In June, the Craft and Design Institute (CDI) launched its NEXT22 Trade Exhibition to thousands of visitors at Decorex Cape Town and also assisted 40 more businesses at the Department of Small Business Development’s (DSBD) national pavilion. Hot on the heels of this success, the CDI is bringing a selection of talented Western Cape designers to Decorex Joburg and spreading the word about the fantastic design talent to discover at the event.

The CDI is a non-profit company with over 6 500 registered members, and over 20 years of success in developing creative people, small businesses and the craft and design sector at large in South Africa. The CDI works with SMMEs and individuals operating in the craft, design and innovation space; helping them grow and become sustainable. The organisation offers business support, innovative product development, and assistance in accessing markets. There is also financial support through which SMME’s can access grant and loan funding.

A key part of the CDI’s market access support is assisting designers and new talent to be part of prestigious national events such as Decorex; and the organisation has built South Africa’s largest online platform of craft and design products in www.peek.org.za – which features over 6 000 local products.

The CDI runs an annual trade exhibition, NEXT, which this year launched at Decorex Cape Town. NEXT22 reveals the latest furniture, lighting, textiles, fashion accessories and homeware ranges from over 25 top South African talents.

This is the fifth edition of the NEXT Trade Exhibition, a showcase that forms part of a CDI export development initiative, which has supported over 70 businesses since inception through export training. The NEXT22 exhibition is now free to access online through a virtual interactive tour.
 
“Partnering with Decorex for our NEXT22 Trade Exhibition was a massive boon for designers with thousands of visitors at the event. It cannot be overstated how key the return of trade events are for the design sector. We are optimistic that the growth in sales and exports that we saw pre-pandemic can be achieved in the near future,” says CDI Group CEO, Erica Elk.

Find out more at www.thecdi.org.za/NEXT22. Visit the CDI’s PEEK platform with over 6 000 products at www.peek.org.za.