Dyson Product Design Award



	"Tretech" a product designed by 22 year old Tim Cox of Christchurch scooped the coveted James Dyson Design Award for 2009. Judges say the product, (which uses tools like Ultrasound and GPS to measure commercial potential of trees), could revolutionise New Zealand's 3.2 billion dollar Forestry sector. The runner up, industrial design graduate, Jamaine Fraser, who designed a hydration blanket to aid stranded whales, will attend the Creative Catalyst meeting for East Asian emerging creative entrepreneurs in Bangkok this year, as a guest of British Council New Zealand. 22 year old Alexander Wastney was the 2008 Dyson Design Award recipient. His winning entry was a therapy table designed for professional sports teams, which can be compacted into a durable suitcase on wheels. View details on the 2009 finalists. Read more on the 2008 finalists.

More About James Dyson

	Dyson Product Design Award

The James Dyson Award is a major international award for young New Zealand product designers. Its aim is to recognise and reward a new generation of emerging Kiwi designers with product design ideas that best demonstrate innovative and inspiring solutions to everyday problems.

An ultrasound tool set designed to quickly measure the commercial worth of forests, has scooped the coveted ninth annual James Dyson Design Award at an award ceremony held in Auckland last night (July 23rd).
Tim Cox, a 22 old industrial designer from Christchurch, says his winning product design could revolutionise New Zealand’s forestry sector, which exports $3.2 billion of products annually.

“New Zealand’s forest industry relies on old technology to measure forest woodlots prior to felling. Current products are expensive and require multiple tools for a single job. My product, Tretech has been developed to eliminate double handling of data to reduce time, costs and human error. It consists of three tools – the handheld hammer anchors into a tree, an ultrasound transponder measures diameter, quality, density of the wood, and this transmits to a handheld receiver, which measures the height of the tree. The system incorporates other technology like GPS and a camera to record the tree’s location,” says the designer.

Not only is it an innovative piece of technology it is also beautifully crafted object, the various component pieces being well integrated and ergonomically satisfying.
Tim, who designs rock crushing equipment for a job, says he drew on his family’s 25 year history of working in the forestry industry.

The James Dyson Award provides an opportunity for an emerging New Zealand product designer to travel to the United Kingdom to check out the British design scene, network and mingle with inspiring inventors and designers.

The competition is open to final year tertiary students (in the fields of design, technology, engineering, or related subjects) or graduates in their first five years in the workforce.

The winner

receives a trip to the UK, including flights, accommodation and NZ$3,000 travel expenses
visits Dyson's Malmesbury-based headquarters in the UK and take a tour of the Research and Development Centre
joins the D&AD Getty talentpool - an online international showcase of the very best in emerging design talent
receives $3000 worth of legal advice from Farry & Co Law.
receives a year's Designers' Institute of New Zealand membership
receives exposure in the media and design community in NZ and internationally
receives a tailor-made prize package from IPONZ to meet their Intellectual Property needs