Saturday 14 June 2008

Michael Major becomes business mentor for Generator business

Following the recent announcement in the DINZ newsletter regarding the Generator seeking mentors for resident business I am very pleased to say that Michael Major has joined the mentoring team.
The relationship between Michael and Unitec goes back a few years: Michael graduated from Unitec with a Masters in Design Management in 1996. We are excited to have Michael at Unitec, all be it in a very different capacity.

Michael has extensive experience in creating branded environments that give a competitive
edge through enriching the end user’s experience. Michael specialises in helping clients to use
design and branding to position their businesses for the future.
During his time at top London Interior Design Consultants, McColl Associates and The Design
Solution, Michael was the principal retail designer on a variety of projects. These ranged from
food and beverage retailing to large shopping centres throughout the U.K. In 1992 Michael
formed 2MD Design, which became the leading retail design company in New Zealand, with
retail projects in Australia and South East Asia. In 2006 he set up a new retail design division for Ogilvy New Zealand going on to form his own consultancy Michael Major Limited in 2007
specialising in retail 3D brand design.

Michael’s reputation as a professional strategic designer has been enhanced by the numerous
design awards he has received, either professionally or as part of a design team. While in
Britain, he was the principal interior designer for Princes Square Specialty Shopping Centre in
Glasgow, which won the Scottish Design award in 1987. The following year, the Pavilions
Shopping Centre in Birmingham, for which he was the principal interior designer, won the
international shopping centre award. Since being in New Zealand, Michael’s has won
numerous retail design awards.

Michael has worked on a variety of retail and residential precinct high level branding in New
Zealand such as Smales Farm Office Technology Park, Sanatarium Master Planning Feasibility
Site Study, Karaka Lakes Residential Experiential 3D Brand Enhancement & Marketing Launch
Strategy, Botany Town Centre and Remarkables Park Town Centre.
Michael has been a regular judge for the Auckland Top Shop Awards and DINZ Best Design
Awards. He is a member of the Design Industry of New Zealand (DINZ).

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Quote

"For me a business plan is a road-map to make your idea happen. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m not sure creatives should be talking about revenue streams and supply chains when they mean income and a network of friends and contacts in various creative fields. "I met this guy and he knows someone who can help out." That’s so underplayed and yet it’s so important to successful business. Terms like ‘supply chain’ are only so much alienating jargon.”

Hugo Manassei
Director, NESTA Graduate
Pioneer Programme

Quote

"Barbara made business seem so relevant. And that made it immediately interesting to me. I really felt that I wanted to understand it better because it’s related to what I am doing"

(Generator resident post Waitakere Enterprise/Generator Business Courses)