Abessinia Design Workshop in Addis Ababa, Summer 2006

By Lidwina Dox

After Ami Zarchi and I had decided that we really wanted to give our dream a serious try and start that collaboration, I flew back to Ethiopia to organize the design workshop at the Productivity Improvement Center in Addis Ababa. This training center – which is surrounded by wild gardens, high trees and friendly people – was just the right place to get creative work done. All the selected designers, manuscript writers, traditional icon painter and artist from various parts of the country had come to meet at that magnificent place and work together for 12 days. Some of the artists had brought drums, guitars and we also organized a volleyball and music – to make our days enjoyable in every sense.

We arranged all we needed: brushes, huge pots of various types of colors, all kind of papers etc. as well as all interesting tools that were requested by each individual participant. Immediately our studio was filled with all sorts of artistic ingredients before we had started. We had fun from the very first moment. Since most of them had never done textile design in their life before we started the whole session with some introductions on the most important information on textile design – and then off we took. While Bob Dylan or one of the boys drum session would make us swing while we worked the most incredible artworks developed. Not designs in the common way were the result, no - influenced by the background of each individual “designer” all sorts of unexpected compositions appeared on the paper. So it naturally happened that designers admired the artwork of the icon painters, artists the one of the manuscript writers etc. and that all sorts of interesting discussions about arts, design work, philosophy would develop…

In those 12 days, we took off only one afternoon. "The Gang" - that's how I like to call them now - brought me to a traditional honey wine place – and it was indeed time for a break – and it was a very enjoyable break. – And still days went by much too fast for me and I had the feeling that it was very hard for most of us to get back to “normal” life after that enjoyable productive time. At the plane on my way back to Thailand, I knew already that our wonderful but still unconventional designs would be challenging us in the next weeks and months in Bangkok…..

Verena, a friend of mine came to join us in Addis Abeba and she shot a documentary about those 12 days. (Check it out here at the blog, or click here to watch it at Google Video)