The
next piece of the puzzle that fell into place and pushed this adventure
to another level was the coincidental meeting with Niklas Johansson, industrial
designer and a good friend of my sister. He had just come back from a project
in Nairobi, Kenya where he had been doing prestudies on how to work with
design under extremely poor conditions. He had spent 3 weeks in Kibera,
the largest slum in Nairobi, working with a local help organisation, trying
to find unconventional solutions to traditional problems. The result came
out very positive and the conclusion was that, yes design can really
improve the situation for the people living in Kibera and no, three weeks
is not enough time for a project like this.
One of the prejudices you always have to fight as a designer
is the common believe that design is only about aesthetics,
and superficial decorations. Few people know that design is
actually a problem solving process that tries to envolve all
aspects of a problem, including aesthetics, in order to come
up with the optimal overall solution.
Me and Frank, who both are at the finish line of a very long
design education and both very motivated to get out in the
"real world", found this to be a highly interesting
project and a great opportunity to not only bring a higher
purpose to our trip but also to increase peoples knowledge
about design.
Niklas then contacted
Salim Mohammed who is the local project manager for Carolina for Kibera
(CfK), the help organisation who was the host for Niklas stay in Kenya.
A meeting was arranged in Gothenburg with Salim and Niklas
to discuss the future possibilities of a design project in Kibera. Salim,
who had a very good experience from Niklas work, was very positive
to continue the idea of using design as a development tool for the community.
Firm handshakes were made and I think we all left the meeting with a sense
of accomplishment.
©2005 Google
The
next piece of the puzzle that fell into place and pushed this adventure
to another level was the coincidental meeting with Niklas Johansson, industrial
designer and a good friend of my sister. He had just come back from a project
in Nairobi, Kenya where he had been doing prestudies on how to work with
design under extremely poor conditions. He had spent 3 weeks in Kibera,
the largest slum in Nairobi, working with a local help organisation, trying
to find unconventional solutions to traditional problems. The result came
out very positive and the conclusion was that, yes design can really
improve the situation for the people living in Kibera and no, three weeks
is not enough time for a project like this.
Niklas then contacted
Salim Mohammed who is the local project manager for Carolina for Kibera
(CfK), the help organisation who was the host for Niklas stay in Kenya.
A meeting was arranged in Gothenburg with Salim and Niklas
to discuss the future possibilities of a design project in Kibera. Salim,
who had a very good experience from Niklas work, was very positive
to continue the idea of using design as a development tool for the community.
Firm handshakes were made and I think we all left the meeting with a sense
of accomplishment.