Straining History Ernest Hayes: Pioneer Industrial Designer

Abstract

This thesis began with an enquiry into the origins of a ubiquitous artefact of everyday life in rural New Zealand; the Hayes permanent wire strainer.

Researching this artefact quickly revealed that the origins of the Hayes permanent wire strainer were vastly at odds with popular belief; a belief that somehow enshrined the strainer as symbolic of a particular quality, or qualities, that are commonly regarded as defining characteristics of what it means to be a New Zealander, namely those of pragmatism and adaptability. The discovery that Hayes did not invent the Hayes permanent wire strainer, led to further research into the notion of design as an evolutionary process, and this in turn, led to an even more more compelling question about the nature of Hayes‘ work. As with all research led enquiry, this thesis provides more questions than answers but central to the thesis is the proposition that Ernest Hayes was a pioneer of New Zealand industrial design. I hope that the subject matter may prove a useful prompt for other scholars of design history to take up the task of broadening the scope of this discipline to include content from other previously excluded domains such as agricultural tools and equipment.