Each year, the Emerging Creatives programme invites designers to apply for a spot on the Expo floor, alongside some of the biggest names in South African design. Applications are open to students in a creative faculty at a tertiary institution in South Africa and young designers in the process of establishing a design service or business. It is one of the many ways that Design Indaba is committed to nurturing and promoting the creative talent of young South Africans.

Adams & Adams, the largest intellectual property firm in Africa and the southern hemisphere is the official attorneys to and an associate sponsor of the Design Indaba. “Design Indaba has an incredible reputation among the design fraternity in South Africa both in South Africa and worldwide, it is of great importance for an IP law firm such as Adams to be involved in the protection of creativity, ranging from brands to music to advertising concepts to design to be present at such a prominent forum,” says Mariette du Plessis, a senior partner at Adams & Adams.

Du Plessis has strong feelings about the importance of creatives and their right to protect their designs and their financial potential “If you consider the creative effort that goes into a new design, it is important to make every effort to protect it.”

“Often in the all-consuming process of crafting an ingenious work, the financial or business aspect may be the furthest thing from a creative’s mind. And it should be intrinsic to the process – without sacrificing creative integrity. It should help to build security, and financial stability to continue with their inspired work,” says du Plessis.

“We see the Indaba as an opportunity to educate young creatives about related areas, such as the commercial agreements with the licensing of their creations, understanding that royalties can create a revenue stream, protecting their brands and offering a holistic platform for them to learn about the business aspects. Our hope is to empower young creatives in order for them to avoid the pitfalls of the business world.

“New aesthetic designs can be protected and registered,” says du Plessis, “which means the creations of the three Emerging Creatives nominees from morphosis design studio, whose beautifully crafted furniture, landscape architecture, as well as graphic design contain elements which may be registered as designs and trade marks or could enjoy copyright protection.”

Werner Venter, Warno Rude and Walter Language created the morphosis design studio just a year ago.

“It’s such a great honour to be selected. We see this as a step to greater opportunities and exposure to numerous clients. The Design Indaba gives us, as emerging creatives, the design platform and opportunity to showcase our work on an international stage and a base for expression of creativity,” says Venter.

“morphosis is a partnership between long-time friends and our love for furniture and landscape design. We are a multidisciplinary design company focusing on South African inspired design,” says Venter.

“And we’re striving to become the most sought after niche design company in the country. We specialise in the custom design and manufacture of high quality, beautifully crafted pieces of furniture, landscape architecture and graphic design.

“Our objective when creating or designing is to seek out innovative concepts, examining the symbiotic relationship between materials and combining then into a design that is unique, robust and timeless,” says Venter.

At the moment the threesome is establishing a relationship with a manufacturer and hope that this will be the first step into achieving or goal of being profitable creative endeavour.

“We’re well aware of the importance of protecting our work,” says Venter.
“And this constitutes a fundamental part of our business plan.”

“The team of Werner, Warno and Walter are producing striking work which is of international standards. It is important for them to protect their creative work as they grow their profile and step out into the global design arena,” says du Plessis.

Adams & Adams are also the official attorneys to, and sponsors of the young creatives category of the annual Loerie Awards and are passionate about advising creatives. They are also a partner of the magazine industry’s prestigious PICA Awards for excellence in magazine publishing.