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Judges Derek Patrick Back to Judges  Biography PG Bison’s 1.618 Competition and Awards retail partner, Derek Patrick, has some serious design credentials. Graduating from the Natal Technikon when being a design hippy was still cool, Derek went on to become a founding member of the Boston House School of Design in both Cape Town and Spain. He headed up Woolworths store design department before setting up The Design Company in 1994. The company won the ISDA International Best Store of the Year Award twice - for Woolworths Fourways and Canal Walk, and Derek reckons his most exciting retail experience has been working on the @home brand as one of the original brand designers, both in SA and abroad, since its inception. Q&A How creative or practical should an entry be for the competition? There needs to be a balance between practicality and creativity, in a competition like this I would like to see a slant towards creativity. Best entries will showcase creative thought processes and indicate the practical challenges and possible solutions. What would appeal to you or excite you when looking at the entries? Uniqueness and originality, good understanding of the needs of the brand reflected in the interpretation of the brief towards a "design solution". Is there anything that would put you off or that you would dislike? Trying to mask poor creativity and thought with "pretty pictures". What do you think or what would you be looking for with regards this brief for @home? A moderate understanding of homeware retailing, novel and interesting ways to present the product, an understanding of spatial planning in a retail environment. How important is the presentation of the entry and how should students focus on presenting their work? Any experienced designer will be able to see right through the "pretty picture". It is the content that is important; to present this in a clear uncluttered manner is important. Stay focused on the content / design solution and let the overall presentation be the support to the design. How do you get inspiration for your work and have you had a good experience designing a retail space which may be of interest to the entrants? I am fortunate to have the opportunity to travel abroad extensively each year to either research or undertake retail work in other countries; I spend a lot of my time reading online or design journals and have an absolute passion for retail. Honestly, my most exciting retail design experience has been working on the @home brand as one of the original brand designers and having worked on the brand development both in SA and abroad since inception, I feel as if this is my brand. Back to Judges |
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