About

Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Design Museum Foundation is developing the "Design Networking Hub", a contemporary knowledge and networking platform to support German-Kenyan cooperation projects in the field of design and architecture.

Practice-oriented source of information for the cultural and creative industries

As a digital knowledge and networking platform, the Design Networking Hub is intended to provide all essential information for the implementation of (German-Kenyan) cooperation projects, which include, for example, recorded lectures, handouts, videos, address and contact pools and best practice examples. Thus, a practice-oriented source of information for the cultural and creative industries of both countries has been established which connects designers, architects and creators from different disciplines and enables them to independently initiate and implement cooperation projects. Introducing different individual strengths, expertise and experience leads to mutual learning and unfolds great innovative potential.

Exchange on an equal footing

An important concern of the Design Networking Hub is the exchange of ideas and information etc. on an equal footing, in which all participants learn from each other and develop together. Young designers and architects are enabled to bring business ideas / non-profit concepts to market in innovative, cross-border co-productions, or to transfer innovations / ideas to the other market.

Pilot group

To make the information offered by the Design Networking Hub as user-oriented as possible, a pilot group of five German and five Kenyan young designers / architects was recruited to work in small teams through the entire process of a bilateral cooperation project and jointly develop new product, business ideas or non-profit concepts in the fields of mobility, housing and digitalisation - from brainstorming, planning and implementation to financing and the consideration of necessary legal aspects. During a project phase of about one year, the young designers and architects were intensively supported by the team of the Design Networking Hub. Digital events were organised and on certain occasions participants came together in face-to-face sessions. The progress of the project is documented on the website. In the end, a large digital store of knowledge will be created that will motivate and enable more creative minds from Kenya and Germany to successfully implement (joint) projects.

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Pilot Group

BETTY MWEMA

First name: Betty
Last name: Mwema
Year of birth: 1993
Place of birth: Kenya
Type of degree, university: MA. Design for Change, University of Edinburgh
Discipline: Design
Current professional status: Service Designer
Awards: Afrika Kommt 8 Fellow

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: I find my purpose in discovering, understanding, and telling the stories of human behaviour and their social experiences through user research and design processes. A job in service design allows me to work with a wide range of social, technical, and environmental systems to build unified services that are relevant to the requirements of today's world and people.

Personal vision of the Hub: The Design Networking Hub is a necessary platform to bring collaboration opportunities for designers from Kenya and Germany. Wicked problems such as access to affordable housing and others that the hub wants to address cannot be remedied in their entirety. I am eager to experience the hub's support and guidance to designers in the programme tasked with resolving these problems creatively and collaboratively.

As part of the Design Networking Hub, I am particularly looking forward to...: bringing a critical, curious, and system design perspective to the hub's projects on mobility and housing – some of the socio-technical issues that the world faces today. These include scoping a research process, formulating research plans, overseeing fieldwork and desk research, and analysing, synthesising, and interpreting findings for final design projects.
GEORGE WEKESA

First name: George
Last name: Wekesa
Year of birth: 1991
Place of birth: Kitale, Kenya
Type of degree, university: B. Arch. (Hons), B. A. S. (Hons) - University of Nairobi
Discipline: Architecture
Current professional status: Architect and Mass Timber Lead at BuildX Studio
Awards: IE Spaces for Innovation Prize, Konza City Innovation Prize

Personal motivation for choosing a career as an architect: Architecture presents an avenue that horns problem solving skills in a multidisciplinary approach which can be applicable in other fields of design. It is also exciting as each project presents a new set of challenges and opportunities which makes it less routine.

Personal vision of the Hub: Learn, network, advocate, innovate and create

The idea of a Design Networking Hub excites me because...: it offers exciting new connections with professions in the design field enabling a diverse outlook at issues to do with mobility, innovation and housing.
HANNAH WEIRICH
www.hannahweirich.com

First name: Hannah
Last name: Weirich
Year of birth: 1997
Place of birth: Darmstadt, Germany
Type of degree, university: HfG Offenbach
Discipline: Product Design
Current professional status: student
Awards: Hessian State Award of Universal Design (2018), Awareness Award HfG Offenbach (2019)

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: The profession of designer has always appealed to me. It combines creativity with technology. It is diverse and requires constant development of new skills. As a designer, you have the opportunity to deal with current socially relevant issues and actively look for solutions.

