High-tech handicraft: African torch lights up biennale

The exhibition includes products that were featured at Maker Faire Africa, held in Nairobi, and includes Kiblight by Elizabeth Otieno and Judy Wandia, a compact LED torch with batteries that last up to five years. The torch offers an alternative to lighting powered by unreliable electrical grids.

‘The designers use the language of handicraft but with modern technology such as LED,’ curator Joseph Grima tells LS:N Global.

Also being presented is a bicycle maize holder by collective GCS; designed to be attached to any model of bicycle, it can hold up to up 15 sacks of corn weighing 90kg each.

‘Africa is a continent which has the potential to be a great innovator and to leapfrog the Western world to a new era of production and design,’ adds Grima.

For more examples of the merging of craft with technology in emerging markets see our E-source innovate and our NEA macro trend.