Wellington, New Zealand

I was fortunate this week to be able to visit various studios and design offices in both Auckland and Wellington, to meet with some leading designers and Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) board members, and to take in some “tiki-touring”—all thanks to DINZ and the gracious hospitality of its dynamo CEO, Cathy Veninga. I also gave evening talks in the two cities (as part of the Designers Speak series), with favorable feedback from attendees.

In Auckland, Cathy and I visited InHouse Design Group Ltd., Shine, and Studio Alexander Ltd. In Wellington, we visited Experimenta (where we also met type maven Kris Sowersby of Klim Typographic Design), Moxie Design Group Limited, Parkview Motorcamp Ltd. (a cooperative with the inimitable Len Cheesman), Base Two (DINZ Vice President Sean McGarry, Creative Director at Base Two, accompanied us on the Wellington visits), and Designworks. Educational visits included the School of Art and Design (Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies, Auckland University of Technology [AUT]), and a pre-opening peek at the graduation show of Massey University/Wellington School of Design students.

Thanks to all those who opened their doors to me! I was impressed with the creativity and positive energy I encountered during this whirlwind design visit… and I look forward to further liaison and collaboration with New Zealand designers in the future (I’ll be writing a feature article on graphic design in New Zealand for Communication Arts magazine over the next months).

Photos above: The black sands of North Piha beach; Cathy and the lead team at InHouse; Kris, Elaina, & Duncan outside Experimenta; coffee at Moxie; the cheeky door at Parkview Motorcamp; Writers’ Walk in Wellington.