How do we articulate the unique character of New Zealand Design? Helix is a symposium organised and hosted by DesignCo to identify and explore the DNA of New Zealand Design. Over the course of a two-day symposium we seek to demonstrate, across a wide range of disciplinary approaches and perspectives, the fundamental and distinctive characteristics and qualities of New Zealand Design.
Adam Ben-Dror, Designer, Alt Group
Slow and steady wins the race
Adam was born in South Africa, currently lives in New Zealand, and works at Alt Group. He recently graduated from Victoria University School of Design in Wellington, and spent a year at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He creates beautiful objects that are designed to inspire debate, provoke thought or simply bring about delight. Adam’s work spans a continuum of art, design and technology and explores the boundaries between functional purpose and whimsy, often utilising both the physical and digital worlds, bringing together bits and atoms. Adam has exhibited work internationally, most recently Pinokio (in collaboration with Shanshan Zhou) at the Barbican Center in London.
Monique Bowers, Designer, Levana
NuYarn
Monique is a textile designer primarily working in the field of knitwear design and development. As the Lead Knitwear Designer for Levana Textiles, her focus is on the development of innovative textiles through the use of their new technology. What she finds intriguing is combining this new technology with traditional manufacture; an equilibrium between forecasting and provenance. She strives for a convivial approach to client-based design, accompanying Levana's national and international client base.
Lesley Brook, Otago Polytechnic
Assessing the value of design research
Lesley is a Research and Project Assistant, Research and Enterprise, at Otago Polytechnic. Projects she is working on include proving and improving the effectiveness of the research by academic staff and students, and building relationships to help businesses and other organisations progress. Lesley is a former partner of Anderson Lloyd Lawyers, where she specialised in the areas of employment law, overseas investment, and the emissions trading scheme. Lesley is currently a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Otago/Southland division of the Cancer Society.
Anna Brown, Jo Bailey and Karl Kane, Open Lab
Public sector design
Anna is a design educator and practitioner who is also one of New Zealand’s leading book designers. She will be joined in presenting at the symposium by two Open Lab staff: Jo Bailey, a lecturer at the School of Design whose research interest is in communicating science, environmental and social issues, particularly in the digital space; and Karl Kane, project leader of the Design and Democracy initiative. Open Lab has undertaken substantial recent public sector design work, including the Design+Democracy Project which includes initiatives such as On the Fence, Ask Away and Flagpost; and LAWA.
Noel Brown, Director and Kaumatua, DNA
Kaupapa Maori design approach
Noel is a director and kaumatua of DNA, and, for ten years, was CEO of the firm, which he joined in 2000. Prior to this, he was at Formway for 17 years. Noel consults to DNA clients in strategy and design thinking, has been active in the establishment of the community of practice – design for social innovation and has led DNA’s involvement in a series of GovJams. Noel is co-convener of the BEST Effect award and has had a 40+ year interest and involvement in things Maori, including as a teacher and a Te Reo Maori activist.
Simon Brown, General Manager Accelerator Services, Callaghan Innovation
Design, commercialisation and Callaghan Innovation
Simon is a member of Callaghan Innovation’s Senior Leadership Team. He is the former Head of Commercial and Strategic Partnerships at Spark Digital (gen-i), was CEO of Kea, and has held a number of other executive roles in ICT, venture capital and commercialization, and for large corporates, mid-tier organisations and start-ups primarily in the hi-tech and IT sectors. He has executive leadership experience gained in New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK in strategy, sales, marketing, commercial and financial management. He has held a number of directorships of public, unlisted and private organisations, and holds a BSc Eng (Hons) from UCL, London and a Post Grad Cert in Management Studies.
Jenny Douché
Director, Master of Innovation and Commercialisation Programme, Victoria University of Wellington
Jenny is the Programme Director for Victoria University’s new Master of Innovation and Commercialisation, a programme which launches on January 20, 2016. Jenny is also just about to complete her PhD on the topic of strategy development of firms within New Zealand incubators. Jenny compiled and published 18 non-fiction books including business publications; Foolproof and The Kiwi Effect. Philanthropy has been a key driver in many publishing endeavours, and achievements have included raising over $440,000 for animal charities around the world, and donating thousands of books to community groups.
