Maker Faire Africa
http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=14908
Tinkers, Hackers, Farmers, Crafters
Interview at Change Observer with Emeka Okafor, founder of the creative powder keg that is Maker Faire Africa. By Meena Kadri
Emeka Okafor
Many DIY-types — designers, inventors, hackers and tinkerers — in Africa work in isolation, so part of the celebration is about bringing them together to enhance, cross-pollinate and provide insights into the wider impact of their innovations on society. Taking the focus away from extractive ventures, we instead focus on those that are doing, making and producing. Globally there is a re-examination of manufacturing, production and design that is moving past the classical industrial sense and pointing to more distributed forms of production. Moving beyond mere celebration, there is also an interest in the interchange between these emerging global dynamics and local inspiration in Africa. This speaks to a far-reaching conversation in which the questions are posed: “How do we regain our creativity? How do we redefine what we mean by a society that is advanced?”
Lost Skills Project
This is gathering pace and getting to be a really fun and rewarding project. The council have given us the FREE use of a stall in the market to demonstrate and encourage an exchange of skills to be passed on in short workshops. So far we have had zine making, pinhole camera, and crochet flowers…and rag rugs, fly fishing lures and traditional signwriting are in the pipeline.
Bex has also set up her fantastic ‘Community Quilt’ project within the stall, asking for participants to embroider their memories of Wrexham into a collaborative quilt, which we will show at Wrexham History Festival next February.
If you would like to get involved, the fb page is here and the blog is here
Look out for the September issue of a-n as there is a little article about the project by Emily Speed.
I will be talking about the project and learning how to extend and improve it at a conference on ‘Sustainability in Design Now!’ in Bangalore at the end of September.
containers
The world has so much stuff we don’t need that we don’t know where to put it all. Perhaps people will be living in those stacks of containers before too long. (via wsj)
Nepomuk
Berlin based graphic design/illustration collective. Loving the side slider navigation on their site, and the pencil menu bar … some lovely projects link
Shelter- House of cards
This was a charity project getting artist’s involved in designing a deck of cards to go with their ‘house of card’ campaign. 
Supermarket Sarah
“Sarah has taken the bold step of turning her living room into a shop. By mounting her ever-evolving collection of vintage fashion and customised objects onto a wall in her home, she’s created a clickable homepage for her website” http://www.supermarketsarah.com/
Robert Hammond: Building the High Line on Vimeo
Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line, shares insights on executing large-scale community projects, culled from his 10-year battle to transform a disused rail structure into an iconic public park.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Amelia's Magazine
Re-design the Royal Bank of Scotland brand- submissions called for an exhibition at the Arnolfini in Bristol in November.
Technical specifications:
your image should be created to these sizes and scannable or put together on a computer:
A1 for the poster.
A2 or squared off A2 for the logo.
Please send me a lo resolution version but make sure you work to these sizes. We will arrange for the printing of your image should it be chosen.
Deadline:
We need your submissions to reach me by Monday 2nd November. Please send lo res versions of your design to info@ameliasmagazine.com
Amelia’s Magazine
Re-design the Royal Bank of Scotland brand- submissions called for an exhibition at the Arnolfini in Bristol in November.
Technical specifications:
your image should be created to these sizes and scannable or put together on a computer:
A1 for the poster.
A2 or squared off A2 for the logo.
Please send me a lo resolution version but make sure you work to these sizes. We will arrange for the printing of your image should it be chosen.
Deadline:
We need your submissions to reach me by Monday 2nd November. Please send lo res versions of your design to info@ameliasmagazine.com
The Department of Illustration 
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