Another year of world-class excellence in Aotearoa New Zealand’s design scene was celebrated last week, with hundreds of designers gathering for the biggest occasion on the Australasian design calendar – the Best Design Awards.
Hosted by Toi Manahau Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ), the Best Design Awards recognises the strongest work produced across eight core categories: Digital, Product, Toitanga, Graphic, Moving Image, Spatial, Value of Design, and Public Good.
Returning to its pre-pandemic home, the Viaduct Events Centre, the fabulous evening was MC’d by Jennifer Ward-Lealand and saw exceptional designers and studios singled out with Black, Purple, Gold, Silver or Bronze pins for their achievements in their field.
Cathy Veninga, Chief Executive of DINZ says, “I can speak on behalf of this year’s convenors and judges when I say we were blown away by the calibre of entries, and it’s energising to see Kiwi design go from strength to strength, even on a world stage.”
“The winning projects told important, engaging stories and dealt with confronting themes, offered innovative solutions to real problems, and pushed the boundaries of what design can do, whilst showing exceptional technical craft. It’s a privilege to bring the DINZ community together, and I can’t wait to see what next year holds,” said Cathy.
Some of the FMCG winners at the Best Design Awards were visually stunning, innovative, sustainable and showing the power of design in the food and beverage space. Among the stand-out designs were:
• Matilda Bay Rejected Ales – Howatson+Company (Gold in Graphic)
The craft beer’s packaging was intentionally under-designed – as if it were developed by engineers with pure function in mind. From the can design to the boxes, everything was designed to look utilitarian, like it came directly from the brewery floor.
• Ārepa – (Silver in Graphic)
Ārepa “exists to make brains work better”. The brand identity celebrates and embraces the brain, in every facet—with intelligent, thoughtful, energetic obsessiveness.
• Departed Spirits – Marx Design (Silver in Graphic)
Departed Spirits’ aluminium flask, known for its recyclability, has both a utilitarian appeal and exudes a coolness factor, distinguishing itself from traditional glass bottles.
• Crafted in Chocolate – Breakout Room (Bronze in Moving Image)
This cinematic social content series consists of 72 short films taking Chocolate Lovers on a journey beyond the bar. Each piece utilises detailed lighting and purposeful camera movement to follow an unknown “maker” as they mould, craft, etch, grate, and imprint the chocolate ingredients. This leaves room for the loyal chocolate-loving audience to guess before the final artisanal masterpiece is revealed.
Auckland’s Onfire Design won two awards for packaging, a silver for Old Country Food, and Bronze for Fakieh Poultry in Saudi Arabia. The packaging category includes alcohol, beauty and boutique categories so for commercial FMCG work to feature so highly is testament to Onfire’s creative.
