The 2022 Designer & Student Day will be held on Thursday 30 June at The Rydges Lakeland Resort in Queenstown as part of the 2022 NKBA Rejuvenation Conference. The day is designed as a networking opportunity for both students and Designers of NKBA, alongside delivering an incredibly fascinating and educational experience for all who attend.

The 2022 Designer & Student Day includes presentations from award winning designers Nicola Manning and Davinia Sutton, Elissa Greer who is Manager and Creative Director at Darren James, Fellow of NKBA Celia Visser, and a talk from Royston Wilson who is the Executive Director at KBDI.

Marianne Gailer, who has assisted with organising the day of behalf of DNKBA, says all the speakers have incredible value and will be relevant and engaging to all who attend.

“I encourage everyone to attend. These speakers are all respected members of our design community, and their topics will be of great interest to both students and experienced Designers of NKBA,” says Marianne.

Nicola and Davinia will be working through the new NKBA Drawing Standards and Marianne says this is not to be missed.

“Technical standards and expectations are crucial to success as a designer, so attending this session will be of great benefit to all. There has also been significant change with the introduction of Designers of NKBA and this will be covered as part of the presentation,” says Marianne.

Following on from the NKBA Drawing Standards will be Elissa Greer who has flown over from Brisbane to present at the seminar. She is in New Zealand with Darren James who is a 2022 NKBA Judge and an international award-winning designer. Elissa has a Bachelor of Business as well as a Diploma of Interior Design and over 10 years’ experience in the industry. Elissa will be sharing with the group her insights into colour schemes for kitchens and bathrooms, and creating mood boards.

Celia Visser, alongside a qualified electrician and lighting designer based in Wanaka, will then explore with attendees the value of a good electrical plan and how to successfully light a kitchen and bathroom space. They will then answer some of those curly questions we all have around electrical requirements.

Our final speaker will be Royston Wilson, who has also kindly joined us from across the ditch. As a member of the NKBA 2022 Judging panel, we are thrilled to have Royston not only attending conference, but as a speaker. Over his career Royston has won many accolades for his work in Australia and is one of a small group of Australians who holds an international design award.  Since 1998, Royston has collected over 120 awards from KBDI, HIA, BDAV and others, with accolades including Best Kitchen Designer, Best Bathroom Designer, Best Commercial Kitchen, Best Retail Design, Best Hospitality Restaurant, Best Residential Design Alteration and Addition, and the international award of Best Bathroom Designer.

Marianne says Royston is passionate about education and will focus on this topic while sharing more about his career journey.

“Education is close to Royston’s heart and in his role as Executive Director at KBDI in Australia he has a deep understanding about the power of education. Royston is a wonderful speaker and will be sharing the ups and downs of his time as a designer and in the industry. It is one not to be missed,” says Marianne.

The event will finish with networking drinks.

There are limited spaces to attend this event, so be sure to register as soon as possible!