The Craft + Design Institute (CDI) is a South African non-profit company with 17 years of success in developing creative people, small businesses and the craft and design sector at large in South Africa.
The CDI is a catalytic agent of change in South Africa, and passionate about developing appropriately skilled and resourced craft and design practitioners who can successfully grow their businesses. The CDI believes that entrepreneurship is the key to unlocking economic growth in South Africa and provides an annual programme of activities to help South African creatives thrive.
The CDI’s services in South Africa are free or subsidised to ensure everyone can have access, offering support where the need is greatest, to thousands of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country. The more than 3 000 small businesses supported by the CDI range from start-ups to exporting businesses, and are based all over South Africa – from rural towns to urban centres.
The CDI has worked closely with the South African government, South African corporate companies, and international partners over the course of the past 17 years to develop an international profile for South African design, celebrating South African culture and heritage and helping many South African designers to become household names around the world. Through these exhibitions and trade shows, the CDI has been instrumental in taking South African design to the world.
