2013 – Kopanang

The community and context

The Kopanang Community Trust is a support group for women affected or infected by HIV/AIDS in Tsakane township. The aim of the Kopanang Community Trust was to provide skills training and empowerment allowing for the women to have the opportunity to have a sustainable income as well as a support group.  The women of the project earn a living by making products in fabric with embroidered and printed detail on them. Students were tasked with creating additional work opportunities for the women, create awareness of HIV/Aids, and generally providing support for the community. The various groups generated the following design solutions.

Children’s Group

This group focused on the products aimed at children. The students designed the ‘Franken-animal’ to teach children to identify the various body parts of the animal. It can be sold as a toy, bag or ornament and is both educational as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Micro machines

The focus of this group was to propose a fresh new line of designs for the Kopanang Establishment. The students decided to introduce silk-screening as the process to improve the cost and time efficiency and generated several African print designs

Under Construction

The objective of this group was to attract international buyers for the Kopanang products. The project led to the design of scatter cushions emphasizing the phrase ‘Thank you’ in multiple languages, with accompanying infographics for the manufacture of the cushions

Mongoose

In addition to new designs for the material products of Kopanang, the results of this project included material to support the running of Kopanang with the production of a catalogue, infographics, order forms and swing tags.

Afripop

This group created a contemporary clothing line, which includes patches, badges and shoes with embroidered images on them. The primary aim was to generate a demand within the local market for the goods. Students went with a theme of ‘AFRI-POP’ and the range is targeted at young South African’s ages16- 30.