Reframing Collaboration through the Craft of Ubuntu: Design Students Collaborating with Artisans

There are many examples of initiatives involving design students collaborating with African artisans to produce new products, but these have generally been students from institutions outside Africa who have been ‘helicoptered’ in leaving little, if any, positive legacy from the encounter.

This paper presents an alternative case study of South African design students combining participatory design methods with craft practice as a means of equitable engagement during a weeklong workshop with local artisans.

The encounter took place in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2014 and was one of the outcomes of the wider doctoral research that asked what role does practice play in collaboration between designers and African craft producers? Second year illustration students from the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography paired with local craft artisans.

The resonance of participatory design methodology with the African notion of ubuntu, which speaks of people’s interconnectedness, is described. A localised knowledge sharing, collaborative, co-creative and experiential workshop methodology is presented as an alternative to the usual paradigm of philanthropic, top down, pedagogic, designer-led, short-term interventions. Thus returning the focus to the local, leading to socially based craft practice as a way to democratise the relationship between the students and the artisans.