A call to biophilic design

It was around this time that David began to narrow his design focus to lighting; a decision that was driven, in part, by his unwavering commitment to reducing the environmental impact of doing business.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges of my company,” he reflects. “We’ve narrowed ourselves down into quite a small corner. Twenty years ago I was making furniture, big sculptures, jewellery … but as we became more [environmentally] efficient at making these lights, we’ve made it harder for ourselves to branch out into new areas.”

An early champion of biophilic design, David defines the term as a “way of creating” that extends beyond a vertical garden or interior foliage.

“It’s imitating the process of nature. And the process of nature is an evolving of community – everything’s interrelated and works together,” he explains. “It is an ‘enabling’ rather than an ‘imposing’ process.”

One project that exemplifies this approach is Rotorua’s Redwood Nightlights, a 700-metre-long forest walk along suspended bridges and platforms, which are illuminated at night by David’s intricate lantern designs.

“[Biophilic design] is taking what’s there, organising things, bringing in the history and everything about that place so you’re aware of it, but you’re not confronted with it.”

Sinking into the subconscious

David adopts a similarly fluid approach towards his own creative process, insisting that inspiration requires an open mind to receive it.

“If you’re in the right state of mind it will happen, but you can’t force it [or] it becomes contrived,” he says.

“Another way to describe it would be in the subconscious. By relaxing in a calming environment, you’re sinking into your subconscious. And in that subconscious you’re connected to something greater, where you can hear radio waves with longer frequencies from further away … There, you’ll find some little kernel of an idea which you carefully bring back, nurture and grow. Then the hard work begins.”

Sustainability as a process

David’s eco-credentials speak for themselves. In 2015, his company was the first to register an Environmental Product Declaration (a third-party-verified sustainability document) under the EPD Australasia Programme. The same year, his Coral Pendant Light won the Sustainable Product Design Award at the Designers Institute of New Zealand 2015 Best Design Awards.