I believe I am lucky to have spent my formative years growing up in the Manawatu. Although I lived in town, I befriended most of the kids from rural settings and was always keen to get amongst it. I believe a fondness for the environment and its living systems has had a marked effect on my personality today. In my adult life I have found it useful to emulate myself against the odd person whom I admire. One such person is the late John Britten of Christchurch, an ingenious engineer, architect and artisan. Although I did meet him once, it wasn’t until later that I learned of his bold original thinking and tenacious ability to problem solve. Coincidently Some of my friends happen to be old associates of John’s, and it is thru books, articles, and their stories, that I have come to realize how similar he and I are. This has given me a great self-belief that I am happy to feed off. I am currently undertaking the Bachelor of Product Design at Unitec. This has proved to be the perfect fit for my skills and interests. Fortunately the teaching staffs here are excellent and my classmates and I are constantly being pushed to further develop as designers and not to merely hand in assignments. At age 30 I am probably considered a mature student. I definitely feel a sense of pressure to make the most of the opportunities on offer. There is no more time for experimentation, and I am serious and passionate about the work I do here. It is my opinion that this is the dawn of an exciting new design era with sustainability now getting the recognition it has long deserved. I believe New Zealand designers are uniquely placed to make an important contribution in this field. There are many opportunities to not just innovate beneficial products, but to create products that are capable of speaking a new design language. My hope is that these new kinds of ideas can also change the negative behaviors that are engrained in our modern society. I aim to be a big part of this new movement. Nick Gill. April 2009.