our mission is to make language learning free and accessible to everyone. In many developing countries, learning a language like English can double one's income potential and unlock new educational and economic opportunities.

My advice is to look for online tools that are proven to produce results and that fit your lifestyle.

There are a lot of offerings so do your research from reputable sources, dive in, and don't give up halfway.

• The Design Indaba conference is on until  March 3, and the Design Indaba Festival until March 4, at Artscape in Cape Town. Visit designindaba.com

This article was originally published in The Times.

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