Sappi Limited Editorial Designing a Brave New World

Sappi Announces Sponsorship for Design Indaba When the average person thinks of design, they usually think of graphic design and, in particular, of the graphic design used in advertising. The truth is that every aspect of our lives begins with design - from the magazines we read to the clothes we wear; from the buildings we live in to the kitchen utensils we use to whip up a pasta on a Friday night. In fact, design defines human experience and always has. Think of the Kalaharis ancient rock paintings, of Egypts legendary pyramids and of such contemporary masterpieces as South Africas Constitutional Court precinct. It is with this in mind that global paper producer, Sappi, has extended its current sponsorship of the countrys leading design showcase, Design Indaba. The group has been one of the official sponsors of the event since 1997 and has watched it grow from small beginnings to become one of the foremost design conferences in the world today. Design Indaba is now an essential on the calendar for representatives from some of the worlds leading advertising agencies, design companies and businesses. They attend not only to be part of the Indabas cutting-edge interactive workshops and to see its impeccably-curated Expo, but also to keep tabs on developing socio-economic trends. Sappi is about communicating ideas, says Simon Grose of Sappi Fine Paper Marketing, about taking a concept and turning it into reality. Everything we use and see in the world around us has been designed and, moreover, every great idea begins on paper. As importantly, the worlds leading brands rely on printed communications as a fundamental component of their marketing mix, an essential tool of brand building and promotion. Design Indaba was named the best design conference in the world at the European EIBTM Trade Show in October last year and, as such, is a forum for some of the foremost contemporary thinking in both design and business.

Sappi Fine Paper Designing a Brave New World

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The question being asked at this years Indaba is whether design is the new economy, says Grose, and we at Sappi feel this is a very important question to ask. Ravi Naidoo, Design Indabas host, says it has been estimated that the average person interacts with 150 items of design before breakfast. Design, he says, touches every aspect of our lives and, as such, is one of the most important business disciplines today. Designers re-invent the world and, in a very real sense, are designing a brave new world for the 21st century. There can be no question that design is a profound economic force, continues Grose, and Sappis vision is to partner with clients and end users to realise design through the use of paper. This vision extends to many other corporate social investment and industry projects. For example, it was Sappi that established the prestigious international Ideas That Matter and Printers of the Year competitions. The group is also the design sponsor of the Loeries and the primary sponsor of The South African Graphic Design Council. Ideas That Matter is an annual competition programme that invites designers and design companies from all over the world to apply for sponsorship in order to develop an integrated communications campaign for a charity or NGO of their choice. It has become recognised as a forum for some of the worlds most imaginative concepts, as sponsorship recipients are given full creative control. Printers of the Year, on the other hand, recognises international printing excellence in nine categories, while think is the only organisation in South Africa to service the needs of the countrys design professionals. We are proud to be an integral part of these initiatives and, in particular, of the phenomenon that Design Indaba has become, concludes Grose. It is through these partnerships and by means of outstanding product quality that we are able to make a significant contribution to the success of contemporary design in the global economy.

For more information about Sappi, Ideas That Matter and Printers of the Year, visit www.sappi.com.

Sappi Fine Paper Designing a Brave New World

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