2016

JOZI GEM

JOZI GEMFor this project the street artists from Johannesburg is the community.

They are different to other communities in the GDC 10% project as their working arrangements are informal and they are not grouped together with a organization or structure.

JOZI GEMThe students go to find the outstanding ones and work with them. Their needs that are addressed is that they have a highly developed skill but not a large platform to sell it from.

GDC 10% Jozi Gem project aims to link these street artists and a corporate entity who has the need for well crafted south African products on a large scale.

THE BRIEF

All around Johannesburg there is a presence of street artists. During this project students chose the best of the street artists and worked with a select few to uplift and empower them to potentially launch a design product line which could feed into the 1800 Nando’s restaurants nationally and internationally.

THE PROCESS

Student identified their own street artists, thereafter they performed a analysis of the artist’s skills. Together with the artists they developed a product that would be useful in the Nando’s environment.

THE PROCESS

The product that they developed focused mainly on utilising the skills of the artists to generate a new product that would fit into Nando’s environment. This meant that students aimed to become the link between the skill sets of an artist and an end-user.

THE OUTPUTSWooden Sauce HolderConcept sketches

This group identified an artist with exceptional skill for fine wood work.They utilised this skill to design a sauce holder that could be used in Nando’s restaurants.

THE OUTPUTSWooden Sauce HolderDesign Development

THE OUTPUTSWooden Sauce HolderTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSWooden Sauce HolderTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSCleaning “Macheen”The ConceptThis group identified an artist with exceptional skill developing new products and daily problems – he is an inventor.They utilised this skill to develop one of his prototypes into a floor cleaning / drying machine.

THE OUTPUTSCleaning “Macheen”Concept Development

THE OUTPUTSCleaning “Macheen”Technical Development

THE OUTPUTSSoap Stone BasinConcept

This group identified an artist with exceptional skill soap stone sculpturing.They utilised this skill to design a wash hand basin that could be used in Nando’s restaurants.

THE OUTPUTSSoap Stone BasinDesign Development

THE OUTPUTSSoap Stone BasinTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSAfrican Dolls ExhibitionConceptThis group identified two artists with exceptional skill in making African dolls from banana leaves.They utilised this skill to design an exhibition that could be used in Nando’s as part of their corporate identity/ marketing strategy.

THE OUTPUTSAfrican Dolls ExhibitionDesign Development

THE OUTPUTSAfrican Dolls ExhibitionTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSAfrican Dolls ExhibitionTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSAfrican Dolls ExhibitionTechnical Development

THE OUTPUTSWire basket woven lightConcept

This group identified a group of artist with exceptional skill in wire basket weaving.They utilised this skill to design a pendant light fitting that could be used in Nando’s restaurants.

THE OUTPUTSWire basket woven lightDesign Development

THE OUTPUTSWire basket woven lightTechnical Development

EVALUATIONMeeting Learning outcomesOverall the students met the learning outcomes forthe project. They connected with a specified communityand linked this community to a corporate end-user.

Quality & Quantity of WorkThis year the quality of work was lower than the previous year where we had a similar brief. The group of students consisted of students from the bottom ranges of marks in their individual programmes. This however lead to exceptional high attendance, but limited individual critical thinking.

Development of project briefThis year was the first year that a corporate end-user was part of the brief, this was a very good addition. One of the projects were taken as it is to be developed in house (with assistance of the students as interns) and 2 of the students were connected to industry leader designers who are closely knit with the corporate; Nando’s

THANKS

A sincere thank you to Michael Spinks, the head Designer of Nando’s South Africa.

The input and feedback you gave at the student presentations were valuable and a great learning opportunity for them. Thank you for linking some of the students and artists up into your network for future developments.