21 March 2005 Media Advisory

Photo op, announcement design projects

Education Minister Trevor Mallard is tomorrow announcing a series of new growth and innovation pilot projects and will visit one of them - the Design Led Futures project, at the Design School at the University of Victoria.

This will be an excellent opportunity for journalists and photographers to see some innovative work in action. Trevor Mallard will be meeting students, and their tutors and discussing their programme.

Design Led futures - the project
The aim of this programme is to develop innovative product concepts that people not only need and use, but also value and enjoy.

Victoria University of Wellington School of Design students, guided by nationally and internationally acknowledged practitioners and academics, are exploring future living scenarios as a means of developing fundamentally new product concepts.

The intention is to help develop an industrial design and manufacturing culture in New Zealand that is internationally competitive and recognised.

The two course coordinators of the Design Led Futures initiative are Ross Stevens and Dirk Schmauser.

Ross is a senior lecturer in industrial design and worked with Philippe Starck in Paris. He has won many industrial design awards and was industrial designer at Fisher and Paykel.

Dirk is the visiting designer from Austria where he was Managing Director of the Porsche Design Studio for 25 years.

What: photo op and visit to Design Led Futures
When: 11.30am Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Where: Design School, Victoria University, 139 Vivian Street, Wellington.

ENDS

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