Take Root was the outcome of a design research project focused on developing a seedling growing system for small-scale urban farmers in Soweto. It was the final project in a BTech Industrial Design by Jomari Budricks in 2014. I was Jomari's main supervisor, with Dr. Naudé Malan from the Department of Development Studies as a co-supervisor. The project formed part of an interdisciplinary student service-learning course offered in 2014 in the Departments of Development Studies and Industrial Design. The course utilised a methodology that integrated participatory social science and human-centered design research methods in order to develop technologies to improve the productivity of marginalized and resource-poor urban farmers. Teams of students worked with farmers on three urban sites, each with their own specific technological needs. Overview: This project focused on the design of seedling growing system for small-scale urban farming. The design and research was based on the problem that ... Read More

This project consisted of the participatory design of an off-grid food storage system for small-scale urban farmers within the Soweto community by Natalia Tofas  for her BTech Industrial Design in 2014. I was the main supervisor for the project together with Dr. Naudé Malan from the Department of Development Studies as co-supervisor. The project formed part of an interdisciplinary student service-learning course offered in 2014 in the Departments of Development Studies and Industrial Design. The course utilised a methodology that integrated participatory social science and human-centered design research methods in order to develop technologies to improve the productivity of marginalized and resource-poor urban farmers. Teams of students worked with farmers on three urban sites, each with their own specific technological needs. Overview: The focus of this project was the design of an off-grid food storage system for small-scale urban farmers in Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa. Central to the study, are ... Read More

This ambitious MTech Industrial Design project by Kyle Brand focused on the design and development of a single household farming kit. The project was supervised by myself with Dr. Naudé Malan, Department of Development Studies, as the co-superviser. The project was inspired by Kyle’s BTech: Industrial Design (Honours) final project, the Seboko tunnel. Overview: One of the greatest social problems we face as society as a whole and South Africa in particular, is food insecurity. Food insecurity manifests itself in many forms and has a dramatic impact on the wellbeing of people. People need food to survive, but often the food systems they rely on are vulnerable to price shocks and changes, which in turn diminishes their resilience. Local food systems are crucial in reducing vulnerability and improving food security. But often the tools used are not appropriate, especially for household farming. In this study design is used to bring about considered ... Read More

Biocharger was the design outcome of a project focused on the design of a safe and efficient biochar production for a small business initiatives in Johannesburg, by Myles Day for a BTech Industrial Design in 2013. The project was supervised by myself and was supported by the Department of Industrial Design, UJ, Siyakhana Initiative for Ecological Health and Food Security and the Gauteng Department of  Agricultural Research and Development (GDARD). Overview: The aim of this research study was to design a safe and efficient biochar production unit to be used by employees of a small business in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study also aimed to design a system of operation for the business which could improve access to biochar for the urban farming community of Johannesburg. The design of the biochar production unit, and the system of operation for the small business, were informed by qualitative data obtained from field research ... Read More

This project aimed to improve gender-inappropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for women in mining as part of a BTech Industrial Design final mini-dissertation project by Monica Monsanto in 2013. I was her supervisor for the project. Overview: The mining industry in South Africa, prior to 2007, can be labelled as a sector dominated by the masculine gender, whereby positions underground were only reserved for male workers, as women were perceived to not have the equal physical capabilities to withstand working in such a labour intensive environment. This clear labour divide between men and women in the mining production sector has been seen to restrict women from contributing to the ‘production sphere’ (Benya 2009:14). However, over time the eventual inclusion of women in the production domain, has allowed women to start out being employed in ‘low-status’ careers undertaking administrative positions as well as unskilled lower ranked activities such as being sweepers, ... Read More

The Seboko low-cost tunnel system for small-scale farmers was the outcome of a participatory design project by Kyle Brand undertaken in his BTech Industrial Design in 2010. I was the supervisor for the project. Overview: Small-scale farmers face many problems in  South Africa and development in this area of  food production is very important to alleviate poverty. This project was approached with no preconceived idea of a specific problem, but rather a method to identify a problem with the assistance of the farmers. The methodology used was participatory action research, and more specifically user-centred design. The location and user group for this project was a farming collective know as Rainbow Nation Farmers. They are a non-profit community-based project in the Nancefield area South of Johannesburg. This collective had 28 committed farmers with 249 household dependants. They use about 6 hectares of land divided among the farmers. The produce is then sold ... Read More