Hosted by Jackie May, editor-in-chief and founder of South African media platform Twyg and the founder of the Africa Textile Talks, Visions and Voices: Fashion’s New Narratives brought together designers Wanda Lephoto, founder of his eponymous fashion label, Shelley Mokoena of Connade, and Mikael Hanan, founder and creative director of contemporary menswear brand, Fields. They discuss with candour and insight what it means to create and sustain a business in the South African fashion landscape, navigating local and global audiences and contexts, the power of collaboration, storytelling, documenting and archiving, and much more. ​​​​

This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Here cafe in Johannesburg in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed.

Design Democracy: The Case for Access to Good Design brought together UNESCO chair in cultural entrepreneurship and policy Avril Joffe, chairperson of The Craft and Design Institute and cultural icon Shado Twala, and design director Joey Khuvutlu, founder of Johannesburg-based furniture and homeware brand Daily. What follows is an engaging, lively conversation about ‘good design’ beyond aesthetic trends and price points, how thoughtful design can improve daily life, enhance dignity and strengthen communities; craft development and accessible furniture design; the case for supporting local artisans and manufacturers; and how the design industries can serve communities.

In this Morning Session, Unsettling Design Through Southern African Narratives, spatial practitioner and researcher thuto vilakazi speaks with architect and lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, Bonolo Masango, and landscape architect Ruth Manda of Rural Futurisms, a multidisciplinary collective reimagining futures of rurality through Southern perspectives. Their thought-provoking conversation explores what it means to 'unsettle design' by centring African lived experiences, challenging the myth of the master architect and reimagining who architecture is truly for. ​​​​

This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Here cafe in Johannesburg in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed.

In International Dialogues: South African Design in Global Conversation, Design Week's Design Axis member Zanele Kumalo, co-founder of art gallery Kumalo | Turpin, sat down with design thought-leader Bielle Bellingham, then brand and business director of Chommies and now studio director at Studio Ashby, and multi-disciplinary artist and Africa International Design Awards juror Renée Rossouw. They discuss the realities of building a design practice in South Africa, from structural challenges to navigating a global market, and what it takes to grow, sustain, and globalise South African design. This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed ​​​​

This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Here cafe in Johannesburg in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed.

In The Editor’s Outlook: Framing Contemporary Design, Design Week co-organiser and former co-editor-in-chief of Design Anthology, Simone Schultz, sits down with Yoko Choy, China editor at Wallpaper* magazine, and Phindile Khoza, 54 Magazine’s Head of Business. Their conversation explores what it means to tell authentic, contemporary stories from underrepresented geographies, the power and responsibility of design media, building and nurturing ecosystems across print, digital and experiential, and democratising access to stories that deserve a global audience. This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed ​​​​

This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Here cafe in Johannesburg in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed.

In Community by Design: Building Creative Ecosystems, Design Week South Africa founder Margot Molyneux is joined by Max Melvill, co-founder of Cape Town-based social impact architecture practice The MAAK, and Star Shongwe, marketing manager of the V&A Waterfront. What follows is a sincere and honest conversation about what it means to put community at the centre of your practice, the unexpected outcomes of service-driven work, the gaps that still exist for the next generation of makers, and how platforms and ecosystems can respond meaningfully to the complexities of South African communities. This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed. This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Max Bagels at One Park in Cape Town in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed ​​​​

This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live at Here cafe in Johannesburg in October 2025, with support from the V&A Watershed.

In Reimagining Public Space for Contemporary Cities, City of Cape Town senior policy analyst John Edwards speaks with landscape architect and urban designer Amy Thompson of Yes & Studio and architect Malika Walele from dhk Architects. In a frank and illuminating conversation, they discuss ownership of public space in South African cities, who shapes it, who feels welcome in it and whose needs drive design decisions. They interrogate design and architecture as an inherently political act, and consider long-term infrastructure, funding realities and the nature of the contemporary South African city.

Design Week South Africa's Simone Schultz meets visionary futurist Monika Bielskyte, founder of Protopia Futures, Nike’s first-ever Futurist in Residence and a partner of African Life-Centric Design, seven principles for regenerative, speculative, and critical design rooted in African knowledge and futures. What follows is a fascinating conversation spanning Protopia Futures, Life-Centric Design, and Embodied Futures: challenging techno-utopian assumptions, reframing innovation beyond Silicon Valley bias, and asking what it really means to design with rather than for.

 This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live during the Craft and Design Institute's Making It! Conference in March 2026, with support from Weylandts.

0Design Week South Africa founder Margot Molyneux explores our 2026 theme , The Shape of Us, with Mpho Vackier, founder of award-winning design studio The Urbanative, and Bielle Bellingham, creative thought-leader and studio director at Studio Ashby in Cape Town. Together, they unpack what it means to define a collective design identity in a country as diverse and complex as South Africa, discussing the references we draw from, the Western frameworks worth interrogating, and the responsibility designers carry in shaping how we see ourselves — asking, what does our current design output say about the shape of us?

 This episode of Design Week South Africa's Morning Sessions was recorded live during the Craft and Design Institute's Making It! Conference in March 2026, with support from Weylandts.