Visit By Designer Of Decimal Dollar

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31239, 10 December 1966, Page 16

Visit By Designer Of Decimal Dollar

Mr William Gardner, the English craftsman who designed the commemorative dollar which will be issued next year with New Zealand’s decimal currency, arrived in Christchurch yesterday as one of the first Churchill fellows from Britain.

“I saw the models of your new coinage before leaving London and I feel sure New Zealanders will enjoy using it. By that I mean they’ll like it,” said Mr Gardner. Mr Gardner entered the design competition. He said he had read the complete file of newspaper clippings reporting all views on the designs, and did not want to discuss any of it. “It is over and nobody wants to hear any more—most of all the competitors,” he said.

keen on subsidising travel but it would be very helpful. We have to do a tremendous amount of research at home.” On this visit, Mr Gardner said, he aimed “to get as far away from England as possible to find out what people elewhere are doing and thinking." He has travelled through North America, followed the development of traditional Polynesian art from Hawaii to New Zealand, and here is' meeting as many craftsmen and women as possible working in pottery, carving, weaving, silversmithing and similar arts. “I am very impressed with your pottery," he said. “It seems to be exploding in development and there are, believe it or not, more pottersper head of population here than there are in England. I include both professionals and amateurs." Mr Gardner said he had not yet found the explanation. "It just seems to have taken on,"he said. Mr Gardner said his talks—a month in the North Island and three weeks in the South Island—were producing a wealth of interesting thought on craftsmanship in a comparatively young country. He would be reporting on this to the Churchill Trust and also, informally, to the Royal Society of Arts and the Crafts Council of Great Britain, which are both interested in his tour. Mr Gardner said that possibly the greatest interest in his findings would be shown by his students. They were keenly interested in developments and trends in other parts of the world. In the South Island Mr Gardner’s calls are being arranged through the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts.

Mr Gardner describes himself as “a free-lance designer and craftsman interested in lettering of all kinds, heraldy, symbolism, and associated design.” He also described him-, self as “a professional coinage designer and engraver working internationally." Some of his recent work includes “a good share” of the current British coinage, and coinage for Guiana (just completed), the Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Jordan, and the Republic of Cyprus. Asked whether a designer often visited the country for which he was designing coins to “get the feel of it," he replied. “No. The treasuries concerned are apparently not