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By Lauren Bartlett, August 15, 2007 @ 11 pm

Kiwi chainmail is an overdue hit with designers

How convenient that someone born with the name Kayne would go on to produce award-winning chainmail. Or in this case Kaynemaile. Kayne Horsham’s seamless polycarbonate mesh, originally targeted towards the architecture and design industry, recently won the iF Material Award at the Hanover Fair in Germany—recognition of its potential for a range of commercial and industrial applications.

Wellington-based Horsham came up with the idea after struggling with traditional materials while working as an art director on the set of The Lord of the Rings. Traditional armour was too heavy so he went about creating a lightweight, look-alike mesh, but encountered problems with durability. “Traditional chainmail materials all have structural weaknesses due to the number of joints involved,” he says. The answer is an automated construction process that uses a patented technique to mould the linking rings together.

We just think it looks cool. So do designers—it’s already been showcased at the Material Trends exhibition in Hanover and the Salone Internationale del Mobile in Milan.