Date: Tues 5 Oct, 2010
Time: 6-7pm
Venue:Chapter Arts Centre
Partner: 4Kenia | www.kenia.nl
Partner: Maker Faire Africa | www.makerfaireafrica.com
Join bloc for a one-hour presentation and discussion at Chapter Arts Centre to learn all about our recent commission: ‘DIY Kenya’.
The DIY Kenya team, Peter Hathaway, Stefhan Caddick, and Paul Granjon will be talking about their work and experiences and inviting questions and discussion from the audience, facilitated by Louise Wright .
The presentation will appeal particularly to anyone interested in human-centered design, social entrepreneurism and innovation, sustainable design development projects (particularly for Africa), robotics, low-cost methods of making, collaborative ways of working and open source solutions. Those attending are invited to join bloc for drinks following the event.
This event is supported by Chapter and is part of the Cardiff Design Festival programme – www.cardiffdesignfestival.org
Outline:
bloc recently commissioned product designer Peter Hathaway to instigate a participatory design project with the students of the Kwale School of Homeopathy situated in rural Kenya.
Over the course of three weeks this summer, Peter facilitated the Kwale students in a ‘Human Centered Design’ project. Working together, they identified a number of local community concerns and redefined these as opportunities for design. Through a programme of community engagement activities, creative workshops and collaboration with local makers, the students were able to generate a number of design solutions and prototypes.
Peter presented the DIY Kenya project at Maker Faire Africa in Nairobi in August´ a two-day event celebrating ‘African Ingenuity, Innovation and Invention (www.makerfaireafrica.com). He was joined at the Maker Faire by bloc members Paul Granjon and Stefhan Caddick who both ran the following collaborative projects at the event:
– ‘Nairobi Solar Machine: Automated Water Winch’ – Paul Granjon collaborated with Fab Lab and engineering students of the University of Nairobi to build an improvised solar-powered machine which manifested as an electrically powered bucket hoist for extracting water from a water hole.
– ‘Makers Online’ – Stefhan collaborated with staff and students of ‘Nairobits’ to put together simple, no-cost WordPress websites for exhibitors at the Maker Faire who do not have one already, and giving advice to those who do.
Peter, Paul and Stefhan documented the DIY Kenya projects on a WordPress blog, which can be viewed here: http://diykenya.wordpress.com
Contributors:
Peter Hathaway | Product Designer
www.hathawaydesign.co.uk
Paul Granjon | Artist
http://zprod.org
Stefhan Caddick | Artist
http://stefhancaddick.co.uk
Louise Wright | Senior Adviser, Arts, Creative Industries and New Media, British Council Wales
Sponsors:
The DIY Kenya commission and participation in Maker Faire Africa have been made possible with the support of British Council Wales and Wales Arts International. Project Partners include Maker Faire Africa, Kwale Homeopathic College and Health Center and Butterflyworks.
Area: southern bloc