Formway Design Director Mark Pennington has become the first industrial designer to be inducted to the Massey University College of Creative Arts Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame was established last year to recognise past students and staff of the college, and its forerunner institutions, who have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s economy, reputation and national identity through art and design.
This year Mark Pennington joined Kate Sylvester, fashion designer, and (posthumously) artist-printmaker Gordon Walters, as the latest inductees to be awarded at a dinner on November 21st.
Pennington studied at the former Massey polytechnic School of Design from 1963-66 and was a staff member from 1974 - 1988, including ten years as Head of Industrial Design.
His design accomplishments with Formway include the ZAF and LIFE chairs and the FREE system workstation, all three of which have won prestigious awards both in Australasia and internationally. Pennington has consulted for, among others, Philips Electrical, Caltex, Whirlpool, the Ministry of Transport, Citinet Corporation and Methven, on a wide range of design issues.
He was also a member of the New Zealand Government's Design Taskforce, the formative and strategic body behind Better by Design.
Professor Sally Morgan, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Massey University's College of Creative Arts, said she was "incredibly humbled by the achievements of the College's 2008 inductees. All three are internationally recognised and respected. All have pursued excellence in their artistic and design endeavours, and all demonstrate the contribution that an art and design education can make to the stamping of New Zealand's mark on the world".
The first inductees in 2007 were Richard Taylor, special effects designer at Weta Workshop, New York-based fashion designer Rebecca Taylor and (posthumously) sculptor and filmmaker Len Lye.