Massey University students and staff win at Best Awards

Tuesday 8 October 2019

Massey's Wellington School of Design students and graduates came away with 12 gold pins at the Best Awards on Friday evening for innovative designs including a helmet designed to identify concussions, and a project helping the children of prisoners.

William Cook - Click

William Cook's gold winning Click design.

Last updated: Thursday 19 May 2022

Massey’s Wellington School of Design students and graduates came away with 12 gold pins at the Best Awards on Friday evening for innovative designs including a helmet designed to identify concussions, and a project helping the children of prisoners.

Massey’s Wellington School of Design students and graduates came away with 12 gold pins at the Best Awards on Friday evening for innovative designs including a helmet designed to identify concussions, and a project helping the children of prisoners.

An annual showcase by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, The Best Awards acknowledge the best in graphic, spatial, interactive and product design.

Among the winning designs is the Cortec Trail Helmet, a responsive helmet with technology that detects when the rider has suffered from a concussion. Industrial design student Daniel Wilkinson designed the helmet which contains replaceable panels and an app.

Another industrial design student, William Cook, designed Click – a flat-pack chair made with sustainable materials which are assembled by clicking the pieces together.

The Kea Project was visual communication design graduate Kelsey Gee’s honours project and aims to help to empower children of prisoners during visits to see their parents. She is now working with the Department of Corrections' High Impact Innovation Programme to implement it.

Massey creative media production students won five awards out of five nominated projects, which included the gold winning short-films Lance, what have you done? by Christopher Chalmers and Inhabit by Josiah Watson, Joshua Faisandier, Jeremy Hooper, Joanna Randall and Jacob Randall.

Staff were also among the award winners with the Matariki art installation Mana Moana, curated by School of Art staff members and artists Rachael Rakena, Kāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi and Michael Bridgman, with producers Storybox, winning gold.

Mana Moana featured short films made by artists projected onto a screen of water on Wellington’s waterfront during Matariki.

Massey students also won eight silver pins and seven bronze pins at the awards, and staff won three bronze pins. In total, staff and students won 31 awards out of 52 nominated projects.

College of Creative Arts Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Claire Robinson says, “These fantastic results for our students and graduates along with our recent number one Red Dot ranking, cement the Wellington School of Design as the leading provider of design education in New Zealand.”

Kelsey Gee -The Kea Project

Kelsey Gee's The Kea Project.

The full list of Massey University Best Award winners 2019:

Gold winners

  • CORTEC trail helmet – Daniel Wilkinson, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • CLICK – William Cook, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Please Do Touch – Brittany Rustbatch, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • BOU Bike – Sian Hosking-Berge, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • VOLVO XSEA40 – Carmen He, Daniel Shorrock, Nathaniel Castro, Taylor Wickman, Bridget Tangaere, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Lance, What Have You Done? – Christopher Chalmers, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • Inhabit – Josiah Watson, Joshua Faisandier, Jeremy Hooper, Joanna Randall and Jacob Randall, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • The Kea Project – Kelsey Gee, Student Public Good category, Visual Communication Design
  • Sussed – Briar Bayler, Nicholas Lealand, Leeland Johnson and Rosie Chote, Student Public Good category, Visual Communication Design
  • Gallary – Trent Kokich, Student Interactive category, Visual Communication Design
  • Sammie – Sonia Mijatov, Student Graphics, Visual Communication Design
  • Objection – Georgie Andrews and Mimi Seagar, Student Graphics, Visual Communication Design
  • Mana Moana – School of Art senior lecturer Rachael Rakena, technical demonstator Mike Bridgman and artists Louise Potiki Bryant, Karlo Mila, Johnson Witehira, Robyn Kahukiwa, and School of Music senior lecturer Warren Maxwell, Ngā Aho Award.

Silver winners

  • Copper Urban electric bike – Samantha Hughes, Lisa Newman, Alpert Mendoza, Jared Thompson, Nathaniel Castro, Gwyn Jones, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Stillo – Carmen He, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Memoirs of a Glacier – Bradley Smit, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Being Human – Emilia Gribbin and Grace Mirams, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • Raspberry and Coke – Alice Toomer and Francesca Sewell, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • Kiwis Can Fly – Courtney Gilbert, Joshua Tong, Caillan McCrostie, Kyle Phan, Tom Zhang and Andrew Peek, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • Beauty for Change – Kate Bennett and Beth McPhail, Student Public Good category, Visual Communication Design
  • All Fonts Look the Same – Giordano Zatta, Timmy James, Lili Lovell Smith, Tilly Stein and Trent Kokich (Graphic), Student Graphics category, Visual Communication Design

Bronze winners

  • Ohm – Elizabeth Cassels, Shubham Ghanatha and Leslie Meadows, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Spirit sports car – Ash Sisson, Student Product category, Industrial Design
  • Starting Small – Anna Wallace, Student Moving Image category, Creative Media Production
  • All Fonts Look the Same – Giordano Zatta, Timmy James, Lili Lovell Smith, Tilly Stein and Trent Kokich, Student Interactive category, Visual Communication Design
  • Insight – Hannah Williams-Stewart, Student Interactive category, Visual Communication Design
  • Ad Hoc Wizdum – Harry Pickernell, Student Graphics category, Visual Communication Design
  • Rona’s Journey – Jenny Moon, Lily Kelt and Abbey Yeoman, Student Spatial category, Spatial Design
  • Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery – Michael Kelly, Tanya Marriott, Stuart Foster, Connah Hazelwood, Adrienne Potts, Jennah Rasmussen, Bo Moore, Chaz McManus, Alex Love, Laya Mutton-Rogers, Kezia Tubbs, Taylor Wickman, Denzelle Marcovicci and Harry Brown 
  • Children’s Holocaust Memorial – Senior design lecturer Matthijs Siljee with Mission Hall, Spatial - Exhibition category and Temporary Structures
  • MBS800 Series Multi Powered Fence Energizer – Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Tony Parker, Product - Non-Consumer category