Students win big in global design awards

Students win big in global design awards

Nine Massey design graduates have won international recognition in the Red Dot global design awards.

One designer, 22 year-old Aucklander Stacey Kenny, is among only three in the world to be nominated for Red Dot’s top prize, the Luminary Award.

College of Creative Arts Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Claire Robinson, says “we already knew we had some phenomenal talent in this country, but this level of success is unprecedented. The international Red Dot awards are a distinctive seal of quality that recognises our Wellington School of Design as a world leader, and sets our students apart on the global stage.”

Along with Ms Kenny, three other Massey graduates were placed in the industrial design categories, putting them in the top 6 per cent of nearly 4400 entries from 56 countries. A further five Massey graduates were placed in the communication design categories (judged in Berlin), which received 6800 entries from 43 countries.

She will learn whether she has won the Luminary award at a ceremony in Singapore in late October. Ms Kenny’s Nest Urban Hen House entry was the final project for her design degree at Massey.

The design allows spent hens to recover their productivity and lay eggs for many years after being retired from commercial farms. A rotating cage gives the hens access to fresh grass, while the light in the roosting perch can be adjusted to help the birds, which are typically light-sensitive after a life as a caged battery hen.

Ms Kenny estimates that the average life of a battery hen could be doubled to eight years through the use of her design.

Since completing the design last November, the Auckland-based designer has been employed as an industrial engineer at door manufacturer CS For Doors. She is looking forward to attending the awards ceremony in Singapore.

“It’s an awesome opportunity to meet people in the design industry. I’ve been told it’s a great place to get your name out there.”

WInners of Red Dot Awards from the College of Creative Arts

Industrial Design:

• Stacey Kenny from Auckland for her urban hen house design
• Evan Thomas from Wellington for Fabseat a digitally fabricated chair
• Nick Dephoff from Wellington for his design of an emergency blanket
• Holly Gaskin from Wairarapa for her design of an electronic drenching unit,

Graphic Design:

• Samantha Lewis from Wellington for Foanetiks, a typographic work aimed at helping adult literacy learners;

• Graedon Parker from Auckland for a series of humorous infographic videos promoting awareness of how food can be used as preventive medicine

Illustration:

• Joshua Thompson and Brodie Nel, from Christchurch and New Plymouth respectively, for a comic that focuses on the life of tormented scientific genius Nikola Tesla.

Advertising Design:

• Logan Smith from Hawke’s Bay for a poster design campaign promoting autism awareness.
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