Cliff Gibson, Director, PHAE Group
Creative and digital industries taxonomy
Cliff has provided advice to businesses in New Zealand, Australia Czech Republic, South Africa, Singapore and the Pacific as part of the PHAE Group, since 1993. A significant component of this work has been the development of business development strategies including R&D and business development plans. Cliff draws on his knowledge of collaborative ventures and capital-raising from both private and publicly funded sources to provide advice on commercialisation of intellectual property. During the period 1983-1988, Cliff was the principal of Mitac Associates, and prior to that, he was a director of AWA NZ. He is a Fellow of the Designers Institute of New Zealand.
Eva Gluyas
Manager of workSpace, Otago Polytechnic
Eva is currently the manager of Otago Polytechnic’s innovation workSpace (IWS), a commercial product design and business development facility, as well as the coordinator for the Otago Polytechnic’s Centre of Research Expertise in Innovation. She the principal and founder of Canard Design Limited and Canard Design NZ Limited as well as several other companies in the areas of innovation and development. Eva also holds and is named on several patents. Eva has 30 years of experience developing products across a broad range of companies and product sectors, and has worked with clients in healthcare, scientific instrumentation, museums and exhibitions, agritech and corporate furniture, for many well-known organisations.
Ben Hawkins, Design Manager, Rinnai
Exporting case study
Ben is Design Manager at Rinnai N.Z, a heating appliance manufacturer. He has championed this ‘design thinking’ mind-set at Rinnai which has influenced product design, culture and business strategy. He is an industrial designer who believes in acting on ideas; starting with empathy-based customer insight and stage gate, right through the design process for the implementation of ideas through to commercially viable products. He is interested in vintage machinery restoration and assembling the next thunderous trolley derby entrant where the speed to weight ratio is the most serious of conversations.
Dr Sandy Heffernan, Associate Professor, School of Design, Massey University
Sandy’s primary research interests are textile design, material culture and the textile industry. Innovative textile processes are key in her design practice and completed collaborations include new yarn developments, textile finishing processes and sustainable dye innovations. Her post-graduate supervision has a focus on textile industry partnership projects funded by Callaghan Innovation. She enjoys artefact research using textile collections, finding forgotten documents, and undertaking oral interviews to reveal fascinating concealed histories. Sandy has a PhD from the Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow, a Diploma of Home Science from Otago University, a Certificate of Design and Embroidery from Loughborough University, and a Diploma of Teaching from Christchurch Teachers College.
Jude Hooson, Director, Providence Group
Jude is a Co-Founder and Director of PROVIDENCE GROUP, an insights driven strategic consultancy and research business founded in 2003 that works with organisations across all sectors, including Air New Zealand, Auckland Council, BNZ, Better by Design, Craggy Range Winery, Fonterra Brands, NZ On Air and Wellington Visual Arts Curatorium. Jude has authored numerous research reports including the New New Zealand (a fresh perspective on our contemporary cultural identity); Code Green (New Zealand, climate change and sustainability in a global context) and The Auckland Report (new frameworks for being successful in super-city Auckland).
Andy Hovey, Head of Design, Xero
Design and innovation
Andy runs global product design for Xero, where he orchestrates a team of interaction designers working across the globe to create beautiful software that changes the way small businesses and their accountants work. Over the past decade Andy has worked in design at Amazon and at New Zealand digital agencies. His passion for user research, data analysis, interaction design and typography has resulted in a range of highly successful, award winning web and mobile apps. He's also fond of the outdoors, and dreams of one day staying in every one of New Zealand's 952 backcountry huts.
Professor Jim Johnston, Professor of Chemistry, Victoria University of Wellington
The essential role of design in the innovation and commercialisation of science
Jim’s research utilises applied chemistry, materials science and nanotechnology to make new high value products and generate new chemical process technologies. He leads the New Materials and Technologies Research Group, which focuses on the innovative use of nanomaterials and nanotechnology to add new properties to New Zealand's natural raw materials to create novel high-value products for international markets. It is also committed to the development and use of new sustainable manufacturing processes, and works extensively with both New Zealand and international companies, with the long term goal of establishing new export manufacturing industries in New Zealand and providing new products and technologies to local and international industries. Jim is a Principal Investigator in the MacDiarmid Institute for Advance Materials and Nanotechnology.
