In 1959 the company essayed its first design competition. In an improbable echo of Sutch’s reflections on the role of the arts in developing local industry, Clark was quoted as observing that ‘if New Zealand industry is to progress beyond the humdrum, artists and designers will have to play a full part in this development.’8 In its 15 April newsletter the Architectural Centre announced: This competition is being sponsored by Crown Lynn in association with the Auckland Society of Arts, and closes on June 1st 1959. The prize money is good— the cup saucer and platter have already been designed— all you have to do is design a decorative motive—not necessarily a New Zealandish one—so be in.9 But, a month later, the Centre warned that the competition was held to be unethical: ‘This was discussed at the last meeting of the Association of N.Z. Arts Societies; and the Centre has spoken to the Auckland Society of Arts who sponsored it for Crown Lynn.’ Despite these setbacks, some one hundred entries were received from all over the country—including one from the recently-sacked Frank Carpay who was awarded a consolation prize of ten pounds. It was a shrewd opportunity to re-brand the company, both in the eyes of the public and, most importantly, in the views of wholesalers and retailers: two of the judges were ‘chinaware buyers’ who expressed disappointment ‘that so few floral entries were of prize winning standard’ and that ‘the better work was in contemporary ware.’10 The winner of the competition was a Wellington-based designer, Otway Josling, who submitted ‘a pattern of four stylised fern-leaves, in black and white, on an all-over blue background.’ Both Josling’s design and that of the second place getter, Don Mills of Auckland, were placed in production: Josling’s pattern ‘inspired by the natural fauna of New Zealand […] with New Zealand’s hallowed national emblem, the Fern Leaf as its motif’ ‘Reflections’, was produced initially in earthenware and later in vitreous china used to decorate the in-flight china used on the national flag carrier TEAL.11

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