The Benefitz team is thrilled that a project we were involved in manufacturing won Gold at the recent BEST Awards. The project was titled ‘Tū Ana Ngā Pou Angitu’ designed by Benjamin Thomason and Angie Frires of Wai Creative for Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency.

Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency approached WaiCreative to design and create some contemporary Māori art pieces for their 2021 Hui. The brief was wide, to reflect their kawa and kaupapa of the hui in a contemporary sense. They worked closely together to ensure the designs properly reflected the concepts behind Te Kawa o Whānau Ora. Further development saw a deeper link to Te Ao Māori by creating six different Pou, each designed to reflect the six different uara or values.

From their wonderful designs, Benefitz was commissioned to created six different Pou, with a brief that they wanted them illuminated and they needed to be self-standing. An initial prototype was made. With one of the images the Benefitz team router cut different thicknesses of acrylic at various depths. We then applied a light source to see which one gave us the best light refraction. The desire of the client was also to change the colour and control each Pou individually so we sourced wifi RGB strip LED’s. We created a housing to stop the light spilling from the outside edges with aluminium ‘U’ channel and seated with rubber beading. A weighted base was created to house electrical components. The base was wrapped in vinyl along with the aluminium channel edging.

Once approved all six of the Pou were created. Cases were also made so the Pou could be transported.
Great work here from Benefitz Account Manager Paul Barratt and Rob Brind of the Benefitz sign fabrication team who took the brief and came up with the solution, including the LED lighting.

For more information visit Best Design Awards