Sunday 8 March 2026

Design Day Public
Te Huānga Tāngata

Hokona ngā tīkiti Public
10.00 AM
Design Lab
To be announced
11.00 AM
Design Lab
Paererewā: Designing a 1,000-Year Legacy of Place
Talk
Business of Design Landscape & Biophilia Product & Industrial
This interdisciplinary session unveils Paererewā, an ambitious vision to create 1,000 markers for reflection designed to last 1,000 years across Aotearoa. This project provides a powerful blueprint for embedding cultural identity, community legacy, and enduring connection into the physical landscape. Expert leaders from cultural strategy, social enterprise, and architecture explore how design can transcend short-term cycles. These benches, or "Pae," act as deliberate thresholds to encourage long-term thinking, memorialising local histories and highlighting significant landscapes. This is a rare conversation on defining design not just for today, but for a millennium.
12.00 PM
Design Lab
Beyond Sight: Designing Fun, Flavour, and Purpose for the Family Home
Experience Talk
Branding & Graphic Product & Industrial
Join graphic designer and founder of Sneekico, a breakthrough children's food brand, for an inspiring look at how bold creativity can thrive despite barriers. With a visual impairment, Laura has built a thriving design business focused on FMCG consumer retail and launched a brand focused on bringing fun and thoughtful design into busy family homes. This keynote explores the power of intuition, storytelling, and clarity of purpose in creating products that connect, resonate and delight. Discover how Sneekico went from concept to supermarket shelves and beyond. Families are invited to hear the messy, human story, and enjoy free Sneekico samples and special product vouchers!
Laura Feavearyear
Sneekico
1.00 PM
Design Lab
Turning the Beat into the Blueprint: Music Videos as Creative Labs
Talk
Branding & Graphic Business of Design The Arts UX Design
Director-designer Mardo El-Noor explores his journey from musician (EMI, Sony Music) to award-winning commercial director, revealing how music videos became his creative playground. Drawing on over 30 videos for artists like The Cranberries and Shapeshifter, Mardo shares his unique process: breaking down ads (like for McDonald's and Toyota) into rhythmic structures. This cross-disciplinary talk demonstrates how visual storytellers can translate sound into structure, turning passion projects into commercial success, and proving that the fastest route to new opportunities is daring experimentation.
Mardo El-Noor
Design Director
2.00 PM
Design Lab
Authentic Identity: Branding the Kingdom of Tonga
Talk
Branding & Graphic
This case study explores the vital role of culture and community in shaping an authentic national identity through design. Pallavi will detail the process of creating the destination brand for the Kingdom of Tonga, focusing on how thorough research into local motifs, language, and history guided the outcome. Discover how feedback from the Tongan community ensured the brand remained rooted in its deep purpose. The showcase will include the cohesive identity across logo, typography, and digital collateral, demonstrating how respectful representation and cross-cultural links can create a welcoming, contemporary brand that is a lasting expression of national pride.
Pallavi Karambelkar
Tomahawk
3.00 PM
Design Lab
To be announced

This event is exclusive to
Public Design Day ticket holders.

Secure Tickets
FREE + $19 Early Bird
Limited Tickets Available
Public Design Day
Monday 9 March 2026

