Students pitch designs to retailers Dragons’ Den-style

Media release – Otago Polytechnic

For immediate release, Tuesday 25 September

Students pitch designs to retailers Dragons’ Den-style

Chopping boards made of reclaimed wood from the Christchurch rebuild and bottle openers fashioned from empty bullet cannisters, are just two of the innovative products to feature in a Dragons’ Den-style pitch at Otago Polytechnic this week.

For the seventh year running, second-year Bachelor of Design (Product) students have dreamed up, designed, manufactured and branded a unique product in just 10 weeks. The recommended retail price of each item must be less than $80.

This year’s eight participants are now preparing to pitch their creations to local design store retailers, including White Room and the Otago Museum Gift Shop, on Thursday 27 September.

There will be order forms available on the day for retailers interested in stocking any of the products. In previous years, all the products have been snapped up, with some being sold nationally and even internationally.

“The store buyers are able to see the products fresh off the press and can provide valuable, instant feedback to the designers,” explains lecturer Machiko Niimi.

“This year, the students were asked to create for the ‘lipstick market’ with the recessionary economic climate in mind,” she says. “They were also asked to sell an experience as much as a product, and there really is an interesting story behind each of the creations.”

One such example is Daniel Goodman’s moustache necklace, which comes in a range of shapes and styles including handlebar, Dali and Fu Manchu. He has partnered up with the men’s health charity, Movember, and each necklace sold will result in a donation to the cause.

“The necklaces offer an alternative way of supporting Movember for those who cannot grow a mo’ of their own, and that’s how they’ll be promoted,” explains Daniel.

Some students teamed up with local businesses for the manufacture of their products, including Farra Engineering, Brandwell Moller and Otago Polytechnic’s own Innovation WorkSpace.

“It’s been fantastic for the students to work with these businesses and see their creative dreams realised,” says Machiko Niimi.

-ENDS-

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