From Hobbiton to New York
From the shadows of Mordor to the bright lights of New York City, a Lower Hutt-based company is taking its product to the world.
An architectural polycarbonate mesh produced by Kaynemaile will be used to create a centrepiece exhibit in Times Square for the NYCxDesign festival.
More than a million interlocked rings were used to create the interactive installation, which will be on display from May 18 to May 22.
The Kaynemaile component of the exhibition was made in Petone before being sent to New York.
Kaynemaile’s inventor and owner, Kayne Horsham, said he was ‘‘thrilled’’ with the company’s inclusion in the festival.
‘‘New York is at the pinnacle of architecture and innovation ... this is an extraordinary opportunity, especially for a Kiwi company.’’
The festival would give his company further exposure to the United States and international markets.
The opportunity to take part in the festival came through the company’s collaboration with artist Ned Kahn on a pair of installations at the Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery tunnels in the American city.
#WAVENEWYORK, which was also designed by Kahn, offered a ‘‘break-away space’’ from the hectic energy of Times Square, where more than 300,000 people pass through every day.
Horsham founded Kaynemaile in 2002 after he created a way of linking plastic rings to replicate the look and movement of chainmail while working on costumes for The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy. He refined his invention to produce seamless mesh, using injection moulding, making the material three times stronger. Marketed for use in architecture and design, the material was launched for sale in 2007. It has since been used in projects around the world, including chandeliers, kinetic sculptures, windbreaks, screens, facades and decorative walls. Kaynemaile was also used on the Dubai Eye project and the facade of the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Closer to home, it has been used in the creation of an exterior stairwell at Wellington’s Sofitel Hotel. Based on ancient chainmail military attire, the product had 2000 years of history behind it, Horsham said.