Cape Town parties, gets down to finding sponsors

However, now the city must get down to business, for as the World Design Capital for 2014, Cape Town will now be required to pay a licensing fee of 160 000 Euros to ICSID (the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design) over two years, for the use of the title.

Private sector sponsorship will be sought to promote the title and the city's yearlong programme of events.

"Celebrating design"

Guy Lundy, CEO of Accelerate Cape Town and bid committee member said, "To be economically competitive Cape Town must promote its people assets, ideas, skills and solutions for a more liveable city, to the world - against a backdrop of great natural beauty. We anticipate strong private sector interest in partnering with the project in the form of sponsorships. The title offers a full year of exposure in 2014, plus two years of pre-publicity in the run-up to the designated year. This makes it a very attractive opportunity for brands wanting to align themselves with design and creativity."

Photo by: Bruce Sutherland

In Cape Town, acting executive mayor Ian Neilson in announcing the news at a council meeting, said, "This is great news for our city and especially for our design community whose work earned us the title. We are celebrating design in its broadest sense from construction, engineering and process solutions for human needs to that which is visually and functionally useful and beautiful. In 2014, we will be celebrating 20 years of democracy and now, through a full year of design-led events, we will be celebrating the role that design has played in taking a divided city and transforming it into a more integrated one. Design holds the key to addressing the issues of growing urbanisation. Design will help us to make a great city event greater."

Extracts from the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 Bid Book are available on www.capetown2014.co.za