For the month of June, CreativeMornings/AKL is being hosted by the amazing team at Designworks, one of Australasia’s leading strategic design practices.

Designworks are a passionate team, focused on doing just that, building world-leading brands through simply brilliant design. Transforming business (and human) performance in a variety of industries, they help clients move into market spaces they can truly own.

The Auckland Team have just moved into a new home, Auckland’s old “new art gallery,” a significant and symbolic step in the next stage of the studio’s journey.  Created around the driving idea of ‘working naturally’, the open plan environment makes it easy to work effortlessly and seamlessly, encouraging fresh collaborations and conversations between ourselves and our clients. 

It’s been carefully designed by the agency’s Spatial team, each space in the office carefully planned with custom-designed joinery, furniture, lighting and materials to encourage different types of ‘working’ while staying true to the architecture, history and heritage of the gallery building. 

All in all a fantastic new office and ‘headspace’ for us, our clients and our collaborators in a great part of town! We’re lucky enough to be invited in to their brand new workspace for this month’s CreativeMornings. We can’t wait to check it out! 

You'll find us tomorrow on the Lorne St side of Khartoum Place. The map below should give you our general location. Once you're in the area keep an eye out for the CreativeMornings signage and a few of our friendly team who will point you in the right direction.

Please Note for this talk we're throwing a floor party, so please BYO cushion or blanket to sit on for the duration of the talk. It'll be like an indoor picnic!

Here’s a great little taste of what’s to come this Friday. Jamie McLellan talks about a few the pieces he’s made for Resident, shot by the clever guys at Special Problems.

What if you were only known for the worst thing you’ve ever done in your life? Catherine Hoke asked the CreativeMornings/NewYork audience this at her talk last year. She runs an organization called Defy Ventures that helps ex-convicts get back on their feet and turn over a new leaf.

Studiomates Bas and Hanne were so inspired by Catherine’s mission that they offered to capture the stories of Defy Ventures graduates. This week, Judged.co went live.

via creativemornings

Don’t forget! Registrations for CreativeMornings with Jamie McLellan open 11am Monday 23rd June! Get in quick! My spidey-sense tells me they’ll go fast!

Full event details at http://creativemornings.com/talks/jamie-mclellan

Morning Person: Jamie McLellan

With June’s CreativeMornings talk just over a week away, we thought we should take a moment to get some inside information on our speaker. Meet Jamie McLellan!

Who are you?
Jamie McLellan.

What gets you up in the morning?
Going to work in a boat shed.

Explain what you do in Five words or less.
Make things with clever people.

What’s a surprising fact about you?
I dimension everything in multiples of 6.

What is your favourite thing about Auckland?
Auckland grows better by the day before our very eyes.

Best breakfast you’ve ever had?
Colaba House in Delhi (now the Rose) served by the smiliest lady named Mumta.

Best piece of advice you’ve received?
Try to be the Marc Newson of New Zealand. Haven’t followed this advice per se, but it was good food for thought.

Who would you love to hear speak?
Castiglioni. I’d give him a hug too.

Secret Superpower?
Monkey fists.

Is less more?
Often, but maybe not always…

Jamie will be speaking at CreativeMornings on Friday 27 June, hosted by Designworks Auckland. Full details here. 

Tickets go live Monday 23 June at 11am. Sign up to our newsletter to get a reminder email on Monday morning.

I believe the most valuable things in life are people and time you spend with them. — Kyra Clarke of Threaded Magazine at CreativeMornings/ Auckland in May. 

Watch her talk and keep an eye out for Ed. 16, dropping soon.

We love the work of photographer Josh Fassbind. A previous attendee at our CreativeMornings/Geneva chapter, Josh did a project where he documented a person from every country living in the city. He now calls Los Angeles home, and wants to continue the project there.

Know someone he should photograph in LA? Let him know! Let’s help him make this happen.

via creativemornings

Leonardo Da Vinci once said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Whether it’s embodied in an artwork, a lifestyle or a piece of furniture, refined minimalism can be a magnificent thing. It can also be incredibly hard to successfully pull off. The difference between elegant simplicity and an empty room can be hard to perceive. But Industrial Designer Jamie McLellan is internationally renowned for regularly the art of minimilism throughout his incredible career.

Having lived in Italy, Hong Kong, London & New York and worked in China & India, Jamie is now back home in New Zealand, where he runs a small product and furniture design studio, based out of a boat shed, just minutes from downtown Auckland. His clients range from established brands to small, highly innovative start-ups. Virtual networks of skilled collaborators and craftspeople are critical to the success of all projects and allow the seemingly small design practice to be prolific in its output.

The output itself is hugely varied, spanning lighting to luxury water craft, bicycles to beer taps, furniture to woollen footwear. However, uniting all his projects is a common thread: refined simplicity.

Jamie attributes his success to a consistent set of guiding beliefs and a strong sense of purpose, with every design ultimately becoming an object that those involved are passionate about, want to use and to live with.

Jamie will be exploring what ‘Minimal’ means to him in creativity and design, as well as the role it plays in our lives. Join us on Friday June 27th for a look at how minimal and maximal can sometimes mean the same thing to different people.

Looking for Saturday afternoon inspiration? Watch this talk from CreativeMornings/ San Francisco.

Morning Person: Meet Reagan

We have an amazing team of volunteers and partners who help us make CreativeMornings happen every month. We think they’re super cool and you should totally meet them.

This week: Meet Reagan Qiu!

1. Who are you?
   Reagan
2.  How are you involved with CreativeMorningsAuckland? 
   I help capture the visual splendour of the talks on film.
3. What gets you up in the morning? 
   Hunger…… for life.
4. What’s a surprising fact about you?
   Still single. SAY WHAT??
5. What is your favourite thing about Auckland?
   The fact that 3/4 of the country doesn’t like us.
6. Best breakfast you’ve ever had?
   Full English breakfast in London
7. Favourite CreativeMornings/Auckland so far?
   Sara & Otis Frizzell telling us about their foodtruck, The Lucky Taco.
8. Favourite CM talk from around the world?
   The Hidden Stories of Poverty by Drew Gneiser
9. Favourite Quote?