What does the red-headed Cape Town-based designer Orli Setton, have in common with artists Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol?
Like these creatively-purposeful innovators and designers, Orli is an enthusiastic designer and artist. And, like these artistic minds of the past, she too is dyslexic. She takes pride in her artistic talents and aims at using her design skills to contribute to social change and innovation in South Africa.
Growing up with dyslexia, Orli Setton had to fight the school system to get to where she is today; a successful designer that has just finished her masters degree.
PHOTO: Supplied
Her achievements are overwhelming; in 2011 she graduated Cum Laude in Graphic Design from the Cape Peninsular University of Technology. In 2014 she was awarded the Mandela-Rhodes Scholarship in order to pursue her Masters in Inclusive Innovation at the Graduate school of Business at UCT, as well as being selected by Google as a top young mind. Lastly, in 2009 she founded a non-profit youth development organisation, called Re.think Leadership with 5 other young South Africans.
Seeing how successful Orli has been thus far, it is difficult to imagine that her parents once had to fight with school teachers and principals, who would not allow her to take part in the mainstream school system. Government regulations at the time in combination with the stigmas surrounding dyslexia were some of the barriers she faced within the education system.
“Often people think you’re stupid because you can’t read and write. Teachers also treat you differently. They expect you not to be intelligent and to perform poorly at school. But reading and writing have nothing to do with your intelligence,” she says.
Although “school was tough”, it was during this time that she turned to art as her primary form of expression.
To Setton, art is magical and powerful. She hopes to contribute to people’s lives with art, and to live a life that contributes to the bigger picture. PHOTO: Supplied
“I always used art to communicate and to express myself, because I struggled with language. Art has always been a part of me,” she remembers.
Orli’s home was a safe space. Here, there were no stigmas surrounding her struggle to understand language the same way as her peers since her father and brother are also dyslexic.
Despite not being artistic themselves, Orli’s parents saw the positive influence that art had on her. For this reason, they were the ones that encouraged her artistic endeavours.
“They always encouraged my creativity,” she says. “My parents provided me with everything that I needed to further my artistic abilities, because they saw how frustrated I was at school. But when I did art, I was successful and happy.”
Answering the call for our Skype interview at 12 midday, she apologises that she won’t be able to turn on the camera, “because”, she laughs, “I am still in my pyjamas.” Later she reveals casually that she has just finished her Masters degree. After writing a 50 000-word thesis, for a person who often struggles to make sense of words, pyjama-days seem like the natural way to celebrate her triumph.
Listening to how she pronounces the complicated name of her thesis, describe in great detail how she did research focused on collaborative design for social innovation, one wonders what the teachers who did not believe in her would say now.
Despite the impact that this broken school system had on her life, she is not pessimistic. Today, she feels a sense of achievement.
“Although doing my Masters was hard and surviving the education system was hard, I did it. If you avoid things that are hard you don’t grow as a person,” she adds. As if to confirm her wisdom, her profile picture on Skype is an owl.
Orli is also passionate about social change and activism, and is currently supporting and involved in projects that address land reform, inclusive education and healthcare to name but a few. She feels a sense of responsibility to play her role in creating an equal and fair South Africa that still grapples with the terrible legacy left over by colonialism and aparthied.
In her spare time, she also enjoys cycling and walking on the Sea Point Promenade with her friends, who she says are one of her greatest support systems.
“I like to surround myself with stimulating people with whom you can have interesting, deep and difficult discussions with. It’s good if your friends help to create that safe space for deep engagement.”
In another jolt of spontaneity, Orli reveals that art is magical and powerful. Does she think that a person is born artistically? “No.”
“I believe that everyone is artistic, but that we have been conditioned to consider what ‘good’ art should look like. Many people might think that they aren’t creative because they can’t draw realistically, but that’s just what society has deemed as ‘good art’.”
She explains how her dream for the future is to “find a sense of purpose” and contribute to a bigger picture and a more equal and transformed South Africa.
Considering the obstacles that she has overcome and the stigmas that she has broken with the “magical power of art”, I can only imagine that this will be a picture worth seeing. – Paula-Ann Smit