Design4Life Africa

Design4Life, Africa builds on a successful pilot model, Design4Life Ghana which was launched back in 2005 by the Tabeisa Consortium, a partnership between Coventry University and University of Greenwich in the UK, four South African institutions: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Durban University of Technology, Tshwane University of Technology and Walter Sisulu University and University of Education, Winneba in Ghana.  It invited designers in Ghana and the UK to produce traditional Ghanaian textile and dress designs to create a fashion range to be made by Ghanaian fair trade groups.

The success of this innovative model was the basis for further support under England-Africa Partnerships for a wider initiative Design4Life, Africa.  Now EAP is enabling the initiative to build African HE capacity to link skilled artisans and entrepreneurs not only in Ghana but also South Africa, with design flair and marketing ability to create highly marketable fashion products.  

Central to the project is a fashion and textiles design competition which aims to expose students from the participating universities to the reality of African small business and entrepreneurial activity.  Tabeisa has well-forged links with small businesses in Ghana and South Africa who will manufacture the winning students’ designs and in turn gain much needed product design and enterprise initiative.  Shortlisted designs will be showcased at each institution, alongside the local businesses involved, and the winning design announced to promote the Design4Life Africa initiative to local and national representatives, faculties and institutions.  

The project has won the recognition of UK high street retailer TopShop which will commission some of the African manufacturers to produce some of their in-house designed products.  Tabeisa’s success also landed University of Greenwich a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for the third time last November.

The team aim to secure wide recognition for the Design4Life model and it’s potential within the realms of design beyond fashion and textiles. You can find out more about this and the Tabeisa partnership at http://www.design4lifeafrica.com/