I was delighted to join the team from the brand new and exciting design district workspace, The Design Assemblage, for their official opening last week – and what a cool and funky spot indeed!
This Illovo based space (at Oxford Manor, 196 Oxford Road) is set to focus on commercial, corporate and office design and according to curator Nikki Wilsworth, The Design Assemblage is a place where the creators of the workspace of the future can convene, meet, collaborate, inspire, learn, plan, build and play.
Says Wilsworth: “It’s a space that we hope will inspire creativity and encourage conversation; a space for knowledge share, business, intellectual expansion and meetings for enthusiasts and trailblazers and those immersed in the field of design.”
The beautifully appointed TDA venue at 196 Oxford Road is set to host a programme of inspirational, transformational, topical events and activities for the design community, made up of expert lectures, workshops and masterclasses. These will take place on a weekly basis and will be free of charge.
In addition, Wilsworth sees the space as being used for other, more convivial and informal creative purposes, such as wine tastings, exhibitions and installations, book and product launches and regular coffee mornings.
Wilsworth’s aim is that The Design Assemblage – which is located in an office complex that houses Angel Shack, Inspiration Office and Chair Club showrooms in Illovo – acts as a catalyst to bring together the change-makers in design and to instigate creativity for designing the future way of living.
“Through our programme of events and the bringing together of people, we want to initiate a creative clash of different design disciplines. We hope that the space we have devised instigates and encourages this. We will facilitate the opportunity for people to meet, network and create future opportunities,” Wilsworth adds
The first masterclass in this new space kicks off on Tuesday, July 30 from 11:00 to 13:00 and will be presented by SJ Spiekhout, who will talk about New Work, New Rules, in which he will discuss how to create spaces that give today’s revolutionaries what they expect and need to excel at work.
This will be followed on Thursday, August 1 with a talk by contemporary artist James Delaney, who last year, together with his assistant Thulani Nkomo, was honoured with the AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Social Programmes for their work on revitalising The Wilds, one of Joburg’s biggest inner-city parks. Delaney, who was also the winner of recent awards from BASA and the SA Institute of Architects will talk about Turning the Wilds Around.
Also happening on a weekly basis will be Fika mornings which will take place on Wednesdays from 08:30 to 11:00. Fika is a Swedish word for “coffee break” and, for these occasions, TDA is partnering with various local artisanal coffee roasters and inviting designers to pop in, pause, meet, greet, chat, collaborate, network and of course drink good coffee and go.
For more on the Design Assemblage, visit their website – here…
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