Andy Florkowski speaks with Nick Mowbray, CEO of Zuru Toys, and investor in up and coming kiwi FMCG brands such as Monday Haircare, Dose&Co, Nood Petfood and Rascal & Friends. Nick moved to China as a teenager, with a small loan from his parents and with the goal of launching a toy business. 15 Years later, Zuru is one of the largest toy empires in the world, and Nick is drawing on this experience to shape and propel other New Zealand businesses onto the global stage.

Milliken-Ontera is a design-focused commercial flooring manufacturer headquartered in Sydney. With a strong ethical culture and long-held commitments to sustainability, they are creating a better future by actively participating in local communities, developing a diverse and inclusive workplace, and doing their part to ensure a cleaner world for generations to come.Oliver McDermott talks to Ania Cetinic (Communications Manager) & James Mfula (Design Director) at Milliken-Ontera about...

Like other difficult dinner conversation topics such as politics and religion, the question around the value of design can be viewed very differently depending on where you sit. Independent designer Bevan Tonks along with Jono Sagar, principle and founder of Voice discuss the value of design from their own perspectives as well as how they see design as a problem solving exercise becoming increasingly complex.

Rose Norgrove, Alistair Kincaid talk to Demelza Round, Nathan Walker and Anjuli Selvadurai.Project Make is a design education community that encourages folk in Aotearoa to make things together. Made up of founder Demelza Round, Online Learning Coordinator Anjuli Selvadurai and Creative Director Nathan Walker. Their online platform presents educational opportunities through project-based lessons. These projects span across multiple art and design disciplines and cater to makers of any age and...

In this episode, Oliver McDermott talks to Brand Guy, Richard Shirtcliffe, about building disruptive ‘triple bottom line’ consumer lifestyle brands, finding unmet needs, and outside the box thinking.Richard is the Co CEO of Noho, a direct to consumer furniture brand making beautiful dynamic furniture from waste plastic and sustainable materials. Noho, based in Colorado, has just launched it's first product, the extraordinary noho move chair. Created in New Zealand by sister company Formway,...

Jungie Choi takes us through the design journey and process that led up to 2019 Student Graphics Gold Pin winning project, Han. Through the podcast AUT students Kai Concepcion and Harry Davis have a conversation with AUT graduate Jungie about student life, her creative journey from being a student to a working professional. Jungie sheds light on the challenges she has faced and significant turning points that narrated her design journey. Opening up about the importance of minority voices not...

Clean, simple, and quality. Three profound factors that point towards New Zealand furniture designer Tim Webber’s success in the furniture design industry. Tim, alongside his designs, praise the effortlessly beautiful elegance in design simplicity. From materials, to design choices and features, to manufacturing. His journey is inspired by the natural grasp he maintains of the design process and willingness to deliver value. In this episode, the DINZ Student Council members sit down with Tim...

Graeme Thorne and Matt Johnston from Italian Stone join Naomi Rushmer and Sebastian Negri to unearth rich stories about a beloved among the designer's palette: natural stone.Insights into a culture built around materiality, through the lens of an intergenerational family business.

James discusses his journey. James’s story is an inspiring one, full of honesty and insight. He started by studying Design Innovation at Victoria University in Wellington and due to graduating during the GFC James found jobs hard to come by.  So alongside his two mates from uni he moved to Tauranga and started his own studio. James opens up about some of the unprecedented challenges he faced from there till now and offers some advice for anyone who is just starting out on how to avoid some of...

When you think of most children’s toys and products these days, it’s hard not to get a bit worked up by the vast amounts of poorly made, colourful plasticky junky stuff. It’s not the most eco-friendly picture is it?  It’s not very child friendly either, and It’s this, that inspired Industrial designer Blythe Rees-Jones and wife Anna to set out on a little adventure and try to do something about it. 8 years later and their company Woolkin, is becoming famous for their beautifully crafted...

When you think of Surfing, you think of fresh salty air, blue water, big waves crashing on the beach, sunshine, and nature … But if you look a bit closer at your average modern-day surfboard, it’s far from natural. Over 80% of surfboards are made from polyurethane foam, fibreglass and polyester resin. They’re cheap to make at scale, but they are not quite the innocent wooden planks of old times. In this episode, Oliver talks to Jack Candlish, industrial designer and founder or Organic...

Liv Harper and Toni  Brandso from Material Creative gave us a glimpse of their creative journey, giving advice to future designers as well as sharing insights into their award-winning projects.

To make more sustainable products and businesses, we first need to change the way that we think about new product development: Considering all of the impacts of the entire lifecycle from raw material to end of use. This should be ingrained into any product designers mindset.It’s called lifecycle thinking, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. Putting it into practice, and delivering real positive impact inline with commercial success takes a lot of work. But the results are worth it!In this...

We live in a time of hyper connectivity where digital mobility is making it difficult to separate personal life from work life. The impact of Covid-19 and the blanketed ‘working from home’ scenario,  has revealed and elevated many challenges that have been simmering in the background for some time. What will we take away from this ‘real life experiment’, and how can we expect our social environments to support and adapt to any behavioural changes as we move forward? 

Our world is changing. With increases in human population and wealth, we have reached record levels of production and consumption. As a result, this has placed significant pressure on our natural systems and biodiversity. We are seeing the effects that the take, make, waste approach of the current linear economy has. New design methods and radical changes to the way we do business are needed to solve this. In this episode, Oliver McDermott talks to Louise Nash from Circularity about the...

Long time colleagues, Jen Cheyne (Jen Cheyne Design Ltd) and Rose Nola (Logic Design Ltd., Ngā Puhi/Ngātiwai) talk about their experiences and the pro’s and cons of home vs studio. Ways to make it work for you… or not, and what things might look like post lockdown.Working alongside each other since 2002, they have been through agency life, going out on their own in business, getting married, having 5 kids between them and navigating the challenges that brings. Some tips and insights to help...