Living la vida locavore #DesignIndaba

24 Feb 2011

At a sumptuous "locavore" event held at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront last night, Wednesday, 23 February 2011, Charmaine Huet, Woolworths divisional marketing director, had the honour of paying tribute to design legend and revered Design Indaba alumnus Massimo Vignelli on the occasion of his 80th birthday. [view twitterfall]

The event was a part of the 14th annual Design Indaba Conference and Expo, currently in progress.

Huet acknowledged the debt owed to the man, affectionately known as "the guy who built NYC", especially in his capacity as mentor to the Woolies design team for the past four years.

For his part, Vignelli, bounding from table to table to converse with guests and take photos with a vigour belying his years, acknowleged that the collaboration with Woolworths has been one of the most rewarding of his illustrious career.

From left: Massimo Vignelli, Francis Kere, Lella Vignelli. Pic: Terry Levin.

click to enlarge

He also paid tribute to Ravi Naidoo, founder and MD of Interactive Africa, for his sense of responsibility toward global design and the important role the Design Indaba plays annually in bringing the greatest designers in the world together for the forging of new friendship and associations.

He mentioned especially the Design Indaba address heard yesterday from Burkino Faso architect Francis Kéré, predicting that, due to his understanding of both the nature of material and the social responsibility aspects of his craft, Kere would in time come to be known as one of the world's greatest architects.

Representing one of Design Indaba's most devoted sponsors, Absa marketing and communications executive Happy Ntshingila commented that it is this type of information received at Design Indaba has inspired Absa to rise above cultural differences within the company and to be seen as more than just a 'red bank".

Vignelli said that becoming 80 was great and that sooner or later it would be our turn.