Page 30 - IB July 2020

Design through a Pacific lens

When it comes to selecting careers and “Another reason I chose AUT was for and the Spatial Design Year 3 Studio.
university courses, family involvement the social environment on campus and “This opportunity has really opened
brings the right motivation for Sapati the Fale Niu (Pacific Island Student As- up my mind to the tensions and scope
Mossiah Avei Fina’i. sociation) and Office of Pacific Advance- of what art can really be and what it
“A big factor for wanting to design and ment support, the cultural belonging means to people in the way they feel and
create was my family. Coming from a big aspect of study was something I wanted react or engage. Speaking Surfaces is so
tight knit family meant I had a lot of peo- for myself. The reason I chose to STAY at multi-purpose and diverse as it explores
ple to turn to, so I wanted to reflect this AUT was because of the people I met and different practices and techniques while
support and love for family in my work. the lecturers who invested time into my protecting traditional ideas and project-
Architecturally, family is represented work and ideas.” ing them in a modern and contemporary
in sacred places like Fale Pasifika and way.
Marae and that’s why I wanted to study Speaking surfaces “It has opened doors to opportunities
and explore spatial design from a Polyne- Learning to trust his instincts has been and networking with experts in the field
sian lens.” a big part of Fina’i’s academic journey. and I’ve been able to share my voice and
When Fina’i says he has a big family, he “Every single project or piece of work work in the place I’ve been lucky to learn
means it. The 23-year-old of Sāmoan, Eu- that I’ve done hasn’t had the same or in.”
ropean and Chinese descent is one of 15 originally anticipated outcome, but been
siblings and has always been surrounded more than what I expected.” And it What the future holds
in the arts, from his father and uncles’ helped him achieve a milestone of being Fina’i is now working for the Office of
family band to his own garage band and involved in the Speaking Surfaces exhi- Pacific Advancement at AUT, with a de-
a love of drawing, sculpture and graphics bition, a collaboration and experimental sire to break down some more barriers
throughout his schooling. design project between St Paul St Gallery for the Pacific community.
A talented drummer, Fina’i has also “My ultimate goal in life is to give back
been creating the drum beats for AUT’s and share my work with others. I hope to
2020 Pacific Language Video Series, using inspire other budding creatives to pursue
a traditional Samoan fala. their goals and use their artistic ‘flare’ to
express themselves. Eventually I’d like to
Building a career build a centre for creators to explore, de-
He discovered a passion for the thought velop and finetune their craft in whatever
process and design/conceptual stages of mediums they choose and help contribute
building and making—which led him to to their communities and a new evolution
AUT’s Bachelor of Design. “I often won- of design in Aotearoa and the Pacific.”
dered how buildings and spaces went Further education is also appealing to
from something intangible like a thought/ Fina’i, who is considering adding a Mas-
vision to something tangible to touch, ters to his impressive resume - and he’s
hear and see. So my curiosity led me to unequivocal in his advice to those still de-
the space I’m in now where I’ve been able ciding how to structure their tertiary fu-
to speak my own thoughts into existence ture - no matter what field they focus on.
and draw on inspiration from my Samo- “Be patient and carry your authen-
an heritage and life experiences, all while ticity wherever you go. Trust yourself
learning and connecting with others. “ and be kind.”
Finding the right course took time.
Fina’i knew he wanted to study architec- AUT Spatial Design
ture but was unsure in what capacity. Graduate,
“The Spatial Design major at AUT was Mossiah Fina’i
the best fit for me because I wanted to
try my hand at different types of prac-
tises and with their range of minoring
choices I was able to do this.
“I chose digital fabrication
as my minor where I learnt
a lot more technologi-
cal skills and software
development tech-
niques, before then,
most of my art was
hand sketching
and using hard/
physical materi-
als for models.

30 Islands Business, July 2020