Afrika Design: Creative Tour of Africa

Fungi Dube is a scientist by training (BSc. Human Anatomy and Physiology & Biochemistry) and a Creative Solopreneur by calling. She is a strategic, intentional, calculated, and self-taught brand and visual identity graphic designer from Harare, Zimbabwe with 6 years of experience. In this podcast episode, she talks about one of her projects, Threads.  Threads is a visual journey through the writin...

When I started out as an artist, I had zero clue on how to exhibit my work and connect with clients. It is through a caring community of creatives, and my persistence to discover art spaces that I was able to get to know more. This is a common issue faced by majority of emerging artists. After all the hard work that goes into making these amazing creations, what next? Unboxed Africa Offers that so...

Nyambura M. Waruingi creates, curates, and collaborates through various artistic expressions, bringing audiences unique ways to imagine new worlds. She's a filmmaker and curator passionate about combining art, design and technology. She pushes the frontier of what is possible through her creative enterprise Akoia & Co. by producing and curating projects, which merge cinema, visual arts, gaming, an...

"Skiza na Skika"–Skika Afrika is a platform for African creatives to boost their careers. "It's about being heard," says Founder Samantha Weya, which is why she created a meeting point where Africa's creatives can connect, find work, increase their visibility & upskill. For her, Skika pursues a balance between recognizing the narratives behind African stories, but also giving creatives the infrast...

What makes a World Class Designer? There are designers who make things look better. There are designers who make things work better. Guidione Machava @guidione_machava is the designer who makes teams collaborate better. Guidione brings his experience as a Product Designer, Creative Leader, and Community Builder to this episode. From World Bank projects, scrappy startups, and non-profits across the...

Jesse Itemere @jesseitemere is the visual designer and illustrator behind the album artwork for Nairobi Yetu, a digital composition that memorializes and celebrates our city under the sun with typically "Nairobian" elements and symbols. In this episode, we discuss Jesse's background in Law & Development Studies, and passion for human-centered design, which brought to bear on the collective, creati...

If all designers globally aspire to create the same aesthetic, how can our designs represent the cultures they come from? Batsirai Madzonga @batsimadz , designer of Sankofa Design System shares his inspirations & experiences. We discuss the process of creating, re-appropriating typography, iconography and color palettes and he talks about his mentor @sakimaf. “I took inspiration from nature, for e...

Venuste Kubwimana is the President and Secretary General of the International Transformation Foundation (ITF), based in Kenya and Rwanda. The formation of ITF was inspired by his troubled youth during the Rwanda Genocide in 1994. He strives to make the world a better place for the youth through ITF.  He won Global Innovator of the Year Award 2018 at the 10th Anniversary AIDF Global Summit in Washi...

We talk through Brian’s experiences thus far in his career from internships to being part of a start-up.

Nsabimana Jean Claude is a visual artist and a contemporary storyteller. His interests lie in photography, film and video production and design. As a visual artist he believes one should be the voice for the voiceless. He uses his work as an activism tool. Jean Claude has won the Adobe Design Achievement Award in 2019 for Top Talent in Photography. He shares his upbringing, how living in 🇰🇪 Kenya...

Her projects have informed thousands of girls on Menstrual Hygiene and new Menstrual Products. Benedicta Uweru is the founder @girls4developmentgoals , co-founder of @bennyandfreddylimited, a Supply Chain Pharmacist and Young Leader. She impacts communities through development projects around Sexual Reproductive Health  (SRHR) with a focus on: Teenage Pregnancy, Menstrual Hygiene, Nutrition, Educa...

'Sun from Kibera' is the debut album from Phinoshey, a self taught producer, writer, and rapper from Kenya. His musical inspiration pulls from hip-hop, soul, and jazz. Kibera is the largest urban slum in Africa. We listen to the album with him and hear about the stories and relationships that influenced it, and his plans for the future. His friend and collaborator Brian Amimo, who helped to arrang...

Blessing is a Google Certified Educator, Founder of 'The Innovative Child Network' and Ambassador for HundrED.org, and still studying for her Undergraduate degree. She's an inspiration to learners and teachers.   The Innovative Child Network: https://www.ticnetwork.com.ng/ Blessing's LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blessingakpan/ HundrED.org Profile: https://hundred.org/en/users/blessing-akp...

Don learned to appreciate the art of storytelling and photography from his father (2:22). He has worked as a graphic designer at Nation Media, graduated as part of the first cohort from Nairobi Design Institute (12:45), and is a design researcher at IDEO.org (33:36). He gives tips to designers (50:15), we discuss his design bookshelf (58:38), interviews that touched him (1:03:06) and how his faith...

On this episode with Daniel Ampofo we discuss local & global design mentors like Chris Do, Ghanaian creative talent, African influence on Beyonce albums, the future of designers in society and much more. Daniel is the founder of DexArtmosphere and DexGhana, a design education platform and conference, creative director at 93Studios, VP at Hacklab Foundation and a design writer and observer. Outro...

Kashyap, Farhia and Grishon took part in ‘The Urban Residency’, organised by Kenya Lighting Industries and Nairobi Design Week to give young designers an opportunity to bring real products to market. They spent 5 days at Kenya Lighting Industries, refined their designs & learned about industrial manufacturing methods: laser cutting, CNC punching and electrostatic powder coating. Intros: 6:45 Proce...

Eugene Kavuma is the founder & director of Kampala Design Week. We caught up during the 2nd KDW at his home in Uganda, discussed the trials and tribulations of starting a design festival, his design travels, collaborations with the British council and NEON Studio and how they turned 100 wooden stalls into an installation for the festival. He also talks about the $700 bet on his own exhibition, cur...

Esther Kute was the youngest, 1st female & 1st black Product Development Manager at Bata Kenya. Products she designed sell globally, have featured @NYC fashion week, in Vogue magazine & sell millions in USD.