Feature articles

Part 1 of 5 from Better by Design and Idealog

In the early 1990s a young designer at the Dunedin factory of Fisher & Paykel looked sideways at his filing cabinet and thought for one crazy moment that it might make a dishwasher, with drawers. Back then, he couldn’t have imagined the joy he would bring the Jewish households of Manhattan.

The DishDrawer, as his idea became, took eight years to develop and another couple to sell into the United States. However an early, unexpected success was with Jewish families, who liked the way the unique design allowed for separating the meat dishes from the dairy dishes. Winning over such a niche market was DishDrawer’s first big break in the US and the machine is now one of F&P’s leading exports.

Part 2 of 5 from Better by Design and Idealog

When Hawkes Bay furniture manufacturer Furnware launched its award-winning and successful Bodyfurn range of school desks and chairs in 2004, it followed some four years of watching, listening to and learning from kids at work. The intensive study was one of the world's largest measurements of student height and weight.

Furnware’s research results startled its customers and the prototypes of adjustable and alternatively sized chairs and desks generated a skeptical response from teachers. But when they came to take the prototype desks and chairs they’d been testing away, teachers begged to keep them. Kids loved them, classrooms were quieter and students easier to teach.

When archaeologists dig up the remains of earlier civilisations, artefacts are interrogated and erudite analyses are created. The resulting stories usually show up as ethnology, social history or geography. While artefacts are sometimes observed through a science and technology lens, the people and processes that generated their design are mostly (with a few welcome exceptions) taken for granted. This seven-part series identifies many of New Zealand's historical figures, events and artefacts that deserve the attention of a wider audience.

Michael Smythe is a partner at Creationz Consultants in Auckland and has been an impressive contributor to New Zealand’s design industry for over 30 years.