Personal vision of the Hub: From the Design Networking Hub, I especially hope for international exchange. I would like to get to know different perspectives on design and am looking forward to the discussion between the different disciplines. I'm excited about making new contacts and working in groups on interesting topics. The talks that have already taken place have been very inspiring and make me look forward to the upcoming projects and the trip to Nairobi.

As part of the Design Networking Hub, I am particularly looking forward to...: all the enriching conversations with people from different backgrounds, different cultures and different mindsets.
JULITA BHAGAT AFANDE
www.simplyhuli.design

First name: Julita Bhagat
Last name: Afande
Year of birth: 1987
Place of birth: Kenya
Type of degree, university: Fellowship, Nairobi Design Institute
Discipline: Impact design & Design leadership
Current professional status: Consultant & Employment
Awards: British Council New Arts New Audiences Grant

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: I’d like to see a future where quality of life is not compromised by the services and products brought into existence.

The idea of a Design Networking Hub excites me because...: it is an opportunity to explore similarities and differences between two distinct cultures and histories; and use the output to create something new.
MADITA MORGENSTERN-ANTAO
www.madita.design

First name: Madita
Last name: Morgenstern-Antao
Year of birth: 1991
Place of birth: Offenbach am Main, Germany
Type of degree, university: Diploma, HfG Offenbach, University of Art and Design
Discipline: Product Design
Current professional status: Entrepreneur

Personal vision of the Hub: Co-creating impact driven solutions, with a human centred approach in cross-cultural, strong teams.

As part of the Design Networking Hub, I am particularly looking forward to...: the opportunity of working on innovative and future leading projects with a team of international design professionals form diverse backgrounds.
MARVIN KASPER www.marvinkasper.de Marvin on Behance Marvin on Instagram

First name: Marvin
Last name: Kasper
Year of birth: 1992
Place of birth: Kassel, Germany
Type of degree, university: Bachelor of Arts, Hochschule Hannover, University of applied sciences and arts
Discipline: Industrial Design
Current professional status: Industrial Designer at MAY Design and Master Student at Bauhaus University Weimar
Awards: Interior Design Best of Year Award 2020 – Winner, European Product Design Award 2021 – Winner, German Design Award Newcomer – Nominee 2022

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: Coming from a background of craftsmanship I discovered my interest in design processes quite early. I saw myself drawn to experiment with new ideas and approaches and decided to study product design to support this passion. I draw great inspiration from traditional uses of materials and methods and feel eager to combine these with modern problem solving to create new and meaningful products.

Personal vision of the Hub: I see the hub as a great possibility for intercultural exchange and a motivating place to get in touch and discuss strategies to solve the problems we are facing in the modern times. The hub is an informative and practical oriented platform, where new projects find the space to develop and grow. Especially the interpersonal connection makes this project so valuable for the advancement of new ideas and exchange of views to further support new ways of thinking.

The idea of a Design Networking Hub excites me because...: I am eager to learn more about Kenyan culture and design approaches. As a trained craftsmen I value learning about different manufacturing processes and would love to exchange my knowledge with other designers to equally promote our growth in our design development. I believe that different perspectives are incredibly important to shape a draft into a thought through project.
PHILIP KOHLBECHER
Philip on LinkedIn

First name: Philip
Last name: Kohlbecher
Year of birth: 1997
Place of birth: Munich, Germany
Type of degree, university: Bachelor of Arts – Munich University of Applied Sciences
Discipline: Industrial Design
Current professional status: BA Sociology Study at the University of Vienna – Industrial Design Freelancer
Awards: Green Concept Award 2021 – BSH Design Award 2018 - …

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: I see the work of a designer as extremely versatile and varied. The topics dealt with as well as challenges are constantly changing, which, in my opinion, enables a reflected perspective on many things. This professional confrontation is extremely exciting and can also be combined with real private interests, which makes it even more enjoyable.

Personal vision of the Hub: I hope that the Hub will also provide a rich exchange and many new perspectives on mobility, living and digitalization from the perspective of Kenyan designers and architects.

