Studio Propolis on the importance of designers sourcing materials locally

African Design/2015/21 min/Reel № 15.001

Studio Propolis on beautiful designs produced under tough constraints

Make. Change./Recorded 2015

A close reading, kept within reach.

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The short version

The speaker takes african design as a lens on the larger question the festival keeps returning to: what design owes to the people and places it works among. The talk moves from specific projects toward a broader argument about practice.

Recorded in the field in 2015, the conversation is grounded in The's own working method — the compromises, the constraints, and the moments where the work taught them something they didn't expect.

The closing turn is characteristic of the archive: less a conclusion than a provocation, handed to the audience to carry into their own disciplines.

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What did the speaker say about…↵

Naeem Biviji of Studio Propolis talks us through designing in the difficult Kenyan context to yield products that are not just good enough for Africa.