Bubblegum Club announces the winner of BubblegumX 2023 who will be spending a month at PUMA's HQ in Germany for a design research trip
Malcolm Tebogo Makgope will be going on a research trip to spend a month with PUMA’s footwear design team at their head office in Bavaria, Germany.
Following a jury selection of the top 10 finalists and a voting period to select the top 5 candidates for this year’s edition of the BubblegumX program, Bubblegum Club announced Malcolm Tebogo Makgope as the winner of the BubblegumX PUMA 2023.
Malcolm will be going on a research trip to spend a month with PUMA’s footwear design team at their head office in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany.
In June, BubblegumClub announced that this year’s edition of the BubblegumX is in partnership with the iconic brand, PUMA.
Announcing the partnership, it stated that “While Africa is rich in history, culture, and creativity, the countries making up the diverse continent are lacking in big business and legacy institutions within cultural industries.” It also added that “The lack of creative industry infrastructure systems and practices has impeded on Africa’s sustainable creative entrepreneurial growth.”
It further stated that “Although we have global superstars creating and making waves in the spaces of music, fashion, art, and cultural production — we as a continent and people — have very rarely been able to fully benefit from this creative output and the scope of its potential.” So in response to this, BubblegumX is an initiative aimed at supporting emerging creatives living and working on the African continent. “At the initiative’s nucleus is an opportunity for the successful candidate to travel to Germany for a month-long fully funded internship at the PUMA HeadQuarters.” the announcement stated.
In selecting the top 10 finalists, the jury for BubblegumX PUMA 2023 consisted of David Mckenzie (Head of Design, Sportstyle Footwear, PUMA Group), Ra-ees Saiet (Creative Director, BubblegumClub), Hayden Manuel (Sportstyle ZA Marketing Manager, PUMA Group), Jamal Nxedlana (Brand Custodian, BubblegumClub), Giulia Torres (Designer, Sportstyle Footwear, PUMA Group), Arpit Hooda (Designer, Sportstyle Footwear, PUMA Group), and Thembeka Heidi Sincuba (Editor, BubblegumClub), who were carefully selected based on their expertise.
Following the selection of the top 10 finalists after the initial round of screening by the jury, the top 5 were selected through the process of public voting. The voting was opened to the general public to vote for their favourite design out of the top 10. The top 5 finalists were: Aidan Peters, Khanyisile Masina, Lindokuhle Tshamase, Malcolm Tebogo Makgope, and Thabo Kopele. In the end, Malcolm Tebogo Makgope was announced as the winner of BubblegumX Puma 2023.
Responding to the announcement, Malcolm wrote: “Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.”
