AADA

Africa now has its first Automobile design association called AADA.

According to their website the aim of the association is "...to bring together Automotive design enthusiasts, artists of all ages, professional designers and design students, of all nationalities, to promote design education, African culture, Heritage, and to encourage automotive design practice in Africa.."

AADA's goal is "...to develop and create a brand new automotive design language, A car that captures, Africa's rich culture and heritage..."

It will be good to witness in ones lifetime an African car 100 percent designed and built in Africa as some Ghanian's are already doing.

Photos courtesy of AADA.com

Ethiopia born Rahel Belatchew Lerdell, Sweden's Architect of the Year 2006.

Nazret.com writes about Ethiopia born Rahel Belatchew Lerdell, Sweden's Architect of the Year 2006.

"...Rahel Belatchew Lerdell was appointed Architect of the Year by receiving 'Det Stora Formpriset' (Swedish for 'The Great Design Award') from Sweden's Residence Magazine..."

"...Rahel was born in Ethiopia in 1969, and grow up in Uppsala, Sweden. After receiving a Masters Degree in Architecture from Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, Rahel worked as an architect in Paris, Luxemburg and Tokyo. After a decade of working abroad, she returned to Sweden in the year of 2000. Today Rahel runs her own architectural office 'RB Arkitektur', with both private and public clients. Rahel's architecture has attracted much attention in international media and has also been published in several architectural books..."

"...he jury, chaired by Residence's Editor-in-Chief Mårten Niléhn, recognized that some authors write the same book over and over again or return to the same character year after year. And some architects return to the same forms in an on-going greatest hits collection. Rahel Belatchew Lerdell does not belong to them. If you want to be a trademark, a Frank Gehry, a superstar who signs his or her autograph in steel and concrete
against the metropolitan skylines, it is an advantage to have certain characteristics and manners that are easy to distinguish..."

"...Another way to create a trademark is to deliberately try to drown your own attributes and creative tics, and start every building project from a blank sheet of paper. In which case a personal undertone is most often maintained, and for Rahel Belatchew Lerdell it is a certain continental elegance that shines through her buildings. They could as easily be situated in Paris as in Stockholm..."

"...As a Swedish version of Herzog & de Meuron she surprises with all her projects. Her architecture has got that certain something that you recognize when you see it but which is very hard to capture - our age. Rahel Belatchew Lerdell's design is contemporary and lasts long..."

"...- I am delighted and honoured, and especially pleased about the jury's motivation that captures the essence of my work where I try to avoid the most obvious repetitions, and instead aim to identify the uniqueness within each project, says Rahel Belatchew Lerdell..."

Photos Courtesy of rbaarchitecture.com and Arkinetia.com

Design Made in Africa

The "Design made in Africa" exibition which started in Charlotte, NC a couple of weeks ago aims "...to reveal and confirm the talent that places Africa’s designers at the heart of modernity, while showing the value that lies in creating new models, and encouraging economic players (producers, publishers and distributors) to become involved in their development..."

"...This exhibition, traveling simultaneously in Africa and in North America and representing fourteen African countries is co-curator by Michel Bouisson and Céline Savoye. It features thirty-one designers and forty-five objects or collections, essentially everyday items, designed for daily use in contemporary everyday life- urban and rural - in Africa and beyond. All the works are original creations and are designed to be reproducible.

Launched by CulturesFrance/Afrique en créations, the city of Saint-Etienne and Saint-Etienne Metropole from a call for projects in 2004, the exhibition Design Made in Africa , shown at the Saint-Etienne International Biennale of Design, now travels across the globe to highlight African contemporary creativity in the world of design..."

Photo courtesy of The McColl Centre for Visual Art