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Creativity, Design and Innovation
How we get to know you
The Fourth Floor
AMTS FabLab
Craft Exhibitions
Annual Exhibition Collection
Fab 6
Creativity, Design and InnovationMany crafters have been assisted by the CCDI’s Creativity, Design and Innovation programme.
To benefit from this, you need to have existing products, which you want to improve. New products may emerge from the consultations but these will be a natural development of what you are already doing. You also need to be earning an income, or want to earn an income, from the sale of the products. It is important that you are trying to sell, as this is a guide about sales and market responses to your products.
Developing your product, its story, even the packaging, is an ongoing process if you want to keep abreast of market demands and trends. It is up to you to decide how much effort to put into product development - the rewards are as great or small as the time and effort you put into it. For example: successful fashion designers create two ranges of clothing each year, and months of work goes into the design of the range.
How we get to know youTo enjoy these services, your first port of call is to make an appointment with the Programme Panel.
Every Wednesday (except the first of each month) we convene a group panel of our enterprise development, product support and market access staff members, who meet with crafters on an individual appointment basis for 50 minutes.
This is an opportunity for you to show your products, talk about your business, have a discussion about your challenges and opportunities and get some ideas about how you could be addressing them. You will also find out more about our programmes and activities and which of these might be suitable for you.
Call 460-3982/3662 to register on our database and for an appointment with the Programme Panel. Registering your email on our database will ensure that you receive our monthly newsletter and are updated on activities and opportunities. The Fourth FloorAfter a meeting with the Programme Panel the Fourth Floor might well be your next destination. A number of services are available here: - A variety of workshops are offered - some focusing on stimulating your creativity and design, others focusing on a particular market segment
- visit the Resource Centre, to browse through books, magazines and the Internet to get ideas and inspiration
AMTS FabLab- visit the AMTS FabLab*, also on the Fourth Floor, to create a quick prototype or scale model of your product. The Cape Town AMTS FabLab is one of a number of FabLabs in the world, established to assist designers, students and learners, in every field. Pioneered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and sponsored by the AMTS* Implementation Unit of the national Dept of Science and Technology, it is the only FabLab set up to assist crafters with technical problems, which they would not have the resources to solve on their own
- The FabLab is open to crafters on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 12:30 to 16:00, and on Saturdays from 9:00 to 12:30
- Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy
Craft Exhibitions – encouraging new designs and innovations During the past few years the CCDI’s Sector Promotion programme has held a number of craft competitions and exhibitions to encourage innovation among crafters and to promote the Western Cape craft sector.
Taking part in such exhibitions has assisted crafters to establish their reputation as a craft designer, artist and innovator. We have watched crafters grow in confidence and originality as they took part in the various competitions and exhibitions – world [piece] 2003, FREEDOM [ten years] 2004, Afro-Deco Master Crafters 2005, Picasso and Africa in craft 2006, wire+plus [this is my Cape Town] 2007, ICONIC [craft] 2007, and various lighting, décor and textile competitions.
Inspiration workshops linked to the various competitions have made a valuable contribution to encourage the latent creativity and innovation within crafters. Annual Exhibition CollectionThe CCDI will in the future invite crafters to submit exhibition items for selection to form part of an annual Exhibition Collection, which will be showcased in its entirety during the year, while parts of it will be exhibited at key shows and by invitation at select venues.
To receive these invitations, be sure that the CCDI has your email, or call in at their offices to collect your copy of the monthly newsletter in which announcements will be made. Fab 6The Southern Right Vessel is the entry from FabLab Cape Town for a design competition for Fab6, the sixth international FabLab conference held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The criteria for entry are that it has to be a water-worthy vessel, and use at least two FabLab processes in its construction. The designs will be publicly demonstrated on one of Amsterdam’s canals on 20 August 2010. Click here to view the submission.
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