Daniel Kamp and James McNab, Think & Shift
Unknown
Daniel Kamp and James Mcnab (along with Sam Griffin) are the founding directors of Think & Shift, a commercial product and spatial design consultancy based in Auckland. Dan is its creative director and James heads the consultancy’s product-focused design work. Think & Shift incorporates an experimental furniture and lighting design studio called Y S Collective, which serves as a platform for experimentation with new materials, new processes and new ideas.
Jesse Keith, National Network Manager Design and Manufacturing, Callaghan Innovation
After training as an industrial designer, Jesse worked in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and China as a design professional in design consultancies, in-house R&D teams and as a private business owner. Jesse’s background is in product design and creative strategy with a emphasis on creating and commercialising "user-centric design solutions from market opportunity to market delivery". He has designed for a wide range of industries including; consumer electronics, commercial furniture, hardware, lighting, bespoke environments and sporting goods. His professional knowledge enables him to guide clients and partners on how to best utilise market and end-user research, the design process, 3D CAD, digital visualisations, prototyping, testing, additive manufacturing, advanced mass-manufacturing processes as well as product branding and marketing.
Tristan Kennedy, Director, CombineDesign
Mobilise
Tristan is a product designer based in Napier. He currently works for Future Product Group, developing retail display solutions. In his spare time, he actively takes on design projects through CombineDesign Ltd, a small company actively involved in community-based design initiatives. Tristan strongly believe that design can be used as a tool to bring communities and people together through co-creation, to solve problems facing us all. It is towards these ends that he is currently engaged in Mobilise, a project aimed towards developing 3D printing technology and product solutions to meet the needs and requirements of families living with and caring for disabled persons.
Kerry Ann Lee, Artist and designer
Realigning the margins
Kerry Annis a visual artist, designer and educator from Wellington. Kerry Ann’s installation, publication and image-based works meditate on themes of home, dis/location and difference, playfully investigating issues of identity and hybrid cultural formations through a variety of media. Her practice explores urban settlement and culture clash occurring in the Asia-Pacific region. Kerry Ann is known for her work with self-published fanzines and regularly exhibits work nationally and internationally.
Suzie Marsden, Director, Better By Design
Design and New Zealand exporting firms
Suzie is the director of Better By Design. She is an experienced senior executive and marketing professional. Her previous career included eight years in a range of executive and leadership roles with Westpac, and prior to this Fisher & Paykel Finance, and NatWest in the UK. During her time with Westpac Suzie held a range of roles including Head of Brand and Marketing, in which she developed and implemented a retail design strategy using Stanford University d.school design methodology.
Saint Andrew Matautia, Tutor, School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington
Pasifika and design
As a proud Samoan, Andrew believes respect and reciprocity to be fundamental in the creation and maintenance of strong communities. As a graduate of the Culture + Context programme at Victoria, Andrew continues to focus on the issues, opportunities and consequences of and for design, and building strategies for Pasifika students' success. St Andrew’s awards include School of Design Excellence Award 2013; VUW Āwhina Scholarships 2014/2015; Faculty of Architecture and Design Pasifika Award for Academic Excellence 2015; and Finalist: Landers Award for Contribution to Post Graduate Studies 2015.
Caroline McCaw, Communication Design Academic Leader, School of Design, Otago Polytechnic
New arrivals, old stories: considering New Zealand’s language of landscape
Caroline is a Principal Lecturer and Academic Leader of Communication Design at Otago Polytechnic. Her passion for community engagement is wedded to her teaching practices, involving staff and students in a wide range of collaborative projects and transformative designs with our communities.
Kelly McClean
The New Zealand Merino Company
Connecting the Dots
Dr Richard Mitchell, Professor, Food Design Institute, Otago Polytechnic
The New Zealand café: Design that reflects an understated culture
Richard is a Professor and Research and Enterprise Leader at the Food Design Institute, Otago Polytechnic School of Design. Richard has published more than 150 articles, papers and book chapters on food and wine in New Zealand and around the world. Over the last four years he has been at the forefront of the emerging field of food design.
