Student Artist Showcasing Lamps At International Exhibition

Media Release

Student Artist Showcasing Lamps At International Exhibition

EIT visual arts and design student Hayden Maunsell is off on a dream trip – to showcase his work at a prestigious platform for young artists hoping to launch creative careers in Europe.

Hayden has been awarded Creative New Zealand funding to travel to Munich for Talente, held annually as part of the International Trade Fair for Skilled Trades.

The 27-year-old is one of four young New Zealand artists specialising in design, technology and craft/object art who will be accompanying work selected for the week-long exhibition. Of 600 entries from young designers and artisans worldwide, just 100 were selected for Talente.

“I’m hoping to gain exposure that could lead to an internship,” the final-year Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design student says of this honour.

Hayden, who flats in Onekawa, submitted concepts for two table lamps after Creative New Zealand called for entries last year. Titled Dawn and Dusk, they combine traditional and contemporary materials – timber and coloured perspex – in their bases, while the distinctive bulb in each lamp creates different mood lighting.

Both designs were Level 6 projects for the EIT degree.

When he left Taradale High School, Hayden aimed to teach but he didn’t want to head himself in that direction straight away.

“My father suggested I work with him in his small refrigeration company here in Hawke’s Bay until I sorted out what it was I wanted to do.”

Enjoying learning new things and the company of his workmates, he completed an apprenticeship in refrigeration and airconditioning. When his father sold the business, Hayden decided on a change of direction. Wanting a degree, he chose to study design, a discipline he has always enjoyed.

Having considered design schools elsewhere, he says he doesn’t regret for a minute having chosen EIT.

“In fact, I’m wishing it was more than a three-year course. It’s very much different from what I imagined. I hadn’t realised where I would go with it. I thought I would do some printing, graphic design and use the workshops, but it’s a wide area of study.

“I’ve made friends and it’s like a family, the arts and design section.”

The trip to Germany isn’t Hayden’s first competition-funded overseas travel. In 2008, he won New Zealand Refrigeration Apprentice of the Year and used his prize, a $4500 travel voucher, for a two-month sortie to Canada and Europe.

“I had a day in Munich then, and remember thinking that I wanted to go back.”

Hayden plans to add a further week into his upcoming trip to visit exhibitions and galleries Dresden, Prague and Berlin. He aims to get back to Hawke’s Bay to see his sister Louise graduate from EIT with her Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design

A perfect outcome for exhibiting at Talente, he says, would be to secure an internship in Europe, preferably in Germany.

“Many designers whose work I admire most are from this part of the world.”

Caption: A bright idea – Hayden Maunsell, with a third lamp, titled Dark, which he created after submitting two earlier designs to Creative New Zealand.

ENDS

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