Lighting up the Mother City

It's that time of year when the Mother City comes alive with the celebration of the annual festive lights, with this year's theme of ‘Cape Town is fun. Soccer Is Fun.' Awarded the contract by the City of Cape Town to project manage and design the festive lights for 2007 and the years leading up to 2010 FIFA World Cup are two Cape Town-based creative agencies, Development Works and The Design Works.

3 Dec 2007

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Capetonians from all walks of life gathered in Adderley Street on Sunday, 2 December 2007, to watch the switch on of the Festive Lights. The event began with a carnival parade followed by a concert, with lead acts including Johnny Clegg, Brandon October, Hip Hop Pantsula, Valiant Swart & Ollie Viljoen, Krista Jones and others. The mayor officially switched on the Festive Lights at 8pm.

The creative process involved Development Works, The Design Works and a team of artists and illustrators brainstorming ideas to come up with the designs for the festive lights to portray the theme of ‘Cape Town is Fun. Soccer Is Fun', while at the same time ensuring the designs represented a uniquely South African flavour.

3D light extravaganza

After extensive research, design drafting and sharing ideas and creative concepts, the team handed the completed designs to the City's Public Lighting Department, who then transformed the two-dimensional designs into a three-dimensional light extravaganza.

The festive light sets depict unique SA elements with sub-themes focusing on issues surrounding cultural diversity and integration, creating a shared vision around the 2010 World Cup, welcoming tourists to the City and creating a sense of community.

The lights and the photographic posters set up throughout Adderley Street in the city centre and surrounding communities, mark the start of the season and providing the diverse residents of the city with the opportunity to celebrate together in the spirit of the festive season. Taken by Eric Miller and the young photography team of the Icon Image School of Photography, these posters speak volumes about the excitement leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Icon Image is a collective group of freelance expert photographers, running a mentorship programme for young disadvantaged photographers. The young photographers were tasked with finding pictures of people from all walks of life – playing and enjoying the game of soccer in their communities.