Sir Paul’s tip to shoppers

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 3

Sir Paul’s tip to shoppers

PA Wellington The Governor-General, Sir Paul Reeves, yesterday urged consumers to be far more ruthless when buying faulty goods.

■ “Discard the unreliable product which does not perform, be free of blind brand loyalty,” he said. “In other words, mike the manufacturers compete.” Sir Paul was speaking at the presentation of the Prince Philip Award for New Zealand Industrial Design in Wellington. It was won by an Auckland manufacturer, Interlock Securicraft, Ltd, for an automatically operated door security chain. The award-winning pro-

duct has been on the local market less than a year and is already being exported and used in overseas hotels.

Sir Paul said developing;, and launching a product, or keeping an existing product alive and healthy in the market, was a science and not a lottery. He said designs needed to have a basic humility. “No design is indispensable ... design needs to be simple. It can be subtle or profound but never pretentious. The form designed must adequately express the function to be performed but that must be done simply and honestly,” he said.