Brave Dave will be happy after winning the highest accolade at the Best awards. Photo / Supplied
Brave Dave will be happy after winning the highest accolade at the Best awards. Photo / Supplied
Red became Purple tonight as Brave Dave, the 100 per cent natural toy red fire truck was given the highest award at the annual Best Design Awards in Auckland.
The toy, co-designed by Blythe Rees-Jones of Virtuo Design, took home the Purple Pin - the Designers Institute of New Zealand's (DINZ) highest award.
Putting out fires requires bravery. So too does competing in the toy market with a product made uniquely from healthy, renewable, sustainable sources.
Reese-Jones said he designed Brave Dave to nurture, care and delight those that matter most – kids.
"We wanted to honour real play and respect real materials, and free the playroom from cheap, easy to break and unsafe toys that don't stimulate little people and are full of harmful toxins."
The judges were unanimous in their decision to award Brave Dave a Purple Pin, believing "the toy's design novelty and innovation in a highly competitive international industry sector, combined with its sustainable credentials, demonstrated a significant achievement and rich potential for international commercial success".
The Cookie Project blew judges away with their website design. Photo / Supplied
Another Tauranga-based design company, Quentosity, picked up a Gold Award for its pro bono marketing, design and digital support of the Cookie Project – a social enterprise providing work experience to people with disabilities.
Working night and day and on days off, the Quentosity team built a site which conveys the energy and social purpose of the Cookie Project while also being optimised to meet the requirements of the Accessibility Tick programme.
The judges admired the Cookie Project's focus on inclusion, and participation was reflected in the interaction design.
Tauranga design firm We Are Society won a silver pin for their honey packaging design. Photo / Supplied
Tauranga design agency We Are Society also picked up a Silver Pin award in the packaging section for their honey packaging designs for BeeNZ of Katikati.
The Kollective co-working space was awarded a Gold Pin due to the hardwork of Wingate Architects. Photo / Supplied
Wingate Architects also picked up a Gold Pin award for their design of The Kollective co-working space.
The judges said the "designer and client should be honoured for taking on such a disruptive approach to how commercial workplaces can interface with their local community".
Being held for the 21st consecutive year, the Best Awards is the largest design awards programme in the southern hemisphere.
This year's awards attracted more than 1200 entries from New Zealand and Australia, across nine individual categories of design.
DINZ chief executive Cathy Veninga said one of the overriding themes of this year's finalists was not just that the design community was producing world-class design, but the designs and the vehicles for them reflect a recognisably Kiwi response to changing times.
"A sense of place, a sense of kindness, a sense of humour, an enriching experience and a lightness of touch.
"All of these characteristics are coming to the fore through design as we grapple with adapting to new social and environmental norms. Both of these incredible projects underline the way in which design is both driving and supporting positive change."
Tauranga businesses Steens Honey and Square One took home three big awards with their collaborative honey packaging product with designers David Trubridge and ThinkPackaging.
