Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Name: Nanette Cameron

When Nanette graduated with a degree from Otago University, Interior Design did not exist in New Zealand, even as a concept.  Nanette had decided she wanted to work in interior design but with no formal way to learn all she needed to know she was diverted into secondary school teaching before heading off on her big OE.  Based in England she travelled widely in Europe learning by "osmosis" before returning to New Zealand to join the then only true Design and Furnishing Store, Hurdleys.  There were no Interior Design courses available in Australasia so everything had to be learnt on the job through an apprenticeship. 

Having caught the interior design bug, it was after her first child was born that Nanette was inveigled into Teaching Night Classes at Tamaki College, where she relished the study involved in developing a successful course in Interior Design.  The School grew and expanded, moving into the Community and Cultural Centre in Pakuranga, where for the first time, it was officially named as The Nanette Cameron School of Interior Design.  The Cultural Centre has since been re-named Te Tuhi, and the Interior Design School remains an important and significant part of the organisation.

Nanette has a deep passion for design and people, and unites the two through her courses.  She loves much from the past but gets excited about new "cutting edge" design and architecture.  She feels that next to creating a home and family, is the richness that comes from travel, but travel with a purpose or goal.  Every year Nanette tries to go to a country or city she has not previously visited, one year it might be the famous Milan Furniture Fair, followed by a visit to a new and challenging Art Gallery or Museum, such as the Guggenheim in Bilboa in Spain.  Nanette feels she is lucky in that she has the classes to share her experiences and enrich their future travels.  She frequently gets a card from overseas from an appreciative previous student saying how appreciative they are for her "opening their eyes”. 

Nanette's most significant work is in the form of her ability to teach and inspire in the way that she does.

Over many many years, Nanette has introduced a steady stream of students to the inner workings of colour and how they can harness the power of colour on their projects, from the smallest residential project to large commercial projects.  Through her students Nanette’s interior design principles have touched many buildings all over the world, and especially so in New Zealand.  And even more so, they have opened up her students eyes to the endless possibilities of how they can do things differently, whether that be in design, in life or in colour.