Congratulations to designer, author and cultural mapper Michael Smythe!

We would like to congratulate Michael Smythe for receiving the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction with his book ‘New Zealand by Design‘.

Michael is ‘one of the country’s best-known designers’ and has now also been recognised as one of the country’s best authors. His book NEW ZEALAND BY DESIGN “richly illustrates the way product design has been formed by the isolation of the country most recently inhabited by ‘tool making animals’. It will inform, entertain, intrigue and surprise readers interested in Kiwi heritage, creativity, culture, economics, politics, technology, industry and the deeply driven need for human beings to design better lives”.

You may have noticed on the exhibition page for ‘Sum of the Parts’ The Cultural Mapping Project exhibition opening in August that Micheal is one of the exhibitors. Michael’s knowledge of New Zealand’s design history and his personal outlook on design speaks of the great potential of his interactive design project exhibit ‘Kiwi Nuggets’ that will feature in the exhibition.

We are also lucky to have Michael as one of the guest speakers in the programme of events coinciding with the exhibition. He will be presenting on different subjects from the book with a Q&A session to follow.

Stay tuned to find out more about his exciting project and visit his site http://designarc.org.nz/ to find out more about his work and ongoing projects the Kiwi Nuggets and the Design Arc

You can read more about the NZSA book awards which were announced last week here…