The Better Living Challenge, managed by Cape Craft Design Institute, is a 3-year project borne from the Western Cape Government’s 110% Green initiative, and is recognised as an official project of the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 (WDC2014) programme. More specifically, the project speaks to one of the WDC core focus areas, i.e. social benefit and upliftment of low-income communities.
Recently, Minister Madikizela was a guest speaker at the Better Living Challenge Interactive Exhibition where manufacturers, designers, inventors and entrepreneurs exhibited design solutions for the low income housing sector.
Products on show were greening solutions such as prickly pear bricks manufactured primarily from prickly pear leaves, recycled paper and sand, with only a chemical varnish acting as a binding agent.
The concept of Prickly Pear Bricks is the brainchild of Vusumzi Makhatshana of Khayelitsha who said, “The idea came to me one day when I was sitting at my mother’s house in the Eastern Cape where the fruit grows wildly. After struggling to find work as a carpenter, I thought I should use my woodwork skills and experience and come up with a brick that would be cheap, but sustainable.”
The Better Living Challenge exhibition, located on the Cape Town Central Station Forecourt, ran from Tuesday, 28 October to Saturday 08 November.
More information on the event can be found on http://betterlivingchallenge.co.za/.