Event Archive — 2024

Best of the Best Designers Speak® Wellington Pōneke

The Best Design Awards are a major feature of the local design calendar and some of last year's winners are touring the country to offer first-hand insights into their projects.

This event is brought to you by Resene

Milk

Purple Pin - Graphics

Blunt - Ben Reid, PDINZ & Anthony Hos, DINZ, Milk 
Blunt umbrellas are an award-winning iconic Aotearoa New Zealand product. Beautifully designed, they are a true kiwi innovation. To grow the brand into new international markets the Milk team, Ben & Anthony, worked with Blunt on new design principles of reduction, beauty, confidence, and joy.

TOA

Purple Pin - Toitanga

Taumata o Kupe - Nick Dalton, TOA
TOA worked closely with the client and Matua Rereata Makiha (1 of 5 tohunga that know the ancient korero around celestial navigation) to create the iconic urban cultural community hub. This project successfully encapsulates the knowledge and teachings of Mātauranga Māori through visual art and design through a collaborative process between TOA Architects, the clients and key stakeholders.

Alt Group & Jasmax

Gold Pin - Spatial

Stolen Girlfriends Club Wellington Flagship Store - Dean Poole, FDINZ, Alt Group; Jun Tsujimoto, Jasmax 
The brief was to develop a concept that captured the fashion label’s independent spirit and energy in built form. The resulting space challenges the conventions of retail design with an ‘anti-retail’ stance and redefines the concept of luxury with a design inspired by contemporary art. The store appears as though an inverted disco ball, pumping with light in the centre to draw in customers while resembling a blacked-out club from the exterior.

Emerging Designer 2023

Gold Pin - Spatial, Emerging Designer

Thomas Seear-Budd - Thomas Seear-Budd
In 2019 Thomas, alongside his business partner James Ross, established Seear-Budd Ross, a design-focused architecture and interiors studio. In four short years, Thomas has delivered a collection of projects across the country, from private residences and cafes to retail offerings and furniture pieces.