International Design stars return to school

4 August 2010

International Design stars return to school

Three star alumni from the Whanganui UCOL School of Design will share their success stories with current students next week.

Graduates and former Computer Graphic Design staff members Lin Yew Cheang and Yeoh Guan Hong will spend five days in Wanganui, with their design colleague Billy Wen Hao, also a graduate of the School of Design.

The three run a Shanghai-based multi-disciplinary design company, SuperNature, which they say is heavily influenced by New Zealand’s natural world. The company was founded after the three returned from work and study in New Zealand and is best known for designing and creating interactive art installations.
“We all lived in New Zealand for many years and nature was a big influence on our designs,” says Yeoh. “Lin Yew and I both researched the environment as well, so nature and the environment have had the biggest influence.”

He says the company usually works to create ‘moments of engagement’ between the client and their audience. “We work closely with the clients and think about them as we design. We want to challenge them to think with more creativity and we want people to experience something unique.”

This year SuperNature designed and created interactive installations for Kuala Lumpur Design Week 2010 and Converse in China. Their ‘Windcatcher’ installation featured a handheld pinwheel that visitors were encouraged to blow on. The wind energy was then converted into visualisations in which colour and movement changed depending on the speed and flow of the air.

The company has also been invited to do a new installation for the IQ Centre in Paris.

Lin Yew, Yeoh and Billy Wen Hao met at the Whanganui School of Design. They later co-founded the New Zealand-based design studio Hyperthesis.

As well as visiting Whanganui UCOL the three designers will be among the presenters at Spark 2010, Wintec’s international festival of media, arts and design in Hamilton.

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