MAKE IT! Creative Dialogues
Tue Nov 25, 09:30 - Thu Nov 27, 18:30
Victoria Yards
ABOUT
MAKE IT! offers a dynamic and engaging format, designed to maximise interaction and knowledge sharing.
This first-of-its-kind conference is a regional platform celebrating and advancing Africa’s creative, design and innovation sectors, empowering young creatives, makers, entrepreneurs, and cultural practitioners with ideas, inspiration, knowledge and networks to build sustainable businesses.
The dynamic and engaging format of MAKE IT! is designed to create opportunities to meet and share, learn and discover and network and collaborate. Inspiring plenary sessions featuring industry leaders, innovators and trail blazers hold the space for challenging discussions and new thinking. Makers who are Making IT! share their lessons and ‘aha’ moments.
Smaller, interactive and demo sessions – Make Shops! – give you hands on experiences of new processes, new tech, a new creative process and what it takes to make it!
All providing a chance to meet-up, chat, think, reflect, learn, and get out of your comfort zone.
THE PROGRAMME
DAY ONE
TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY take centre stage in the conversations on Day One. Are you tuned into the latest trends shaping consumer choices? What are customers looking for? Will you be a follower or leader? What tech is game-changing for creation and production and how can you leverage it to power the growth of your business. Listen to innovators and trailblazers and learn from their success.
DAY TWO
BUILDING BRANDS is all about how to stand out from the crowd and hook your customers, routes to markets (go global or stick with local?), what’s new in the world of sustainable and innovative materials? How can my design business lead the way to a truly circular economy? Big questions that all have answers – in some way or another. Come do Day Two with curiosity and an enquiring mind.
DAY THREE
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS helps you think about interesting business models, developing your professional expertise, protecting your designs, your relationship with money. All the things we don’t want to deal with – but really, we need to! It’s time to love yourself first, future-proof your business, and rewrite your money story for good. Don’t just survive—build lasting, unstoppable success. We promise to make it interesting and engaging.
THE MAKE SHOPS
It’s about time to make to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty and pick up a new skill, process or technology.
In the MAKE IT! Make Shops, you don’t just listen and watch; you participate, learn, and exchange knowledge in real time. These interactive spaces invite you to talk openly about your craft, explore fresh techniques, and deepen your understanding alongside fellow creatives.
Whether you’re a seasoned artisan or a curious beginner, Make Shops are your opportunity to experiment and connect, learn more about yourself and others in a lively, supportive environment.
It’s making as a conversation, making as community, and making that inspires new directions for all.
WHO SHOULD BE THERE
If you are a designer, a maker, an innovator and inventor, a dreamer, an educator and influencer, an artist or activist, an entrepreneur, marketer, story-teller or even just a lover of South African design and creativity … you need to be there!
MAKE IT! is for creative individuals (that’s all of us by the way) who are inspired to make an impact on our world. Whether it's making it more beautiful, more fun, more functional, more liveable, and more sustainable.
Buy your ticket and be in the company of movers and makers from Jozi and beyond who are seeking new ideas, new contacts, new techniques, and new technologies to MAKE IT! Just do it!
THE VENUE
Victoria Yards is a lively inner-city jewel of creativity nestling in lush and beautiful food gardens (supporting neighbouring community feeding schemes) that fosters connection and collaboration, creating a unique urban complex that supports both social development and business growth for many creative businesses.
The conference venue is rated among the top 10 event venues in Johannesburg with ample parking for up to one thousand guests. City of Johannesburg approvals ensure that events adhere to all regulations, making them stress-free and enjoyable.
Victoria Yards is a match made in heaven for the CDI and MAKE IT! as there is perfect synergy with our vision and dreams.
ABOUT THE CRAFT + DESIGN INSTITUTE
The Craft + Design Institute (CDI) is a non-profit company with over 25 years of success in developing creative people, small businesses and the creative economy in South Africa.
We are a catalytic agent of change, and passionate about developing appropriately skilled, resourced and digitally proficient practitioners who can successfully leverage opportunities for growth and development.
The CDI supports over 7,800 members across South Africa, with over R490 million in direct funding offered to date to support creative sector development.
SPONSORS
MAKE IT! is proudly sponsored by the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&R SETA) and Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG).
BECOME A SPONSOR NOW and MAKE IT! Will put you directly in touch with the future - an energetic and influential audience in South Africa.