South Africa, Feb. 26 -- "Hello Cape Town, how're you doing?" With host Lebo Mashile's enthusiastic greeting on stage and Lucas De Man sliding down from the rafters, Design Indaba's 25th edition held fast to the motto of changing the world through creativity, with the introduction of the Department of Audacious Projects 'think tank do tank', headed by 'minister' Ravi Naidoo.

Many international festivals set for 2020 have been cancelled because of the spread of the coronavirus, but this year over 30 of the top design global minds featured on the programme at Design Indaba, which hosts Mashile and De Man said speaks a lot to South African resilience.

Looking to the audience, one attendee proudly popped up a hand to prove they had seen all...