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CHAPTER 4: DATA COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

4.1 I NTRODUCTION

4.2.1 Past R5K projects

As the R5K project has been this researcher’s project the following projects are intimately known to him. The data text describing each project comes from both the interviews and the design reports written by the students about their projects. The R5K projects selected are included to give context to the project.

Figure 12 - 2010 R5K Project (Image from R5K project archives, with permission)

In 2010, the first year of the R5K project there were four groups

1. Mugo designed, manufactured and sold a double-walled ceramic mug 2. Ghost designed, manufactured and sold an aluminium laptop stand 3. The B-Team designed, manufactured and sold a bamboo wallet 4. Think is described in detail below.

Think decided that they would find a company in Cape Town for which they could design and manufacture a range of furniture (See Figure 12). They found LUM, a boutique furniture store which agreed to stock their products. The group had the parts manufactured locally and assembled them in the CPUT Industrial Design workshop.

In the student interviews, which will be unpacked later in this chapter, Jasper Eales stated that it was the R5K project that gave him the confidence to start his own company upon graduation. Jasper’s company is now one of the leading Industrial Design start-ups in Cape Town. Jasper has a staff of seven and is well on his way to becoming a leading design brand name.

From 2010 - 2013 the Think group made R120 000 profit on the furniture pieces.

Although they didn’t stay together after graduation they did continue producing furniture for a few years and Jasper is planning on reviving one of the pieces and producing it under his name.

Mugo, one of the other 2010 R5K groups has made over R250 000 on one product over the years since R5K began.

In 2011 there were six groups.

1. Left Right Design designed, manufactured and sold a knockdown table set 2. SMAC Harry designed, manufactured and sold an organizational shelf 3. Frag Bag designed, manufactured and sold a gaming bag

4. Five 45 designed, manufactured and sold a multipurpose couch

5. Root Design designed, manufactured and sold a defence armband for hiking 6. Because 789 is described in detail below.

The Because 789 (See Figure 13) group decided to manufacture a USB reader made from repurposed woods, wine barrels, antique doorways and floors. The group sourced their woods from ethical sources and made a point of tracking the story of the wood all the way to the origin. They then sold each USB stick with a customised story of the wood’s origin and journey, much to the delight of the customers.

Figure 13 - 2011 R5K Project (Image from R5K project archives, with

In 2012 there were six groups.

1. Bark designed, manufactured and sold a notebook 2. Piece designed, manufactured and sold a skimboard

3. Afterdarx designed, manufactured and sold clubbing glasses

4. MASS designed, manufactured and sold an armband for storage while doing water sports

5. SES designed, manufactured and sold a drinks holder for clubs 6. Shoots is described in more detail below.

The Shoots team designed, manufactured and sold a pair of bamboo earphones (see Figure 14). In their journey to design a high-end pair of earphones for a medium price range they researched acoustics with sound engineers and materials with materials engineers. The result was a pair of earphones that various sound experts stated had an incredibly high definition sound and superior comfort for the price.31

31This research was verified through the students’ thesis.

Figure 14 - 2012 R5K Project (Image from R5K project archives, with permission)

Figure 15 - 2013 R5K Project (Image from R5K project archives, with permission)

In 2013 there were six groups:

1. Silver Acorn designed, manufactured and sold a car bag hook 2. Plain paper designed, manufactured and sold a paper wallet 3. Mint designed, manufactured and sold a first aid kit

4. Spoked designed, manufactured and sold set of cork grips for bicycles 5. Three3one designed, manufactured and sold a SMORES kit

6. Lettuce is described in detail below.

Lettuce designed, manufactured and sold an ergonomically proven monitor stand made from repurposed wood (see Figure 15). The group researched the loss of working hours due to bad posture and positioning of monitors and used these results to pitch the sale of the monitor stand to customers. The group made in excess of the minimum R5000 profit (van Niekerk, 2015). The product was shown at a CPUT exhibition and received funding from the Technology Innovation Agency (2013) to take the product into mass production, which they are in the process of doing.

In 2014 the R5K project had three groups:

1. Hey Presto designed, manufactured and sold a dehydrator 2. Bees Knees designed, manufactured and sold a Keg braai 3. The Braai Tool is described in detail below.

The Braai Tool, or as it is now known – TBT, group designed, manufactured and sold a pair of braai tongs (see Figure 16). The World Design Capital year created media coverage for the groups as the R5K project was a WDC2014 project (See Appendix C). The group did in-depth research into braai tongs and found that there wasn’t a pair of tongs that could do what they wanted TBT to accomplish. The design was very popular and the group got Technology Innovation Agency funding to take the project further. They are in the process of getting the product manufactured in China and expected to have made approximately R200 000 by the end of 2015 based on orders and stock.

Figure 16 - 2014 R5K project (Image from R5K project archives, with permission)

In 2015 there were three R5K groups:

1. Lum designed, manufactured and sold an inductive charging light as a response to load shedding

2. White Bison designed, manufactured and sold a portable light box for photographing small products

3. Pivot is described in detail below.

Pivot designed, manufactured and sold a Swiss Army knife-style key organiser (see Figure 17). The group researched what people carry day to day and decided to simplify and reduce the hassle their audience said they had with bunches of keys.

The Pivot group made a profit of R120 000 within the first 3 months and R170 000 before the end of 2015. The group planned to continue production after graduation.

Figure 17 - 2015 R5K Project (Image from R5K project archives, with permission)