An African Perspective on Socially Conscious Design

Research profile seminar

A seminar with Mugendi K. M'Rithaa, industrial designer, educator and researcher at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa.

Mugendi K. M'Rithaa is a transdisciplinary industrial designer, educator and researcher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He studied in Kenya, the USA, India and South Africa and holds post graduate qualifications in Industrial Design, Higher Education, and Universal Design. He has taught in Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Sweden and is passionate about various expressions of socially conscious design, including designerly strategies for mitigating climate change; Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability, Distributed Renewable Energy, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Participatory Design and Universal Design. Mugendi has a special interest in the pivotal role of design thinking in advancing the developmental agenda on the African continent.

Dr. M'Rithaa has been Member of Global Advisory Board at Continuum LLC since February 16, 2017. He was the first President of the World Design Organization (WDO) (previously the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design ICSID), and is now President Emeritus and Convenor of the Senate of the WDO. He is founder of the Design Research Activities Workgroup (DRAW) and a founding member of the Network of African Designers (NAD) and Design with Africa (DWA); as well as a founding member of the Africa-Brazil Dialogue initiative. He is the institutional research leader for Design for Sustainability and special advisor to The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town. Much of his work with the WDO focuses on the importance of supporting the aspirations of young designers worldwide in the profession¿s collective quest to resolve wicked problems in diverse contexts.