Danica van der Merwe, Emile Uys, Kaylin Ball and Lasché van Heerden from Stellenberg High School, are four of six talented learners participating in the Woolworths ‘Making the Difference Through Design’ programme that was recently given the opportunity to create designs to be featured on delegate bags and t-shirts at this year’s Design Indaba. Woolworths is once again a major sponsor for this internationally acclaimed design forum. With excitement around 2010 growing daily, these budding artists and designers were asked to honour their South African design heroes in the context of 2010 by creating a contemporary emblem or crest that symbolises something uniquely South African and which would be a fitting and unique memento for delegates to take away with them. Pieter Twine, who heads up the Making the Difference programme at Woolworths explains: “Every country has its own cultural and historic identity, which is often depicted in its flag and crest. We’ll be seeing many of them flying here during the World Cup. As a young country, South Africa is still developing its own sense of history. We felt that this occasion provided an idea opportunity to ask our young design learners to create an emblem that captures their personal sense of South Africa and at the same time honours their own design ‘heroes’.” Teachers were asked to nominate their top students to participate. Using South Africa’s unique history, culture, language, indigenous knowledge systems, environment flora and fauna as inspiration, the young designers produced intricate and insightful emblems representing local culture and heritage. The designs of the students mentioned above will feature at the Design Indaba are: • Danica van der Merwe, a Grade 10 learner from Stellenberg High School, was inspired by sporting brands – the Proteas and the Springboks – as well as local wildlife. • Emile Uys, another Grade 10 learner from Stellenberg High School, based his emblem on modern design elements which were conceptualised by South African designer Garth Walker of Orange Juice Design fame. • Kaylin Ball, a Grade 10 learner from Stellenberg High School, was inspired by South Africa’s national bird, the Blue Crane, and its elegant wingspan which, for her, symbolised independence and freedom anchored by the strength and solidity of the African Elephant. • Lasché van Heerden, another learner from Stellenberg High School, chose to represent the wealth South Africa has to offer in the form of gold, diamonds and wildlife. ENDS EDITORS’ NOTES •MAKING THE DIFFERENCE THROUGH DESIGN The Woolworths ‘Making the Difference Through Design’ programme is an innovative educational resource for design and art teachers and learners in Grades 10-12. Developed in co-operation with the Western Cape Education Department, the programme is based on a colourful, 600-plus page file that takes learners and teachers on an exciting voyage of discovery through the many aspects of this fascinating world, providing a wealth of information, insights and activities and case studies by top South African designers, as well as projects and assessment guidelines. The programme is currently supporting the curriculum in some 400 schools in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. •DESIGN INDABA Since 1995, The Design Indaba Conference has grown to become one of the largest multi-disciplinary design conferences in the world, attracting speakers from around the world and attended by sell-out numbers. The 2010 edition will run from 24 to 26 February 2010 and the Design Indaba Expo, which showcases the work of local designers, will run from 26 to 28 February 2010 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. For more information visit designindaba.com