Global Design Converges at Kyambogo: Uganda Design Summit 2025 Wraps in Kampala,Uganda
A vibrant and thought-provoking four-day design festival concluded this week at Kyambogo University, uniting designers, innovators, academics, students, and cultural leaders under the theme “Bridging Worlds, Shaping Sustainable Futures.”
The Uganda Design Summit 2025, held from October 5th to 8th, was hosted by the School of Art and Industrial Design at Kyambogo University. The summit was part of a growing continental movement to reposition design as a powerful tool in solving Africa’s most pressing challenges—from climate resilience and inclusive development to heritage preservation and digital innovation.
Summit Objectives & Thematic Tracks
The summit explored how design thinking can be harnessed to bridge global and local knowledge systems while promoting sustainability, inclusivity, and cultural identity. Five core thematic tracks shaped the summit’s discourse:
Design Synergies Across Borders
Culture as a Catalyst for Design
Knowledge Exchange in the New Normal
Innovative Futures through Design
Pedagogy for Community Solutions
Each track featured panel discussions, workshops, and exhibitions designed to foster cross-cultural dialogue, multidisciplinary collaboration, and community-driven innovation.
Key Features & Events
🎓 Graduate Colloquium
The opening days of the summit focused on a graduate research colloquium, where Master’s and PhD students presented research proposals and received feedback from leading academics and practitioners. The sessions encouraged cross-institutional mentorship, addressing challenges in research supervision and design methodology in African contexts.
Dr. Emmanuel Mutungi, lead convener and lecturer at Kyambogo University, remarked:
“This summit isn’t just about design as aesthetics. It’s about design as a strategy for transforming lives, communities, and futures.”
🧠 Workshops & Panel Dialogues
Experts from Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Germany, and the UK facilitated workshops ranging from human-centered design for public health to reimagining African materiality in product development.
Notable panelists included:
Prof. Mugendi M’Rithaa – Industrial Designer and pan-African design advocate (Machakos University, Kenya)
Dr. Catherine Wandera – Cultural heritage researcher (Uganda)
Mr. Ageet Abraham Onyait – Founder, Creative DNA Hub (Uganda)
🖼️ Design Exhibition
Running concurrently from October 6–8, the open-air design exhibition featured:
Student innovations in product and fashion design
Community-based projects using recycled materials
Industry showcases from Uganda’s creative SMEs
Interactive installations exploring sustainable urban living
Projects stood out for blending traditional African craft practices with contemporary sustainable design, such as:
Biodegradable packaging using banana fiber
Locally inspired 3D-printed furniture
Afro-futuristic fashion made from recycled fabrics
“This is what African design looks like—responsive, rooted, and radical,” said one international exhibitor.
🔥 Design Fireplace (Ekyoto)
A signature evening event, Ekyoto (meaning “fireplace” in Luganda), brought participants together for informal but deeply reflective conversations on the future of African design.
The October 7 edition focused on “Glocal Design: Tailoring Global Innovations to Local Contexts”, accompanied by a fashion showcase blending traditional attire with contemporary aesthetics.
🎤 Closing Reflections & Way Forward
The summit wrapped up on October 8 with reflections on actionable outcomes, including:
Strengthening networks among African design institutions
Launching an online design knowledge-sharing platform
Advocating for national policies to support the creative economy
Developing a publication featuring summit proceedings, design case studies, and student innovations
Organizers also hinted at plans to make the summit a biennial event, with potential for rotating hosts across African institutions.
Participant Voices
“This has changed how I see design. I want to create for people, not just for profit,”
— Namugga Sharon, Kyambogo student exhibitor“The discussions on design and decolonization were bold, urgent, and long overdue,”
— Isaac Mwangi, visiting scholar from Nairobi“Africa is not lacking talent. It’s lacking platforms. This summit is one of those rare platforms,”
— Prof. Mugendi M’Rithaa
Why It Matters
As Uganda looks toward a future shaped by rapid urbanization, youth innovation, and digital transformation, the role of design in shaping inclusive and sustainable futures is more vital than ever. The Uganda Design Summit 2025 was more than a conference — it was a declaration that African design has arrived, and it has something powerful to say.
📸 Follow the Visual Journey
Photos, session recaps, and interviews from the summit are available on:
📍 Instagram/Facebook: @TheUrbanGazetteUG
📍 Hashtags: #UGDesignSummit #DesignForAfrica #KyambogoDesign2025
Written by: The Urban Gazette Staff
For The Urban Gazette | October 8, 2025
✉️ urbangazette256@gmail.com | www.urbangazetteug.com