Design Day Pro
Te Huānga Tāngata

Hokona ngā tīkiti Pro
8:30 AM
Design Lab
Designing for Connection: Emotion, Culture and the Future of Loyalty
Talk
Branding & Graphic UX Design
Brands excel at getting people to transact, but struggle to truly connect. In this talk, Meredyth and Chris will show how they use a powerful people-led design approach that moves customer experience beyond functional services into moments of cultural resonance. Framed through the theme of People + Place, they’ll explore how designed experiences can become platforms for belonging, co-creation, and identity. This is a chance to see how design connects audiences not just to brands, but to each other, to culture, and to the places they move through.
Chris Brunner
Head of Content & Creative, Digitas
Meredyth Dale-Gandar
Head of Strategy, Digitas
9:30 AM
Design Lab
The Essential Guardian: Why Designers Must Lead the Way in an AI World
Talk
Business of Design
As AI moves into design, our role is becoming critical, not diminished. Drawing from behavioural science research, this keynote reveals why designers are uniquely positioned to be the guardians of human values. Our natural empathy and human-centered approach are essential to ensuring automated decisions serve ethics, sustainability, and authentic human experience. This is about leading conversations to shape an AI future rooted in humanity.
Dr Dani Chesson
Design Thinker Institute
10:30 AM
Design Lab
The Future is Flexible: Rethinking Space for People + Planet
Talk
Architecture Business of Design Product & Industrial
As our global population grows, we face an urgent challenge: how to design better spaces for more people with fewer resources. In this thought-provoking talk, Industrial Designer and Chief Product Officer, Sam Burton, introduces unió, a spatial living system grounded in sustainability and human-centred design. Sam challenges you to reimagine "living space" not as a fixed backdrop, but as a fluid tool for self-determination and social connection. This session explores the shift from static, space-hungry homes to dynamic environments that flex and respond to our daily rhythms, embracing a future where architecture is not just built, but lived. This talk will inspire new thinking on the homes of tomorrow and the impact of spatial transformation on the human experience.
Sam Burton
Chief Product Officer, unió
11:30 AM
Design Lab
After Sunset: Activating Spaces and Connecting People at Night
Architecture Spatial
Light is the essential brushstroke that adds depth and humanity to architecture and urban spaces, yet its power after sunset is often overlooked. With 80% of our perception coming through our eyes, what we see - and don't see - fundamentally shapes our sense of identity, safety, and connection to Place. This lighting design journey asks: How do buildings, streets, and cities come alive in darkness? Explore how strategic artificial light transforms environments, tells stories, guides movement, and engages people, demonstrating that well-considered lighting is critical to fostering belonging and social connection in the nocturnal community.
Alix Abanda
Associate - Specialist Lighting Lead
12.30 PM
Design Lab
To be announced
1.30 PM
Design Lab
Uncovering Potential: Public Land, Public Life
Talk
Architecture Business of Design
As relative newcomers to Tāmaki Makaurau, the COX Auckland studio presents a forward-looking, bold urban design provocation for Aotearoa’s largest city. This concept directly tackles the housing crisis by unlocking underutilised public land and transforming it into vibrant urban fabric. The proposal integrates structural innovation, high-quality public realm, and landscape architecture to serve both the community and the economy. This session is about rethinking how city infrastructure can be designed with a deep respect for People, Place, and culture, sparking meaningful conversation on creating well-connected, commercially viable developments that meet the city’s urgent needs.
Chris Millman
Director - Auckland Studio, Cox Architecture
Felipe Miranda
Director - Sydney Studio, Cox Architecture
2.30 PM
Design Lab
The New Local: Regenerating Craft, Culture, and Commerce in Aotearoa
Talk
Business of Design Product & Industrial
Designer Bec Snelling (Snelling Studio) shares her journey of transforming her globally recognised brand to commit entirely to regenerative local production in Aotearoa. Drawing on her fine arts training and experience evolving the studio, she explores why design must return to its roots: focusing on quality, craft, and material integrity. Bec will detail how her multidisciplinary practice works with local artisans to produce objects and furniture intended to last for generations, using high-tech and traditional methods in harmony. This is a powerful, personal conversation on how place-based making fuels authenticity, elevates our national design identity, and creates long-term commercial and cultural value.
Bec Snelling
Snelling Studio
3.30 PM
Design Lab
The Brand Architect: From Editorial Vision to Enduring Object
Talk
Branding & Graphic Fashion Product & Industrial The Arts
Join journalist and Creative Director of NZ Fashion Week Dan Ahwa and Porter James Founder Joshua Heares (ex-advertising) for a cross-disciplinary fireside chat. They explore the transition from media strategy to tangible product, asking: How does the “editorial eye” for composition and cultural narrative translate to building an enduring brand? This conversation delves into how a love for art, fashion, and the local landscape informs the creation of intentional objects and spaces. Discover how curating the modular wardrobe or the garden demands the same clarity of purpose and commitment to a truly well-designed life.
Dan Ahwa
Creative Director, NZ Fashion Week
Joshua Heares
Founder, Porter James
4.30 PM
Design Lab
Design for Good: Reimagining Fashion Through Regeneration and Community
Talk
Fashion The Arts
Fashion Revolution NZ challenges us to see design as a force for planetary good. This session moves beyond basic sustainability to explore regenerative design in fashion—how the industry can actively heal ecosystems and empower communities. Through compelling local and global case studies, we showcase initiatives that embed social justice and cooperative models from the ground up. Discover projects—from regenerative cotton farms to upcycled collections made with marginalised makers—that offer vital insights into nurturing both people and place.
Natalia Bertolo
Fashion Revolution
Amanda Butterworth
Fashion Revolution
5.30 PM
Design Lab
Design with Heart: Scaling Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship with Abel
Talk
Branding & Graphic Product & Industrial
Join Frances Shoemack, founder of Abel, for a candid conversation exploring her journey from idea to internationally recognised fragrance house. She’ll reflect on the essential role of design in shaping Abel’s distinctive brand identity and sustainability values while driving global growth. Expect insights on balancing creativity with business realities and the unique challenges of scaling from New Zealand to the world. This session invites the audience into a personal dialogue on design-led entrepreneurship and the power of building a purpose-driven business with heart.
Frances Shoemack
Founder, Abel

This event is exclusive to
Pro Design Day ticket holders.

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Pro Design Day
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