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.