Courtesy of Lino Magazine www.linomagazine.com.au

LINO Editor Ian Ossher writes:

"LINO's Spring issue has a strong emphasis on New Zealand which came with our own personal enjoyment of the towns we visited, the places we stayed and the events we attended. Rex first went to the town of Wanganui, on New Zealand's west coast, where the Wanganui School of Design, headed by Professor Hazel Gamec and her dedicated team of lecturers, tutors and design experts, hosted their biannual Design Survival Camp. "

Read on for their story on the Wanganui Design Survival Camp...Courtesy of Lino Magazine www.linomagazine.com.au

LINO Editor Ian Ossher writes:

"LINO's Spring issue has a strong emphasis on New Zealand which came with our own personal enjoyment of the towns we visited, the places we stayed and the events we attended. Rex first went to the town of Wanganui, on New Zealand's west coast, where the Wanganui School of Design, headed by Professor Hazel Gamec and her dedicated team of lecturers, tutors and design experts, hosted their biannual Design Survival Camp. "

Read on for their story on the Wanganui Design Survival Camp...Established in 1990 to engage dialogue between design students and invited educators and professionals from the New Zealand and overseas design industries, the Camp has become an institution. "

Bright Sparks

The town is an unlikely location for such a highly regarded institution. With a reputation and standard of design equal and possibly superior to that of the universities of the big cities, Wanganui School of Design, which was established in 1987, can be proud of the hands-on practical degree course and the calibre of its graduates. Every two years the school stages the Design Survival Camp.

Established in 1990 to engage dialogue between design students and invited educators and professionals from the New Zealand and overseas design industries, the Camp has become an institution. Expert representatives from the graphic, product, digital, fashion and film industries are invited to attend 'camp'. These industry professionals and educators expand upon the conference theme - 'Third World Economy, First World Design' - through presentations and workshops.

I was fortunate to be included in the impressive guest speaker line-up to address the students from 15 universities, design schools and colleges. The interaction is designed to inform students of the changes and developments in the design industry across its many disciplines. To assemble a list of speakers whose credentials and qualifications were as varied as the industries they were drawn from was a remarkable achievement in itself. Under the roof of the Royal Wanganui Opera House they gathered from all over the world to deliver to the assembled students their knowledge and expertise. Derek Lockwood is the world-wide head of design for Saatchi & Saatchi. A New Zealander and longtime admirer of Hazel Gamec and WSD, Lockwood's opening address set the standard for what was to be an incredible two-day conference. Varied and interesting, the speakers expertise ranged from industrial design to web design, promo-clips for TVNZ to a wacky delivery of the cult-status Japanese Devil Robots, whose endearing antics and product was a return to this year's WSD 'camp' a second time around. Describing themselves, the Devil Robots said, "Our ability is the combination of 'the impudence of devils' and 'the cheerfulness of robots'. We do graphic design, character design, illustration, motion graphics, web pages, music and clothing design. For our characters, we are creating a world of cuteness and a little blackness." One of the Devil Robots, Izumi Iwasa, is a graduate from WSD. The magnanimity of multi-culturalism is alive and well and thriving in the school with a faculty of local and overseas appointees who bring with them cultures and creative ideas from far and wide. Truly a 'united nations' experience, the student population is also drawn from many parts of the world. The intellectual creative exchange is a reason the students at WSD can be called 'bright sparks'. But what impressed me more than anything over the 5 days I was in Wanganui was the respect in which the students held their head of school and her staff. This is partly due to the tight ship she runs, a respect for her adopted country and the amazing state-of-the-art facility at her disposal, together with the well appointed and creative building. Indeed, as American born, Academic Manager, Professor Hazel Gamec points out, "The school building and the city of Wanganui itself is what lies at the heart of the School and makes the whole environment so special." And not forgetting the designers of the future.

The Design Survival Camp's inaugural 2005 Design Idol Competition is a wise inclusion, not only to make secondary school students aware of the school, but as an investment in the very future of design in New Zealand. Guest speakers included: Derek Lockwood - Saatchi & Saatchi (Worldwide), Amanda Mander - Zanzara (Christchurch), Shift - The team (Auckland), Rex Turnbull - LINO Magazine (Sydney), Monika Conway - Calk Design Studio (Auckland), Shinichiro Kitai, Takeshi Ikegami, Isumo Iwasa - Devil Robots (Japan), John Waters - TVNZ (Auckland), Mark Murphy - Murphy Design (USA) and Carston Schwesig - SONY Research Lab (Japan).

Universities who presented works included, University of Otago, University of Ballarat (Victoria Australia), Massey University Wellington, University of Canterbury Schools, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences (Austria) and Wanganui School of Design.

Do yourself a favour. If you are considering a career in graphic design - visit the website below! www.wsd.ac.nz

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There is a wonderful focus this issue of LINO on New Zealand which spans the creative, artistic and the leisure from Wanganui in the North Island to the tranquillity of Browns, near Winton in the South Island. We introduce the fascinating photography of Linda Robertson, the exquisite designs of Caroline Church and all the excitement of Queenstown... It's all in our spring issue.

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