Cape Town is Design Capital of the World in 2014, and this year’s Design Indaba Expo will be a showcase of relevance reflecting this achievement and the amazing creative talents of South Africans. It will be the largest show since the event was established eight years ago – in other words, don’t miss it!

Here are our Top 5 Reasons we think you should go to Design Indaba:

If you’re interested in aesthetics – the way things look – and admire innovation, there’s nowhere that will stimulate your own creativity more than the Design Indaba Expo.  The exhibition is bespoke and curated, meaning you have to be accepted by a panel of industry experts, rather than just pay to exhibit. This raises the bar to an exceptional standard and makes it all about creative distinction.

 It’s 100% South African and for that – deserves your support. Every creative idea has been a labour of love and this weekend celebrates all that is best and good and original about South African design across all disciplines; advertising, architecture, craft, décor, fashion, graphic design, interior design, jewellery, digital media, publishing, product design, visual media and more.

Design Indaba is the place where local and international buyers source the latest top products and you get to see and often buy these beautiful items before they hit the stores.  An astonishing R180.9 million of business is conducted on the expo floor. That’s really great news for SA design.

There are other things to do too: Food and drinks stalls will be available, as well as all-day fashion shows presenting Winter/Autumn 2013 collections of 20 emerging and established fashion designers, all under the umbrella of Cape Town Fashion Council. Evening musical and comedy performances as well as creative workshops for children and teens will be presented in the Youth Zone.

Last year over 40,000 visitors came to see 367 exhibitors, with 416 buyers (156 international) visiting the expo for the main purpose of sourcing new talent and products. This year’s expo space has been extended by 1000 sq metres, with a whopping 110 brand new exhibitors and a feature exhibit curated by international trend forecaster Li Edelkoort - Totemism: Memphis Meets Africa, sponsored by Woolworths. Her concept is based on the trend of stacking and layering colours, patterns and materials to achieve a bold totemic quality reminiscent of the Memphis Design movement of the 1980s.

Venue: CTICC and tickets at the door or from Computicket, Adults: R70, Pensioners & Students: R50 (at the door only), Children (10 to 18 years old): R40 (at the door only), Under 10: free.

See our blog post on Fri 8 March for the2013 Trend Forecast and look out for our impressions on this year’s Design Indaba Expo on our Monday 4 March post. We’d love to hear what your thoughts are of  Design Indaba 2013 – leave your comment below!