Exporter, designer, writer

Shells of Kina, sea urchins or sea eggs.  Photo Graeme Siddle.

I have just discovered the website of a Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, exporter called David Trubridge.  David Trubridge Ltd is a furniture and lighting design company and three quarters of the output from its factory in Whakatu is exported.   Australia is the biggest single market for their products, but he also sells through distributors or shops in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Singapore.

For David context is everything and his website with its Design pages, (as opposed to product pages)  are set in a rich context:  http://www.davidtrubridge.com

Under the About button you will find a section on his Core Values set out under the following headings: Nourishment, Fashion, Design process and Why we Need Art.  Under each is a quotation from interviews he has given to design magazines.   It is a pity that the references for the articles are not given because he does seem to be very careful in his writing to note relevant sources.

The Writing button  gives access to five essays and to his blog.  These provide that vital context for what he and his team produce.  Here is a quote from his essay The Cultural Designer:

All of this means that a new type of design must be created. I call this Cultural Design -- design as we have never known it, at least for a very long time. The cultural designer will primarily design abstract lifestyles and rituals that allow us to lead a sustainable life. For the few objects that are needed, they will have much less to do with the physical workings of objects, and more to do with their effect -- how they nourish us.

Source: http://www.davidtrubridge.com/writing/david-s-essays/the-cultural-designer/ Retrieved 5 April 2011.

Do take a look and read some of his material – it is very challenging.   By looking at this New Zealand exporter’s website, I’m sure you will also discover the link with the photo.

Ceramics Exports to Australia, Canada, Japan – uncovering our trade history

 Photo: Three Colour glaze saucers by Crown Lynn.  Graeme Siddle

Last week I visited the exhibition at the City Gallery in Wellington entitled Crown Lynn: Crockery of Distinction.   Using examples of the wide range of ceramics produced, it tells the story of the Crown Lynn company from 1929 to 1989.

In the early 1930s New Zealand was an importer of porcelain, chinaware and stoneware products valued at £273, 621 from Britain (Source: The Case for Closer Trade with Britain.  ELIS: 330.993 N545).  However the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company Ltd run by the Clark family in New Lynn, Auckland, took advantage of the new market conditions created by the onset of war and import restrictions, and by 1946 100,000 pieces of china per week were being produced.   The Crown Lynn name which became so well known in this country was launched in 1948.

In 1961 the first case of dinner-ware was exported signalling a move into overseas markets.  In the mid-1960s Crown Lynn attempted unsuccessfully to export to the Japanese market, and investigated establishing a factory there.   Considering the high value that was placed on the ceramic craft in Japan and the high esteem in which artisans such as Shoji Hamada were held, this was an extraordinary move.   In spite of this failure, Crown Lynn’s exports doubled in 1966/67 – the main markets being Australia and Canada.  As a result of these efforts the Trade Promotion Council presented Crown Lynn with an award for outstanding effort in the export field in 1969.

The company even expanded overseas and bought the Royal Grafton factory in Stoke-on-Trent , England and began producing fine bone china.   In 1973 there was a joint venture in the Philippines called Mayon Ceramics.

Most New Zealand households had some Crown Lynn and many still do, even if it is only the cat’s saucer!  Going around this exhibition was like going down memory lane.  What was new was seeing the objects we didn’t recognise as Crown Lynn and learning about the history of a vibrant exporting company.

The lifting of import restrictions in the 1980s and opening of the market to foreign investors effectively removed the policies which protected Crown Lynn since the 1960s. In 1989 the factory closed and was subsequently destroyed by fire.

If you are an exporter, go along to the City Gallery in Wellington and see what this company achieved.   The exhibition is well organised and curated and the booklet (free) is excellent. (Information Source: Crown Lynn: crockery of distinction.  Wellington: City Gallery, 2011 ELIS: in processing)