Choices

According to a 2010 Design Council report, just 7 per cent of UK designers are from an ethnic minority background. In order to raise the profile of black and ethnic minority designers, the African & African-Caribbean Design Diaspora was founded last year.

Initially formed as a joint project between the British European Design Group and the London Design Festival, the AACDD made its debut with events last autumn and is returning this month, promising a much larger multi-disciplinary event.

The 2011 AACDD Festival, which runs from 9-25 September, will focus on the Choices show at the Bargehouse, while also featuring events at the Hospital Club, 100% Design and other venues.

Choices is billed as ‘a comprehensive showcase of unique multi-disciplinery black talent’ and will feature work from the UK, Africa, the Caribbean, the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe.

Events will include the Below the Surface initiative, which saw young people from across London given disposable cameras and a huge collage created from the resulting photos.

There will be work on show from photographer Bevan Agyemang, artist Raimi Gbadamosi, interior designer Natasha Graves and others.

AACDD creative director Clemens Hackl says, ‘There is such an incredible array of creative talent within the black community – undiscovered, unpromoted, un-noticed. Let’s see it!’

Choices runs at the Bargehouse, London SE1, from 9-25 September as part of the African & African Caribbean Design Festival 2011.