Otago Polytechnic design lecturer Machiko Niimi said the project was the only one of its kind in New Zealand that gave students the opportunity to experience being design professionals, working as a team from concept through to manufacturing and supply.
At the beginning of the second semester, Port Chalmers Design Store owners Becs Wilson and Sarah Wood gave the students a brief to design a product for less than $80.
"The students work in a real pressure cooker environment. We start from assessing both product and price gaps in the market, and then put the challenge of meeting that gap to the student," Ms Niimi said.
Each team had 12 weeks and just $400 to design, manufacture, brand and deliver the product to the Port Chalmers Design Store ready for Christmas sales.
"Despite the tiny budget and incredibly short timeframe, these students really made it work. The products are high-quality, New Zealand-made designs that meet the client's brief. It has been a great journey to see students build confidence in their design ability," Ms Niimi said.
A ply photo album, a non-rip paper wallet, a perspex magazine rack with cut out imagery of an art deco house, glass coasters printed with nostalgic kiwi holiday images and magnets were designed by two groups of Polytechnic students as part of their second-year assessment.
Ms Wilson said the project had been a great success in giving local product and design students real life experience.
"We provide somewhere safe where the students learn about dealing with clients and how to get the product to fit with the market need.
If the products do well, we then offer to distribute them to design stores around the country."
"The students have really had to wrestle with their products and learn that compromising is just part and parcel of getting a product to market.
"Yet they have all come up with something distinctive, whether it hints at kiwi nostalgia or borrows from iconic architecture," Ms Wilson said.
