Ko Tarawera te maunga. Ko Tarawera te awa.
Ko Te Arawa te waka. Ko Te Arawa te iwi.
Ko Kaan Hiini tōku ingoa.
He Kaiwhakatauira whakanikoniko e noho ana i Tāmaki Makaurau.
Kaan Hiini is a multi-disciplinary designer, passionate about using his creative skills to create positive social change.
He does this at Curative, an creative agency working to change the narrative of complex social issues using creativity, connection and collaboration.
Joining Curative shortly after it’s inception, he has helped grow and shape the company’s vision and creative direction, working on projects addressing issues ranging from gender inequality to LGBTQ+ youth support and educational inequality. His work spans print, branding, digital, photography, motion and experience design and has been recognised in the Best Awards.
Key to his process is co-design, a method of design research that privileges the perspectives, insights and experiences of the communities Curative works with, allowing them to better test, break or strengthen their assumptions, so they have a robust understanding of the issues they’re addressing and the people involved. This approach empowers both the creatives and the communities they work with.
Alongside his work at Curative he helped found and organise the Auckland chapter of the free monthly lecture series CreativeMornings until 2017, and writes for Design Assembly, an online publication seeking to grow and challenge the New Zealand graphic design community through online conversation, to build a strong, supportive profession.
