We caught up with Autex Acoustics — an Interior of the Year partner — to discuss the brand’s longstanding support of New Zealand’s architecture and design community, its ongoing investment in sustainable innovation, and the collaborations shaping the future of acoustic design in Aotearoa.
Tell us about your history of supporting the architecture and design industry in New Zealand.
Autex Acoustics® has played a long and evolving role in supporting New Zealand’s architecture and design industry and communities over the last 60 years.
Autex Acoustics has a strong culture of working closely with specifiers, architects, and designers, often co-creating solutions and refining them collaboratively. We also provide technical support and specification expertise — guidance, resources, and customised solutions to help designers meet their performance and sustainability requirements. Our design and production are closely linked, which allows us to be responsive to designers’ needs.
Investment in the wider design ecosystem through sponsorships, partnerships, and collaborations that elevate the design community is a key element of our support of the industry. Awards contribute to recognition, professional growth, industry standards, business success, and wider societal impact.
Most importantly, our products and services help our design community create spaces that improve wellbeing, comfort, and usability, creating safe and healthy spaces for Aotearoa.
Why did you want to support the Interior of the Year awards, and what does it mean for your brand to get behind this programme?
Supporting key design moments like the Interior of the Year Awards is one of the ways we stay closely connected to our community. We’ve always supported architecture and design in Aotearoa, and see these partnerships as an opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and celebrate the work shaping our built environment.
Stronger connections lead to deeper understanding, which creates better opportunities to work together and deliver meaningful, high-quality outcomes.
What are some of the recent highlights from the Autex Acoustics team in terms of what you’ve been delivering and achieving?
Among all our beautiful products and services, we’re particularly proud of our partnership with Emma Hayes.
Autex Acoustics and Emma Hayes have been collaborating since 2022, and the partnership has grown into an ongoing, evolving design relationship.
The collaboration has created a product that turns acoustic materials into design-led, expressive surfaces, combining local New Zealand creativity with global product innovation. We’re aligned in our values, bringing together sustainability, performance, and aesthetics.
This ongoing collaboration proves that performance materials can be beautiful, meaningful, and culturally grounded — and that’s exactly where the future of design is heading.
As a New Zealand-owned company, what does local ownership mean when it comes to setting you apart?
As a proudly local, family-owned business, everything we do is grounded in care for our people, our communities, and our environment. It shapes how we design, innovate, and manufacture, connecting every part of our process to deliver designer acoustics for healthy built environments.
We are fibre pioneers at our core, pairing Kiwi ingenuity with a deep commitment to doing what’s right. The result is a culture that’s uniquely Autex: practical, forward-thinking, and proudly Kiwi.
Are there any recent milestones or news from Autex Acoustics that you’d like the industry to know about?
Designer Spotlight Series
We’ve been showcasing various New Zealand designers as part of our Designer Spotlight series. The focus of this series is to elevate and celebrate local design voices, connecting materials to meaningful design outcomes and inspiring innovation across the industry.
Our connection with the design community is foundational to our work, and it’s important to us that we’re not just a product supplier, but an active contributor to the culture, knowledge, and future of the design community.
Embrace™
Last year, we introduced Embrace™, a bio-based acoustic system made from NZ Strong Wool.
It’s certified as a NaturePositive+ product, so not only is it sustainable, it’s also regenerative, emphasising our commitment to shifting toward materials that give back to the environment.
SpinFix™
We also introduced SpinFix™, our 100% recycled PET adhesive-free panel mounting system.
The manufacturing process improves the ease of reuse and recycling at the end of life. Using SpinFix clips also adds a 6mm air gap to improve acoustic performance, so the product is both circular and high-performing.
