An industrial design student from Tauranga has been named a finalist for four projects in a national competition.
Toby McGuffie, 21, is in his final year of a Bachelor of Design with Honours, majoring in Industrial Design at Massey University in Wellington, but hails from Tauranga.
The Tauranga Boys’ College graduate had two personal and two group projects – Aeron, Fuse, BirdWatch and Zyra – named finalists in the academic industrial design category at this year’s New Zealand Best Design Awards.
The awards are an annual showcase run by the Designers Institute of New Zealand.
The winners will be announced on October 9 in Auckland, and McGuffie plans to attend.
He entered the awards for the first time after a lecturer suggested entering projects from his portfolio.
Aeron is an interface for cross-country mountain biking. The bike’s handlebars, controls, sensors, displays and ride data are presented in a single streamlined system.
Toby McGuffie's project Aeron is a digital interface for cross-country mountain biking.
McGuffie’s project brought his passion for cycling to life.
He said there were externally mounted devices for cyclists, but his project built the digital system into the handlebars.
“It’s like a smartwatch built into the bike, so you can have your GPS and heart-rate zones displayed.”
He enjoyed the creative freedom to develop his concept.
“That’s the cool thing about university. They encourage us to think far and wide and come up with crazy ideas. They might not be feasible, but at least we get to explore it as a concept.”
One of McGuffie’s group projects, BirdWatch, is a monitoring system for bird species recognition, individual identification and health tracking.
He and his group developed a solar-powered bird feeder that collects data, which is stored in an app through which users can track the birds.
Toby McGuffie's project BirdWatch is a monitoring system and solar-powered bird feeder.
He said the group contacted the Department of Conservation to discuss its projects, then took their “own spin” designing a consumer-based product.
He was “pretty stoked” to learn the projects were named finalists.
“I didn’t realise all four had been named. I saw one and was like, ‘That’s so cool.’ It wasn’t until the next day I had a proper look and saw all four of them in there.
“It’s cool to reflect on the time and effort I’ve put in over the last three or four years at Massey. It’s cool to have the hard work pay off.”
He said he “fell in love” with industrial design in the workshop.
“I loved the physical aspect of it, actually making physical products.”
McGuffie’s future looks bright, with a history of awards behind him.
He was awarded the Acorn Foundation Cashmore Family Scholarship in 2022, was chosen – without applying – for Massey University’s Peter and Doris MacDonald Scholarship earlier this year, and was awarded Massey University’s Professor Tony Parker Scholarship in 2025.
Looking ahead to entering the workforce next year, he said he was applying for many roles. He had a keen interest in bike and furniture design, as well as homewares.
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.