Partners
African Robots thrives on collaboration with a range of creative partners – read more about them below, and find out more about the team here. Our work has been made possible by grants from government bodies and NGOs – see more about our Funders – and through commissioned work. Please get in touch to find out more.
Collaborators
Technology Will Save Us – Our friends at this London-based technology-in-education company are on a mission to spark the creative imagination of young people using hands-on technology. Their kits are sold in over 4,000 stores globally, and they are one of the creators of the micro:bit – a pocket sized computer designed for kids to invent with that was given to one million kids in over 40 countries. We couldn’t have asked for better partners (along with Hirsch&Mann, below) for one of our first collaborations, developing the Little Bird circuit board for wire artists.
Hirsch&Mann – Founded by Daniel Hirschmann, a fellow alum of the Interactive Telecommunications Program along with African Robots founder Ralph Borland, this creative technology firm in London has worked on interactive projects with a wide-range of high-level clients, from Google to Nike, the Science Museum to the V&A, and the Whitney to the MoMA. Hirsch&Mann collaborated with us on our first funded project, to create the Little Bird circuit board series for workshops with wire artists, from Southern Africa to Brazil.
Thingking – Headed by Marc Nicolson and supported by a creative technology team, this Cape Town industrial design and fabrication workshop specialises in playful, interactive electronic experiences. We are firm friends and have worked with them on a number of projects – in fact they gave us our first break, exhibiting Starling 1.0 at their stand at Design Indaba as Maker Library Cape Town representatives.
Ambient3D – Jason Stapleton is our Virtual Reality and 3D modelling guru. We started working together on Dubship I – Black Starliner (2019) and have continued through a number of projects that make use of LiDAR scanning, photogrammetry, VR sculpting and simulation, 3D-modelling, and CNC part-making. While on the subject of VR, we’d also like to give a tip of the hat to Rick and Gary over at Eden Labs, our Jozi-based collaborators for all things 3D!
SunToy – The creators of the iconic South African Consol Solar Jar, led by creative engineer Harold Schulz, are collaborating with us on our venture into product design, creating the wire art solar-powered Zizi Nite Light. SunToy is a European Fair Trade certified industry based in Johannesburg, focused on renewable and sustainable energy solutions, and they employ wire art in their production process for the Solar Jar! Together, we received a grant from Business Arts South Africa to market and promote the Zizi Nite Light.
Wire Wars – Our buddy Tiago Borges Coelho in Maputo has been a generous collaborator, co-hosting and supporting our engagements with wire artists in Mozambique. We were introduced by Joao Roxo. Tiago studied interactive art in Europe, and is the director of UX, which creates social development technologies to help grow the informal economy, supporting opportunities for creative interventions for sustainable ecosystems. He had been independently commissioning sci-fi themed wire art and wooden toys from local crafters, and we exhibited together under the banner SPACECRAFT vs Wire Wars in Maputo in 2018.
Wire Auto Workers Association of Detroit – We haven’t worked on a project together yet, but we can’t not mention our very good friend Chido Johnson in Detroit, who founded the Zimbabwe Cultural Centre of Detroit, and WAWAD. Big ups to you Chido! Representing wire car cruising in the automobile capital of the USA, Chido is head of Sculpture at the College for Creative Studies, an artist and an avid wire car enthusiast.