The Speakers

Bas Timmer

Bas Timmer's Sheltersuit fuses fashion and philanthropy. His design has brought dignity to members of vulnerable communities and also provided work opportunities for the unemployed and refugees. The Sheltersuit Foundation has a surprise in store for South Africa, with the help of seed funding from Design Indaba. Watch this space!

Debbbie Millman

The brand guru and podcaster par excellence has a resumé second to none, but despite having worked with more than 200 of the world’s largest brands, she is the first to segue into a discussion on rejection, creative insecurity, and the decisions that influence who we become.

Hanif Kara

This maverick structural engineer designs a better world. As an educator, Kara’s challenging the next generation of structural engineers to think outside the box – no small accomplishment.

Honey & Bunny

Honey & Bunny's deconstructive and provocative performance art challenges convention. From designing edible goods and developing ‘eat art’ performances to directing films and writing books, Honey & Bunny force audiences to rethink cultural traditions and taboos around food. Their latest projects involve sustainable food design and the rituals of cleaning.

Ibrahim Mahama

Ibrahim Mahama’s gargantuan installations are both spectacle and representations of the fabric of Ghanaian life. Bold postcolonial statement and visionary artistry combine in his work.

Kinya Tagawa

Kinya Tagawa personalises data to solve real-world problems. Kinya’s work has already convinced governments to change policies. Data can be personalised, used to make better decisions, and leveraged to solve real-world problems.

Lyndon Neri & Rossana Hu

Neri&Hu are altering the built environment. Their work is reshaping Chinese visual identity while profoundly altering the built environment around the world.

Natsai Audrey Chieza

Chieza foresees a future in which we return to nature to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Nhlanhla Mahlangu

Mahlangu was a recipient of a Naledi Theatre Award for Best Choreography for the ground-breaking African musical TAU in 2017. Interrogative and experimental, he prefers to sing, dance and speak his research, particularly as he is dyslexic – so look out for a profoundly transformative presentation.

Patrick Thomas

Sascha Lobe

A typographical rockstar – Sascha Lobe devised the corporate identity and design of the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum in Berlin, expanding on Herbert Bayer’s original typeface.

Selassie Atadika

Studio Drift

Sunny Dolat

Sunny Dolat challenges what it means to be an African Man. He wants African fashion to encompass all 54 countries on the continent, not just work from the fashion capitals of Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and Dakar. He challenges notions of masculinity in a gender-fluid world.