Stacey Orr, Digital Design Director, DNA
Stacey leads the digital design team for DNA in Wellington, following almost 10 years work in New Zealand, Canada and the UK. At DNA she has evolved its working practice to be more collaborative and flexible, putting users at the heart of the process and enabling clients to be heavily involved in the design phase of any project. DNA’s team works on large scale, technically complex and content heavy sites, API’s and web applications. Stacey has designed websites for clients including NZ Post, Telecom Wholesale, Powershop, Icebreaker, TreatMe and F&P Healthcare and ACC's RideForever, Scooter survival and WorkSmart tips, and has led teams on projects for clients which include ACC, Ministry of Health, BNZ, Grow Wellington, Opus and Willis Bond and Wellingtonnz.com
Eden Potter, Lecturer, AUT
Design, ingenuity and innovation
Eden is a communication designer and educator with more than 20 years of industry design experience in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, predominantly in brand identity and publication design. She teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate communication design degrees at Auckland University of Technology. She is the New Zealand Worldwide Representative for the International Institute for Information Design (IIID).
Demelza Round, Charlie Rillstone and Nathan Walker
Saint Kentigern College
Secondary school design education
Demelza heads the technology department at Saint Kentigern College in Auckland. Nathan, a secondary student working towards gaining his International Baccalaureate Diploma, runs Studiofy, a branding and web design studio as well as working as a freelance communication designer. Charlie, a secondary student working towards gaining Level 3 NCEA, is working on designing and developing an initial prototype for a web repository aimed at supporting and connecting secondary animation students and educators.
Alistair Regan, Director, Research and Enterprise, Otago Polytechnic
Assessing the value of design research
Alistair is Director, Research and Enterprise at Otago Polytechnic. He has management experience that extends over 30 years in the UK, Australia, Sweden and New Zealand, working as a design practitioner and researcher, business manager and leader. Using innovative and creative design methodologies, Alistair has evolved many new business models, and developed many new collaborations. His main area of focus is in building the Research and Enterprise, Consultancy and Fee-for-service, portfolio at Otago Polytechnic, working with communities, industry and business to help solve real world issues, engage expert staff and involve students in more experiential learning opportunities.
Raul Sarrot, Strategist and Creative Director, Freshfish
Design, ingenuity and innovation
Raul is an Argentinean-born New Zealand designer, strategist and creative director with over 20 years experience in a wide range of sectors. Since 2009, he has led his own boutique brand strategy and design studio, Freshfish. Raul has taught in the undergraduate and postgraduate design programmes at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and at Auckland University of Technology, where he is also chairman of the Advisory Committee.
Richard Shirtcliffe, Head Boy, Tuatara Brewing
Richard is the Head Boy (CEO) and self appointed chief tasting officer of NZ’s largest independently owned craft brewery: Tuatara Brewing. He escaped law study in the early 90's to market NZ Endeavour's winning Whitbread yachting campaign, and the NZ Festival of the Arts; manage the NZ Dragon Boat festival; social market at Smokefree; and take a year off to pretend to be an actor in a couple of films and TV series; before not so serendipitously launching NZ/UK tech company Netenz the day of the tech crash. He sold Netenz in 2003 to UK company Imano before kite surfing home in 2004; managing Australasian sales for Icebreaker;and then global marketing for phil&teds. But the lure of the hop was eventually too much to ignore.
Rebecca Sinclair, Associate Professor and Director, Academic, College of Creative Arts, Massey University
Culture, context and practice: design education in Aotearoa New Zealand
Rebecca is Director-Academic at Toi Rauwhārangi, Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. She is a writer and designer whose work explores the interplays of architecture with other fields. In doing so, she seeks to provide new insights on thinking about building, space and inhabitation. As the Director-Academic, Rebecca has the holistic overview of the full range of programmes in the College and primarily teaches at postgraduate level. Rebecca was responsible for developing and implementing (in 2014) a unique Māori framework – a powhiri framework – for its flagship Bachelor of Design degree. Rebecca has a BSc and MArch from the University of Auckland.
Kelvin Soh, Founder, DDMMYY
Design Pohara (Poor Design)
Kelvin is a designer and artist who founded design studio DDMMYY (pronounced ‘dummy’) as a platform for facilitating commissioned work, research and publishing. The studio has two primary divisions: the provision of creative direction and design for a handful of boutique clientele, and a publishing arm (now called Le Roy) that includes the production of an eponymous art/culture magazine and limited edition artist publications.
