Cathy Veninga

Designers Institute of New Zealand CEO organises the annual Best Design Awards to be announced at the Viaduct Event Centre this Friday night

We've built the largest design awards in Australasia with a record 1178 entries in nine categories this year, which is thrilling because it means New Zealand's studios are humming but more importantly our clients are understanding the value of bringing design into the company to improve bottom lines.

How do the judges choose a winning design?

Clear ideas and craft. The Australian designers who come over to judge openly admire the work being done in this country. They see things with an outside lens, which is a useful perspective. An example of a design they've loved is The Cloak by Fearon Hay, a beautifully simple bus shelter with richly textural references to our natural and cultural environment.

Is there such a thing as ‘New Zealand design’?

It's such a large question. I don't think we need to define what New Zealand design is because we're already living it and we need to embrace that more. On the one hand we do and on the other there's that real Kiwi rhetoric that pulls ourselves down. One advantage New Zealanders have is that we're sensitive to the fact we aren't living in Europe or in places with large populations so that makes us more interested in looking outwards.

Is New Zealand doing enough to grow its design industry?

New Zealand could create its own “Design Mecca”. We already work internationally. Product designers