ŌTAUTAHI INNOVATIONS

INNOVATION

This city of ours is a special place. We challenge the status quo and routinely change the world. Ernest Rutherford pioneered nuclear physics just down the road from wherever you’re reading this, Kate Sheppard led an equal rights revolution from Ilam, and Bill Hamilton invented the jet boat on our rivers. We punch above our weight for fresh and innovative thinking.

So, who’s pushing the limits today? What businesses are changing the future of humanity and helping the world in their own innovative ways? All these businesses call Christchurch home.

In an achievement reminiscent of the Wright Brothers, Christchurch company ElectricAir recently flew their electric plane across Cook Strait. It was the world’s longest flight over water by a pure electric plane and cost about $2 in electricity. Gary Freedman founded the company in an effort to reduce the carbon emissions of the aviation industry and hopes their Cook Strait flight is the spark that shifts the industry towards electric.

Making NZ’s healthcare system more environmentally and financially sustainable, Medsalv reprocesses single-use medical devices and makes them clinically safe to use again. Christchurch Boys’ High leaver Oliver Hunt started it as a Masters project at the University of Canterbury. It has since won innovation awards all over the show. Medsalv has kept thousands of tonnes of medical waste from landfills and saved the NZ health system an estimated $100 million each year. Legends.

Here’s a harsh reality – less than a generation ago, most of our waterways were swimmable. This is no longer the case, but Christchurch company eClean Envirotech is hoping to turn things around. Ngārie Scartozzi used her expertise in aquaculture to come up with a ‘bioreactor’ of bacteria and other organisms that reduces nutrient loads in waterways. She sees it becoming a commonplace technology in agriculture and other industries.

Imagine making F1 cars, superyachts, and road bikes from hemp. Cool, right? That’s the future, according to NZ Natural Fibres. They were recently successful in securing a $3.2m grant via MPI to research and develop their hemp growing, processing, and marketing capabilities. They’re the only hemp fibre company in NZ to own their supply chain end-to-end and have big plans for industrial and consumer products made from hemp fibre. Bring on the future!

This Christchurch company revolutionised the auto parts market by creating online infrastructure for a traditionally offline industry and making it easy for mechanics and companies around the world to ensure they’re buying the right parts for the right vehicle. They have online data for more than 40 million auto parts. They’re also on the money, having raised $1.7m in seed funding, with customers in more than 13 countries.

It’s often said voicemail is outdated, but perhaps it was just the functionality that was past it. Christchurch-based company Vxt has changed the voicemail game for businesses and individuals around the world by creating an app to listen and even transcribe voice messages. The app has more than 20,000 downloads, and Vxt recently raised $600,000 in seed funding. The young go-getting team, led by 25-year-old Luke Campbell, has growth in their sights.

IN DETAIL

Following a long history of partnerships here in Christchurch, ECC recently made a move to a ‘mono-branded’ presence with the opening of an architectural lighting showroom around the corner at 143a Victoria Street. This expansion to a standalone retail space was the natural evolution for ECC here in the Garden City.

For those not familiar with the lighting stalwart, ECC represents the world’s leading lighting, furniture, and design brands and brings these exclusively to New Zealand. The search is continuous for the globe’s most innovative designs and solutions, all with the aim to meet increasingly complex lighting and design requirements. ECC specialises in lighting and furniture for residential, office, commercial, retail, hospitality, and street and urban projects.

ECC is firmly all about family. Owned by the same family since conception in 1909 by founder George Levett, the company is now run by Thorburn’s grandson, Mike. This extends down to Mike’s sons Richard and Andrew, also as part of the ECC team.

Mike has been the driving force behind the development of an extensive range of lighting and furniture products over the last 40 years.

Until the pandemic, Mike had made the annual trip to Salone del Mobile in Milan for 35 years, working with other family-owned supplliers, bringing back inspiration and the latest in international design to the New Zealand market.

Mike says every item in the ECC showroom has been ‘personally selected with an eye for the unique and original, something we have a true passion for’.

“We firmly believe in building long term relationships with manufacturers as evidenced by our 35-year association with iGuzzini, Flos, and Artemide – brands which draw on the talents of some of the world’s leading designers. It is also a unique experience to house extensive collections of furniture and lighting within one showroom. It makes for a supremely inspiring shopping experience for our clients.”

ECC’s curation has a distinctly international flavour. With furniture collections from Minotti, Linteloo, Magis, Giorgetti, Glas Italia, and Piet Boon. Lighting brands include Flos, BOCCI, Christopher Boots, Astro, Marset, Tom Dixon, and Gervasoni. Details are by Tom Dixon, Serax, and Serralunga.

The interior fit-out of the Christchurch space was conceptualised by Auckland based interior designer Rufus Knight, who was also the designer for the Minotti Studio in Auckland. With a luxe oak veneer and Ambitec plastered walls, the showroom sets a refined, architectural mood that complements the brand’s broad collection of products.

Mike, Andrew, and Richard, along with the entire ECC team here in Ōtautahi, welcome you to explore ECC’s curated space. The showcase of contemporary designs and timeless classics from brands whose products have graced the various ECC showrooms across the country for over 30 years is something else.

“With these highly regarded brands led by world-renowned designers, we have every element of a design-oriented home covered.”

ecc.co.nz