Best of the Best Red Dot Concept Award winner Madison Lynskey-Reid
The Red Dot Design Ranking celebrates organisations’ genuine and sustainable capacity for design innovation, measured by their ability to produce exciting new design concepts over time.
Since 2008, staff and students from Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design have received 83 Red Dot Awards including:
- Three Red Dot Junior Awards
- Eight Red Dot Honourable Mentions
- 61 Red Dot Awards
- 10 Best of the Best Red Dot Awards
- One Red Dot Luminary Award
This year, Madison Lynskey-Reid won the Best of the Best Red Dot Concept Award for her project The Hidden Huts of the Ōrongorongo Valley.
This project recognises Madison’s love for the Ōrongorongo Valley; its clusters of hidden huts, the people who built and used them, and future generations of visitors. Over the coming years, the huts will be faced with ownership transfer to the Department of Conservation and may face demolition.
The Hidden Huts of Ōrongorongo Valley asks what might become of the unique material, narrative and heritage of the huts, and explores the relationships of care for the land that they represent. Madison’s research documents all 56 huts and proposes a system of re-membering that remains open to multiple possibilities and timescales of de/re-construction.
Madison says great design prioritises a holistic approach, ensuring creations respect the entire ecological and cultural fabric of the environment.
“Throughout the design process, I aspire to be a kaitiaki (guardian), actively promoting the health of the landscape, animals, people and culture. This means acknowledging all stakeholders: the land itself, the creatures that call it home, the communities that depend on it and the stories it holds. By embracing this kaitiaki mindset, we can design not just structures, but thriving ecosystems that support life in all its forms.”
Another notable Red Dot Award winner is Bachelor of Design with Honours graduate Sophie Hooper with her Tūī Talks design. This provides a down-to-earth, user-friendly education system for families after a type one diabetes diagnosis, facilitating moments of joy throughout this turbulent time period.
It takes the form of a koha given to the family as they leave the hospital and includes an applique cloth bag containing a series of books (three for the child and three for the parents), a soft toy ‘Toi’ (the Tūī mascot and narrator for the series) and stickers that encourage conversation between friends and classmates of the child about the condition.
Bachelor of Design with Honours student Abby Brown also won a Red Dot Award for her project Chroma, which explores the relationship between colour and tactility, analysing how these elements interconnect with one another in the physical world.
Abby’s project is derived from colour theorist Johannes Itten and his seven colour contrasts. Chroma focuses on rebelling against the flatness of colour in today's digital society and reintroduces the three-dimensional form of colour. This collection generates diverse perceptions of colour which encourage the user to interact with the surfaces of the textiles.
Doctoral student Magdalena Karasinska won a Red Dot Award for her project Smoosh, an adaptable footwear that is recyclable and minimises environmental impact. It is designed to be packed easily, helping speed up airport security checks. It features a modular, collapsible design with an interchangeable sock-like upper, offering versatility and adaptability.
Bachelor of Design with Honours student Duncan Marrett won a Red Dot Award for his project Sonic Sculpture, a tactile and kinetic musical instrument designed for contemporary music making. Inspired by the interplay of music, sculpture and technology, it transforms the music-making experience with unpredictability and fun. When in motion, Sonic Sculpture produces unpredictable sounds, allowing users to interact with sound playfully and spontaneously, free from traditional hardware constraints.
Head of School of Design Associate Professor Sven Mehzoud says the fantastic results from this year's Red Dot Awards continues the legacy of Massey’s School of Design.
“It is also recognition from our peers that our education and research are among the best within the Asia-Pacific region,” he adds.