AUT undergrads fighting for a spot at Milan Design Week

Anticipate, innovate and captivate - this is what AUT Creative Technology students must do if they want to secure a spot at the Milan Design Week next year.

The Lexus Design Awards, which has been held annually at Milan Design Week since 2013, has partnered with AUT’s creative technology faculty to encourage more entries from New Zealand into the global competition.

Textile design lecturer Donna Cleveland said the team of lecturers supervising the students hoped the competition would teach them how to approach a design issue from a different perspective.

“Concepts do not need to be new inventions, but existing systems that have been implemented in a new and clever way,” she said.

There were 12 teams, with 27 students from among the three undergraduate years taking part, she said.

“Projects are ranging across many fields and challenges such as sustainability, housing and shelter, medical applications, mental health and public transport, to name a few,” Cleveland said.

“These projects also span across different technologies including e-textiles, virtual reality, apps/websites and digital fabrication.”

Second year student Liam O’Reilly-Gevert said his entry will include a prototype of an emergency shelter, which he hopes could potentially be used in developing countries.

“We’re looking to make it out of bio-plastics so once it’s served it’s short-term use, it can be broken down into compost.”

He said although the competion was a part of their coursework, there was still a healthy competitive feeling among the students.

The students were being mentored by Lexus New Zealand designers and members of the Auckland-based Resident design collective while they prepared their proposal, Cleveland said.

There will be cash prizes for the top three students, and they will be shortlisted to compete in Milan next year.