At the NKBA Excellence in Design Awards, four student designers were recognised.

The 2019 CDS Student Design Competition winner was Melanie John of Cube Dentro in Auckland and a highly commended was awarded to Michael Murray of Native Timber Joinery in Te Awamutu.

The CDS Student Design Competition is for students currently studying towards a National Diploma in Kitchen Design. In order to enter they must design and prepare working drawings based on a client brief. This year the brief was for a client in Auckland, in their mid-50’s, with two teenage girls and a budget of $60-$70K. Parameters included the clients wanting to keep their dark oak dining table, the tiled flooring needed to be replaced with timber floors and the breakfast bar had to be increased in size to cater for more than two people.

NKBA Executive Officer, Suzie Rees, said both Melanie and Michael did an excellent job of interpreting the brief.

“The CDS Student Design Competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to flex their creative muscles. Congratulations to Melanie and Michael. It is a tough competition, with many great entries,” said Suzie.

In addition to the CDS Student Design Competition, Meghan Nockels of Design Federation in Oamaru won the CDS Education Scholarship and Jaimi Brunton of Native Timber Joinery was the winner of BCITO most promising student.

At the awards ceremony, NKBA also asked all students who have achieved their qualification in the last 12 months to come up on stage to receive an acknowledgement from NKBA. In the past year we had an astounding 20 students receive their certification.

At NKBA, we believe that education is the key to successful kitchen and bathroom design and the continued professional development of our industry. It was a wonderful moment to celebrate with these high achieving designers. We would like to thank all the business owners who help promote education within their design team.