South Africa's first Design Week set for Cape Town and Joburg this year
Following the success of Decorex Africa's reimagined return in 2022, exhibition and event organiser RX Africa is elevating the design platform with the launch of Decor & Design Weeks, to be held in Cape and Johannesburg.
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This year for the first time, the Decor & Design Weeks will bring together the country's three premier decor and design exhibitions, each with its own distinct identity, as part of a comprehensive city-wide programme of events.
Decorex Cape Town, Decorex Joburg, 100% Design Africa and Design Joburg will run simultaneously while all around them, SA and Africa’s top designers, retailers and creatives will join forces for an expanded programme that will spread throughout each city’s design districts for a city-wide celebration of creativity, inspiration and insight.
Each Decor & Design Week – one in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg – will encompass a programme of design events, exhibitions, showrooms, open studios and talks spread throughout the cities.
Cape Decor & Design Week will run between 19 and 25 June 2023, while Joburg Decor & Design Week is set for 31 July to 6 August 2023.
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“We are calling on our colleagues and brands in the industry to coordinate their launches, customer events, innovation announcements and client meet-and-greets with the all-important Decor & Design Week dates. We want South Africa and the world to see and understand just how powerful our design and decor potency is right here,” says Carol Weaving, managing director at RX Africa.
“This year is Decorex's 30th anniversary,” adds Weaving. “What better occasion for a unique platform that has become synonymous with decor and design to grow and evolve to celebrate the power of design?”
Connecting, collaborating and spotlighting talent
Built by RX Africa, the Joburg and Cape Decor & Design Weeks are being launched at a crucial moment when design platforms and events need to grow and evolve to harness the transformative power of the creative community and act as a catalyst for collaboration.
According to the event organiser, Decor & Design Week creates the conditions that make it possible to inject new life into design production through the sharing of ideas, capturing the energy and excitement of South Africa and Africa’s world-class talent to lead design for the future.
“Burgeoning creative communities all across Africa have arisen as loci of global excellence and inspiration and an urgent voice of optimism at a time when solutions, action and energy are most needed,” says Sandra Barrow, RX portfolio director of lifestyle, design and retail.
According to the 2022 Decorex State of the Industry Report, however, South African creativity is better appreciated outside the country than at home. “It's time for the local design industry to take back its agency and reclaim its narratives, rather than letting others interpret them and Design Week will provide the perfect vehicle to do so,” Barrow adds.
“Around the world, design weeks have proved to be a highly effective way to kick-start positive awareness of the local design industry, shining a light on an industry brimming with optimism, creative solutions and extraordinary potential,” says award-winning interior designer and owner of DNX Interior Design, Donald Nxumalo. “They provide a wonderful platform for talented, young designers to showcase themselves, which is why I welcome the announcement of these decor and design weeks for the local design scene.”
International design weeks have also become an indispensable force in facilitating connections, jumpstarting collaborations and bringing new and undiscovered talent to light, and bringing talented groups and individuals together to share their visions and ideas, which plays an invaluable role in keeping the design community motivated. It’s an inspirational shot in the arm for the power of design.
RX Africa states that the Cape and Joburg Decor & Design Weeks will catapult the crucially untapped resource of creativity and design in paving the way to a better future for all, and while it does so, provide everyone who participates and visits a much-needed opportunity to connect, converse, create and enjoy themselves.
Dates to diarise
19 – 25 June 2023: Cape Decor & Design Week
22 – 25 June 2023: Decorex Cape Town and 100% Design Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre
31 July – 6 August 2023: Joburg Decor & Design Week
3 August – 6 August 2023: Decorex Joburg, Design Joburg and 100% Design Africa at Sandton Convention Centre