Jane Strange, Director, Auckland Co-design Lab
Designing better public services
Jane is director of the Auckland Co-design lab, a 24 month proof of concept which enables experimentation with human-centred design and collective impact to create radical solutions to complex/wicked problems, working across government and community organisations. The Lab has been established to provide a neutral space to explore the case for change using collective impact, co-design and other innovative approaches to complex social issues. It is funded by Treasury, and is co-located with its other key sponsor, Auckland Council's Southern Initiative team in Manukau. Prior to her current position, Jane worked as a Design Catalyst at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in the Better By Design programme and at ASB Bank, as Head of Innovation and Design.
Tonya Sweet, Lecturer in Design, Victoria University of Wellington
Earthquake resilient design
Tonya is an artist, designer and lecturer in design at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Design. She gained her undergraduate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Furniture Design) and an MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in the U.S.A. Tonya applies her professional experience and enthusiasm for the creative process through her teaching and practice-based research. Her current research entails the design of speculative furniture that aims to mitigate the potentially negative psychological effects of earthquakes.
Mark Templeton, CEO, Aeroqual
Exporting case study
Mark is CEO of Aeroqual, a role he took up in mid 2012 after a year on the board. He has considerable experience building technology-intensive businesses into international powerhouses. One of the biggest changes Mark has brought to Aeroqual is a focus on customers and end users, something that is often lacking in companies full of engineers and scientists. As a result the firm puts a lot more emphasis on developing products in partnership with customers and systems to help support products in the field. Outside Aeroqual Mark is an advisory board member of the Product Accelerator Centre at Auckland University, on the organising committee of the Ernst & Young Leadership Programme, and mentor to up-and-coming leaders in the private and public sectors. He also likes fly-fishing.
David Trubridge, Founder, David Trubridge Ltd
Terroir as a metaphor
David is probably the best-known New Zealand designer overseas, with works in the permanent collections of the Pompidou Centre, Paris (the entire Icarus lighting installation); the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Minneapolis Design Museum; Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum; and both Auckland’s and Wellington’s museums. In France he has been credited with being one of the instigators of “raw sophistication” in design, and also cited as one of the 15 top global designers by Express magazine in 2008. He has won many awards here and overseas, including the highest NZ accolade, the John Britten award.
Dr Noel Waite, Senior Lecturer, University of Otago
Design histories, cultures and futures
Noel is a Senior Lecturer in Design in the Department of Applied Sciences at the University of Otago. He is a co-finalist in the Best Design Awards for a slow co-design project for the Hone Tuwhare Trust. He is a member of Dunedin’s UNESCO Creative City of Literature Steering Team, and attended the IXth Annual UNESCO Creative Cities Network meeting in Kanazawa, Japan in May 2015.
Dr Johnson Witehira, Artist, designer and researcher
Invisible culture; mono-cultural graphic design in a bicultural New Zealand
Johnson is an artist and designer of Tamahaki (Ngāti Hinekura), Ngā Puhi (Ngai-tū-te-auru), Ngāti Haua and New Zealand European descent. He graduated from the Whanganui School of Design in 2004, completed his Masters in 2007, and his doctorate in Māori design at Massey Te Pūtahi-a-Toi (School of Maori Studies) at Massey University. In his research, Tārai Kōrero Toi: Articulating a Māori Design Language, Witehira developed a platform for contemporary Māori design practice through the exploration of traditional carving. Johnson has also undertaken post-doctorate research at Massey, exploring how design can be used to bring Māori visual culture from the Marae back into our everyday lives.
Dr Alan Young, Senior Lecturer, AUT
The New Zealand design archive
Alan is currently the acting Head of Department for Communication Design at AUT and associate editor for the journal Studies in Material Thinking. Alan’s PhD examined the political history of graphic design in Australia. His current research and teaching fields include semiotics, sustainability and design history and theory. Alan is the Research Leader for the Design History Research Group at AUT. The group at aims to work collaboratively with universities, industry bodies and government to develop a New Zealand Design History Archive.
