Industrial Design Awards

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31564, 29 December 1967, Page 8

Industrial Design Awards

An annual industrial design competition to stimulate interest in improving the design, style and presentation of New Zealand manufactured goods, particularly those goods with an export potential, will start next year.

The competition, sponsored by Rothmans, will involve the selection of 12 design award winners, each winner to receive $lOOO in cash. The design awards have the support of the New Zealand Industrial Design Council which was set up six weeks ago by the Government. The closing date for the first awards is July 18, 1968. I Products chosen by. the

panel of judges will form an industrial design exhibition which will be shown in 20 cities and towns throughput New Zealand. The manufacturers of the 12 products which win awards will be entitled to display and advertise a special seal denoting that the products have won awards. . The judges for the first competition will be Mr J. B. Brooke, director of the Auckland industrial development division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research; Mr J. B. Coe, head of the Wellington Polytechnical School of Design; Mr K. L. Simich, a director of Rothmans (N.Z.), Ltd, and Professor Patricia Coleman, Dean of the Home Science Faculty, University of Otago. The competition will be divided into three categories —consumer goods, industrial goods, and goods not yet in ■ commercial production.

Entry for the awards is open to individuals and partnerships resident in New Zealand, and companies registered in New Zealand. Only original works will be considered, or those products where the designer can present satisfactory evidence of significant New Zealand improvements. The secretary of the competition (Mr B. N. Nelson) said that the design awards were aimed at assisting New Zealand’s economy. “One of the greatest challenges will be the concentrated drive to boost exports of manufactured goods,” he said.

“There is an urgent need for New Zealanders, and more especially buyers; abroad, to recognise New | Zealand as a country of in-i dustrial ingenuity as well as, agricultural achievement.. “Within New Zealand in the broad field of industrial design alone, there is a wealth of latent ability and 'inventive capacity. It is hoped that the industrial design awards will bring these talents to bear in a practical way, as well as creating an awareness of, and demand for, good design and style,” Mr Mason said.