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Complete with a silver lining: Idealog #22, on sale now at good stores everywhere.
Interact
6 Editorial
You’ve got a friend
8 Contributors
Anya Kussler, Richard Wood, Felicity Monk and Alex Wallace
12 Seriously permanent
Semi-Permanent must be due a name change. Back in 2009 for its sixth year, the landmark New Zealand design event is positively durable. It could also be called the granddaddy of a new wave of creative Kiwi events.
14 Pixel fusion
Alexia Sinclair’s digital art is part fashion, part montage, part tribute and totally original. Whether her subject is an artistic depiction of Cleopatra or a commission for Canon, the Sydney-based artist combines her unique artistic eye with virtuoso digital skills. And in mid-August she’ll be in Auckland for Semi-Permanent ’09.
15 Grassroots revolution
Innovation isn’t just a commercial buzzword. It can transform our schools, hospitals, public spaces, transport, workplaces and our leisure time. And now New Zealand has its own organisation dedicated to encouraging new thinking to transform Kiwi society.
16 Give it a rev, Trev
The inaugural Onya Awards will celebrate the achievements of our best-is-yet-to-come web luminaries.
Now
21 The culture curator
Taking business east to west—and back again—is Chao Xian Yang’s specialty.
22 Ready for lift-off
Designer Dan Joblin has your back (or butt).
24 Virtual therapy
Today’s gaming scene is even therapeutic.
25 Family ties
The Wright-Stows transform everyday household materials into an artistic range of products.
26 One-blade wonder
Three Fisher & Paykel veterans have a radical new design for domestic wind generation. It’s a long way from the DishDrawer.
28 Wiggs’ World
It seems Lance Wiggs is always on a journey. Even home in Godzone, he’s not standing still: he has companies to mentor, connections to make and, on his blog, clueless corporates to skewer. So just what is Wiggs looking for?
Features
36 The Red Witch Project
When guitarist Ben Fulton went electric, he found the only way to get the right sound was to make his own gadgets—and other guitarists agreed. But how do you turn a garage business into an international boutique brand? First, you find someone to share your dream—like Geoff Matthews.
42 The boys from the Bay
A dry, stony bit of Hawke’s Bay, once a speedway and a quarry, now produces full-bodied red wines the equal of thousand-bucks-a-bottle Bordeaux. What’s the secret? Anya Kussler discovers what lurks in the once-unwanted soils of Gimblett Gravels. Plus beau Bordeaux and the top six.
50 Off the wall
Ben King and Adam Bryce are on a mission to democratise art. With a beer budget and a billionaire’s contact book, they dream of kick-starting a new street culture scene in Auckland. Felicity Monk meets the founders of Plaything Gallery. Plus bring the noise
58 The Conversation
Nobody believes business anymore. So who’s in control of your brand? It’s all of us. Here’s how the truth has been democratised, distributed and Google-optimised. It’s goodbye to the mass message and welcome to The Conversation.
Workshop
76 Not cool. Coal
A gripping read reveals Australia’s secret shame.
76 It’s elemental
The Element is a good book—perhaps terrific. So what’s wrong with it?
77 The hunt gives us life
A self-made Kiwi film that gets truly involved.
78 Known unknowns
We’re in strange times, and they could get a lot stranger. How do you plan for the unknowable?
79 I’ll be off now
The ‘nine-day fortnight’ will report for duty at many workplaces this jolly July. On the tenth day, we’ll be rested
80 Spare some change?
Politicians may not be able to pick winners, but perhaps they can incubate them.
80 Rational mathematics
Our behaviour is about to be micro-measured. But just what tale will those numbers tell?
82 Make your marketing come together
Above and below the line, online and off, where do you put your marketing energy? Take a tip from the experts: start first with getting to know your customers
84 Tips: How to get covered by a journalist
A well-targeted interview in the media can be worth thousands in advertising. But most interviews don’t “just happen”—they’re the result of business owners or PR people pitching stories.
85 Bums off seats
There’s no business like show business. Sometimes it’s barely a business at all.
88 Before the harvest
Hiding in plain view
Plus
31 Idealgear
Idealog’s list of design-led delights
66 Creative Showcase: thinking brands
Thinking brands | Trust and the trusted. Brands that build trust are the brands that will survive in the new age of candour. Here’s how.
68 Showcase #1: stand by your brand
Creature is taking your brand personally
70 Showcase #2: open for anything
Ogilvy helps Open Polytechnic rediscover itself—out in the open
72 Showcase #3: in yer neighbourhood
Using branding to build social media to build trust—nice!
