Skateboards To Skis: Design Award Finalists

Skateboards To Skis: Finalists Announced In Annual Product Design Award

A skateboard reinvented to move on grass, a surf lifesaving ski designed to handle surf better and faster than others, a sports vest worn by endurance athletes to cool body temperatures during competitions, and a space-saving high chair for cafes, have been announced finalist entries in the seventh annual Dyson Product Design Award.

The winning entry will be unveiled at a ceremony to be held in Auckland next Tuesday, 3 July to recognise and reward a new generation of emerging Kiwi designers with product design ideas that best demonstrate innovative and inspiring solutions to everyday problems.

The Dyson Product Design Award is open to final year tertiary students studying in the areas of design, technology or engineering, and to graduates in these areas who are in their first five years of work force.

The 2007 award winner will be named a British Council New Zealand Design Ambassador and will travel to the UK with $3,000 traveling expenses where they'll have the opportunity to tour Dyson's world class Research, Design and Development centre, meet key members of the UK design community. Plus, they can select an official fee prize package from IPONZ tailored to their design's intellectual property needs, they'll receive a Dyson vacuum cleaner, a year's membership to the Designer's Institute of New Zealand, and an invitation to join the D&AD Talentpool - an online database of international design talent.

The national winner will also gain automatic entry into the James Dyson Award, Dyson's global design award, where they will have the opportunity to compete against other emerging product designers from around the world. This award will be won by the best of the best, from other Dyson awards at national level. The winner of Dyson's global award will receive a $15,000[1] cash prize package which also includes interaction with Dyson's senior engineers from their Research and Development team based in the UK.

David Lovegrove, the Award's head judge and product design representative from the Designers Institute of NZ, said there was a wide range of entries this year and it was a challenging process selecting finalists that best fitted the Dyson Philosophy.

"We've gone from having three finalists to four this year, because the high calibre of entries was too good to eliminate down to only three top entries. I believe the creative thinking and problem solving ability of New Zealand young designers is well reflected in the selection of this year's finalists," said David.

The Dyson Award was set up in 2001 by Avery Robinson, the distributors of Dyson in New Zealand, and is held in association with the British Council New Zealand Design Ambassador Programme, the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ), the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand and the New Zealand Listener, to recognise and reward up and coming Kiwi designers with product design ideas that best demonstrate innovative and inspiring solutions to everyday problems.

Says James Dyson, engineer and inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner: "Design surrounds us. It inspires us. It makes more things possible. As our need for good design and technology increases so does the need for innovative and adventurous designers, engineers and scientists.

"If you think you have a way of making something better, don't be afraid to be different, and don't give up if people reject your ideas, trust your instincts. We want to encourage future generations of design engineers."

The award organisers are inviting the general public to vote for their favourite finalist in the inaugural People's Choice Award on www.dyson.co.nz The People's Choice winner will be announced at the ceremony on 3 July.

ENDS

About The Finalists

Ben Thomsen's A.T.I.B (All Terrain Inline Board) is a reinvention of the two-wheeled skateboard, designed to be man-powered on grass, gravel, dirt and roads. Ben is a Massey University (Albany) graduate and lives in Browns Bay, Auckland.

Chris Moors' Surge Surf Ski (SSS) is a surf lifesaving ski which is faster and better at handling surf breaks than current ski designs. Current skis can fill with water, up to 5kg at times, and the SSS has a built in 'drain' and weed deflector to prevent common water build up and weed tangle. Chris graduated from Massey University (Albany) and lives in Red Beach, Auckland.

Gus Donaldson's kaichair is a folding and stacking high chair for use in cafes and restaurants. Many parents face the problem of finding a highchair for their toddler when they are dining in cafes. Often they are not made available, being used by other parents, grubby or broken. Many café operators choose to make only one highchair available, as they take up valuable room in limited dining spaces. kaichair can be flat packed, or stacked for storage, are printed in fun and enticing colours appealing to children, and is made with light polypropelene plastic, for easy cleaning. Gus is a Massey University (Wgtn) graduate and lives in Brooklyn, Wellington.

Stephen Smith's Arctic Skin is a vest worn by endurance sportspeople to stabilise an athlete's body temperature via a cooling process, which enables athlete's to maintain an optimal physical performance for longer periods while competing. The vest stores water for drinking (like existing Camel Packs) as well as absorbing the water used in the vest's in-built cooling system to prevent athletes from overheating and suffering dehydration-related injury. Stephen is also a Massey University (Albany) graduate and lives in Greenhithe, Auckland.

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