Awards for designs

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 6

Awards for designs

Weatherproof clothing for motor-cycles, electric fan ovens, a solar panel waterheater, and an easy-clean toilet seat were, some of the products awarded the Designmark last evening. < . Eighteen South Island companies were presented with the awards by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Trade and Industry (Mr K. Allen) at a function held by the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association.

Other products which , received the New Zealand Industrial Design Council award included a land yacht, garden sprinkler accessories, sunshades, television aerials, and a tow ball cover.

An electric heating fum-

ace, sewing furniture, a towbar, vacuum cleaner and hose brackets, space heaters, a portable scaffolding system, ceramic tiles, a roofrack, and a manual percussion tool also received the award.

The director of the Design Council (Mr G. Nees) said economic conditions .had forced .manufacturers to realise the importance of - industrial design'in' exporting. Products had to-be of a high standard of design, but packaging and marketing had to cater specifically for the chosen market.

Gimmicky products had a bad effect on both the company and the country, said Mr Nees.

Designers sometimes complained that manufacturers left it too late to get effective advice, said Mr Nees. It was important that manufacturers approach designers and the Design Council at the stage where help could be most effective. Mr Nees said .New. Zealand manufacturers, had to • tailor their products to very sophisticated overseas markets. There was good market potential in Australia, Asia, and California.

. After the presentations, Mr Nees said-- many Canterbury manufacturers were involved in exporting but many of them were small and went about it in the wrong way.