The idea of a Design Networking Hub excites me because...: it creates a real exchange through close cooperation and thus really enables an understanding of the role of design and architecture in the other country and culture.
STEPHANIE NYAIRO
www.stephanienyairo.com

First name: Stephanie
Last name: Nyairo
Year of birth: 1993
Place of birth: Kenya
Type of degree, university: Bachelor Fine Arts
Discipline: Graphic Design
Current professional status: Employed

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: My passion for visual design and it’s ability to transform experiences, change perspectives, and ease points of friction is what drove me to pursue design as a career. Lines, shapes, form, colour, texture and space are used the world over to communicate different ideas, emotions and feelings. This universal understanding of the elements of design, something that became apparent to me after moving across the world as a teen, drove me to pursue a creative career where I can create products and experiences that resonate with users of different backgrounds and abilities.

Personal vision of the Hub: The hub offers a great opportunity for learning, collaboration and cultural exchange. I’m excited to create and develop ideas and solutions that will have positive impact on communities both in Kenya and Germany. As well I’m pleased to be a part of a group that emphasises continued learning both in our respective fields and in the different fields where our creative engagement can make a difference.

As part of the Design Networking Hub, I am particularly looking forward to...: engaging, learning creating, and developing ideas with designers from different disciplines.
TIMM DONKE www.timmdonke.net www.bricknic.org

First name Timm
Last name: Donke
Year of birth: 1991
Place of birth: Munich, Germany
Type of degree, university: Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude at Design Academy Eindhoven
Discipline: Conceptual Design
Current professional status: Designer, Co-Founder and CEO of Bricknic B.V.
Awards: Red Dot Design Award 2021, Ein&zwanzig Newcomer Design Award 2018

Personal motivation for choosing a career as a designer: With my work I develop proposals to open up worlds of unexpected solutions. ‘Designing - from a dream to reality.

Personal vision of the Hub: For me the Design Networking Hub is a great initiative to connect to creatives on a global level.

The idea of a Design Networking Hub excites me because...: it has the opportunity to build bridges and spark interaction between different minds, locations, visions and ideas.
WILLIAM OTUKE
www.wmoworkshop.com

First name: William
Last name: Otuke
Year of birth: 1991
Place of birth: Nairobi, Kenya
Type of degree, university: Master’s in architecture (Glasgow School of Art), BA in Architecture (University of Kent)
Current professional status: Architectural Designer

Personal motivation for choosing a career as an architectural designer: My personal motivation for choosing a career in architecture was based on the notion that future generations within a particular society would have an improved way of living as a result of the design projects that I will be a part of facilitating.

Personal vision of the Hub: My personal vision for the hub will be to identify a design problem & try to come up with a Specific solution that would not only identify Kenya as a rich design hub, but also culminate in improved convenience for the wider public.

As part of the Design Networking Hub, I am particularly looking forward to...: learning and collaborating with all the talented designers we are working together with as well as broadening my understanding of the German culture.

Background

Perfect cooperation partners

Germany and Kenya have traditionally maintained close and mutually beneficial relations. Kenya is not only Germany's most important trading partner in East Africa, but has also developed into the region's strongest economic power since the turn of the millennium. Infrastructure and the middle class are undergoing massive growth, and the political system is largely stable, making Kenya an important security factor in East Africa. The country, in which about three quarters of the population is younger than 30, also has a diverse creative scene where world trends and regional and local developments often merge into something new. It is not without reason that Kenya, also known as "Silicon Savannah", is home to Africa's most modern start-ups.

Germany, in turn, is very well embedded in the global economy and, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2018, is a global innovation beacon with a high volume of investment. A strong entrepreneurial culture, interaction and diversity help to distinguish Germany as a "super innovator" from other innovation centres. Thus, Germany is developing into a hub for the creative scene of the 21st century.

Design Networking Hub to help getting started

When starting out in professional life, economic and specific know-how is fundamental, especially for young designers and architects. Many are also interested in adequate financing models and appreciate good, versatile networks - not only nationally, but above all internationally.

Cultural and creative projects connect people worldwide and create new social and economic perspectives. Their innovative strength penetrates other sectors of the economy and they are often pioneers for the working world of tomorrow.

It is precisely in the two-way development of international creative minds, in which each individual has different strengths, expertise and experience, and can contribute these to joint projects, that great innovative potential lies.

In order to make it easier for young designers / architects to initiate international cooperation projects for the German and Kenyan market and to start their professional life / self-employment, the Design Networking Hub supports them with professional advice, specialist knowledge / additional qualifications (covering entrepreneurial, creative and technical skills) and access to new markets, networks and financing models.