Travelling designers make home in Queenstown

Two international Argentinian designers now based in Queenstown have told Spark Festival attendees never to get too comfortable in one place.

As part of the 2017 Spark week festival at Wintec, designers and founders of Makebardo Luis Viale and Bren Imboden spoke to students and creatives this past Tuesday.

“It’s really invigorating for us to have these opportunities and it’s great to meet new creatives and see what they are doing,” Viale said.

Based in Queenstown, Viale and Imboden are originally from Argentina where they met at the University of Buenos Aries where Viale studied architecture and Imboden graphic design.

Before the move to Queenstown, Viale and Imboden were based in Buenos Aries, Barcelona, and Melbourne which helped develop their client base.

“We never thought we would end up in Queenstown but we just flowed with the opportunities,” Imboden said

“We never like to be too comfortable in one place,” Viale said. “When we moved to Queenstown we said we would be here for good but we never know. Nothing is absolute.”

During their speech, Viale and Imboden gave some keys points of advice for graduates looking to make it in the design industry.

“Everyone is different and things that may work for us may not work for others,” Imboden said.

The two brought their skill sets together to found Makebardo which specialises in packaging design and branding for clients all around the world, ranging from start ups to established businesses.

“Our big clients are also the smallest ones [start up businesses],” Imboden said. “

“We take great care of the work we do for our clients and we make sure not to break their pockets.”

“But you always need to be curious and always take care of what you do.”

Some of Makebardo’s recent work has been the packaging for local beverage companies around Queenstown, including the design for Cargo Brewery which won the Designers Institute of New Zealand best packaging award in 2016.