The Chair’s Expression
W elcome to the Design Kenya Society (DKS) family.
Design is a diverse practice of planning and creating things that encompasses creation of products, services, interactions, visual environments, infrastructure and technology among others. Globally, design is shaping and affecting lives based on how it is appreciated and consumed. At Design Kenya Society we promote best practices in the design profession by strengthening and promoting the potential of Kenyan design professionals so we can develop a unified voice to influence public policy and develop the design industry.
DKS is an all-inclusive registered association that brings together a network of multi-disciplinary designers drawn from; Interior Design, Graphics, Fashion, Industrial/ Product, Illustration design and Photography to promote the best design practices, nature design leaders, expand opportunities and raise professional standards of designers in Kenya. Design students also form part of the association through their Design Student chapters drawn from design institutions that form part of the association.
The year 2020 is a vital year for DKS as we will turn 10 in September. We will celebrate this milestone and our key achievements and activities with as mix of activities which the association has planned for its members and which will be climaxed during the NIDEC 2020 conference.
We have hosted The Nairobi International Design Conference NIDEC in 2011 and 2017 which drew participants locally and internationally. Once again, DKS will be hosting the Nairobi International Design Conference (NIDEC) 2020 which will be held from 25th to 28th September 2020 under the theme "Design Zeitgeist Africa"- (DZA) to address and forecast the Afrikan Design for the decade and beyond.
Design Kenya Society continues to network with other like-minded societies and associations locally, regionally and internationally to raise professional standards and expanding opportunities across the professional networks. DKS is a founder member of Network of Africa Designers (NAD); a founder member of Afrika Design Forum. Some of the association’s members have participated in various forums across Africa including; South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana, Ethiopia etc., representing DKS and propagating the Kenya Design Agenda. We are also engaging in critical and useful conversatons around the current Kenyan government’s blue print of the ‘BIG 4 AGENDA”, through workshops, seminars and conferences as well as contributing to the first draft Design Bill (2013).
I invite you to read more about the DKS 2020 roadmap as I take this precious opportunity to ask those designers who haven’t registered as members to do so by on our online portal and paying the requisite fees.
Let us all build the design voice, let us all build the design industry in Kenya by joining Design Kenya Society as members. Lets fuel ourselves as a vehement team in 2020 so that we can all achieve uncommon results.
For more information, kindly contact the DKS secretariat at info@designkenyasociety.co.ke
Yes, together we can.
Malaki Samson
Chairperson, Design Kenya Society
Museum Design Consultant & Principal Designer - National Museums of Kenya