{"id":111806,"date":"2017-10-10T09:38:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T07:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/?p=111806"},"modified":"2023-05-29T12:51:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T10:51:34","slug":"ceu-free-design-bank-social-design-platform-returns-to-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/en\/ceu-free-design-bank-social-design-platform-returns-to-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"CEU Free Design Bank social design platform returns to Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of professors and students have collaborated in the construction and equipment of a handicraft atelier for women in need of the “Jimudu Women Group” in the Lamu district in Kenya<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor of Design at CEU UCH<\/a> Manuel Ba\u00f1\u00f3<\/a> and former students Carmen Guijarro and Nacho Errando, along with historian Amparo Balbastre, have been supported by several groups of students and volunteer designers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The company where the designer Carmen Guijarro works subsidized the project presented in association with Free Design Bank<\/a> and Afrikable<\/a>, under the title “Cooperation through the design for the consolidation, training, technical and economic development of Afrikable NGDO artisan groups in the district of Lamu (Kenya)”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Presentaci\u00f3n
Presentaci\u00f3n de los nuevos dise\u00f1os de Free Design Bank, en el nuevo taller de producci\u00f3n para Jimudu Women Group en Lamu (Kenia).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since last summer, the\u00a0“Jimudu Women Group”<\/strong>\u00a0in Kenya – which in Swahili means “a group of women who value themselves” – and other Afrikable NGDO<\/strong><\/a> groups have a new manufacturing place, equipped with nine industrial sewing machines and an extensive collection of new designs to produce. The Free Design Bank<\/strong><\/a> project, led by CEU UCH Design<\/strong><\/a> Professor Manuel Ba\u00f1\u00f3<\/strong><\/a>, has contributed to the achievement of this new objective for this group of Kenyan artisans, with whom they have collaborated since 2012: a new production building equipped in Lamu<\/strong>, new sewing and design classes for training and a new collection of designs carried out by students and professionals<\/strong> so that, with their resources and the materials at their disposal, they can make a living with the benefits of their sale.<\/p>\n

The volunteer designers, design students of CEU UCH<\/a> and other schools<\/strong> that collaborate with the project, have worked under the direction of Manuel Ba\u00f1\u00f3<\/strong> dividing themselves into three teams, who have prepared design proposals<\/strong> from recycled plastic bottles that consumed in Lamu; exclusive sandal designs for the Massai women’s group; and proposals of different objects<\/strong> using Kanga cloth – worn by Swahili women as skirts, handkerchiefs or to carry the babies to the back – and Kikoy cotton fabric in smooth colours or multicolored stripes, used in the traditional dress of Swahili men.<\/p>\n

In this mission to Kenya for the launching of the new Free Design Bank<\/strong><\/a> design workshop, Professor Ba\u00f1\u00f3 has been accompanied by the industrial designer (trained at CEU Valencia) Carmen Guijarro<\/strong>, responsible for project management, and Amparo Balbastre, coordinator of the work of volunteers, patterns and sewing. The heads of the NGO Afrikable Merche Cascajero and Lola Serra have directed and supervised the construction and equipment of the workshop. And\u00a0former CEU student of Audiovisual Communication<\/a>\u00a0Nacho Errando<\/strong> has been in charge of the photographic documentation and the recording of a video about the project.<\/p>\n