Over 700 designy folk attended the DINZ Best Awards event on Friday night at the swanky new Auckland Viaduct Events Centre. And with a record 812 entries, the highest in the 23 year history of the event, a multitude of Gold, Silver and Bronze pins were handed out, with five winners—Avanti, Wellington Airport, Fisher & Paykel’s Social Kitchen by Alt Group, Sarah Maxey and typographer Kris Sowersby, and Resn for Toyota’s Sponsafier—picking up a coveted Purple Pin.
From an advertising point of view, Strategy Advertising and Design, which won the most awards on the night just ahead of Alt Group after taking home golds for Camper, Share an Idea (2), Martin Bosley and its own offices, stood out. Special won ten awards in total, with gold for the ecostore packaging and FOUR’s giant yellow duck. Assembly won two golds for its work on the Pams and Freeview ads, while Shine and Clemenger BBDO won gold for Shine Credentials and Radio NZ’s Sounds Like Us respectively.
Purple Pin: Graphic Design
For the first time ever in the history of the awards, not one but two designs were awarded the coveted Purple Pin for Graphic Design, which were presented to Auckland-based Alt Group for their pop-up installation,the Social Kitchen, and to artist Sarah Maxey and typographer, Chris Sowersby for Sentimental Journey, an interpretation of the Exquisite Corpse game, invented by the Surrealists in the early part of last century, where a collection of words is collectively assembled for the entertainment and amusement of the audience, rather like the old parlour game, Consequences.
Purple Pin: Interactive Design
Wellington-based Resn scored this year’s Purple Pin for Interactive Design, which was presented to the company for Sponsafier 4. Developed for Toyota, the virtual racing car application allowed fans to design, photo shoot and challenge their friends as they created custom cup cars for NASCAR Team Toyota drivers. Fans designed their own paint jobs for the cars, uploading their designs to social networking sites in order to win votes, with the design with the most votes being put onto an actual race car and driven in a big race.
Purple Pin: Product Design
Auckland-based Avanti Design Technology rode home with this year’s Purple Pin in the Product Design category for the Avanti Project Evo II, a super sleek racing bike that was released to the market last month.
During development it underwent rigorous frame fatigue testing in wind tunnels in North Carolina and San Diego. Avanti bikes are used by a number of New Zealand top athletes such as Bevan Docherty, Cameron Brown and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Alison Shanks.
The judges described Avanti’s award-winning bike as “a world-class product demonstrating the highest standards of build, technology and New Zealand design”.
“This amazingly light performance machine demonstrates meticulous attention to detail. The design confidently represents New Zealand in one of the world’s most demanding and exacting sport and recreational arenas.”
Purple Pin: Spatial Design
In the Spatial design discipline, this year’s Purple Pin went to the new extension at Wellington International Airport (The Rock) designed by Studio Pacific Architecture in association with Warren and Mahoney. The designers, who also won Gold in Public and Institutional Spaces category fortheir unconventional design, said they had two overriding requirements from their “courageous client,” Wellington International Airport, when designing the terminal addition. It had to “be a memorable experience” and the design had to be “edgy.”
The $39 million extension features an edgy and dramatic design as opposed to the bland arrival and departure halls that typify most international airports. Built to accommodate and process 1000 passengers an hour (instead of the current 500) and to cater for expanded flights to Asia, The Rock was modelled on Wellington’s rugged west coast and takes the form of three rocks clad in 1600 square metres of copper. Inside, the building features macrocarpa panelling and glass fissures which provide warm natural light by day and a glow which can be seen from the air at night.
The judges said the designers had created a unique public space that was “a destination in its own right,” describing the airport extension as “a beautifully executed design that provides travellers with a restful ambience, not usually found in international airports”.
“This is world-class design that puts New Zealand on the map,” said the judges.
John Britten Black Pin
Special Black Pins recognising the contribution individuals have made to the New Zealand design industry were also awarded during the night. The first, the prestigious John Britten Black Pin award for an individual who has made a major contribution to design nationally and internationally, went to Mark Elmore (top left), Head of Industrial Design at Fisher & Paykel, who has been at the forefront of taking the company’s designs and products from a purely domestic market to a wider global audience. The Black Pin for Outstanding Achievement went to Fraser Gardyne (bottom left), principal of graphic design company gardyneHOLT and past president and a Fellow of the Designers Institute of New Zealand.
As well as the Purple Pin winners, there were a bunch of Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, together with student-specific accolades A selection of Gold Pin winners follows below. To check out all the winners, including more student entries, head along to the Best Awards website, www.bestawards.co.nz.
Graphic Gold Pin Winners
Corporate Communications
Camper, by Strategy Design and Advertising
Editorial & Books
Air New Zealand Clothes Hangar Editorial, by Saatchi & Saatchi Design Worldwide
Martin Bosley, by Strategy Design and Advertising
Environmental Graphics
NZ Wool at Fieldays, by We Love Inc
Share an Idea, by Strategy Design and Advertising
Graphic Design Arts
Sentimental Journey, by Sarah Maxey & Kris Sowersby
Vodafone- World of Difference, by Watermark Ltd
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, by The Church
Identity Development (large scale)
Share an Idea, by Strategy Design and Advertising
Identity Development (small scale)
Rotoroa Island Identity, by Studio Alexander
Mika, by Supply
Packaging
Saxton, by Supply
ecostore / Packaging, by Special Group
Self Promotion
Alt XMAS 2010, by Alt Group
Shine Credentials, by Shine Communications Group Limited
Visual Communication
‘Sounds Like Us’ Posters, by Clemenger BBDO
Fisher & Paykel The Social Kitchen, by Alt Group
Interactive Gold Pin Winners
Large Scale Websites
Warren and Mahoney website, by Alt Group
The New newzealand.com, by Shift
Time Based Graphics
Pams, by Assembly
Product Gold Winners
Consumer
Designer 90cm Oven, by Fisher & Paykel Appliances
Avanti Project Evo 2, by Avanti Design Technology
Furniture
Odin Chair, by Jamie McLellan Ltd.
Non-Consumer and Sustainable Product Design
Goodnature Automatic Humane Possum Trap, by Goodnature
Spatial Gold Pin Winners
Built Environment
Hobsonville Point Park, by Isthmus
Exhibition Installation — temporary Structures
EOK: Everything is OK, by Storybox
FOUR / Duck, by Special Group
Hospitality
Cocoro, by Gascoigne Associates Limited
1885 Britomart, by Cheshire Architects
Britomart Country Club, by Cheshire Architects
Office & Workplace Environments
Air New Zealand Uniform Fitting and Distribution Space, by Air New Zealand Design House
Strategy House, by Strategy Design and Advertising
Public & Institutional Spaces
Wellington International Airport (The Rock), by Studio Pacific Architecture & Warren and Mahoney in Association
Retail Environment
Telecom Victoria Street, by Gascoigne Associates and Designworks
Element Collective, by Prospace Designz Ltd and Hassell Architects
Glassons Flagship Store Broadway Newmarket, by Gascoigne Associates Limited
Rooms
Manukau Library, by Creative Spaces Ltd
