First CliP sculpture finds home on Ferry Road

The first Taupō town centre ‘wayfinding’ paperclip sculpture found its way onto Ferry Road yesterday, with a further 10 CliP sculptures to be installed this month.

The 3.1m paperclip sculpture, known simply as CliP, is the first of 11 sculptures to be installed in the town centre. Together the sculptures form the new wayfinding project and will be positioned at key pedestrian locations in the town centre, Tongariro Domain and boat harbour.

The paperclips will be painted red, blue, green and yellow, representing fire, water, earth and air respectively, and reflecting the vibrant colours in the new Great Lake Taupō destination branding. Each sculpture holds two information boards, with directional signage to key facilities and attractions, a town centre map and information about local events and stories.

Wayfinding is a modern urban design principle of combining directional signage, maps, art and storytelling together to communicate information, predominantly to pedestrians.

Taupō District Council Urban Designer, Chris Bailey, says internationally and in many New Zealand towns and cities wayfinding is becoming commonplace. “Wayfinding will likely play a major role in the rebuild of the Christchurch CBD. Usually you see wayfinding signs on basic totem poles with clocks on top. We wanted to do something a bit different.”

“We used the humble paperclip because they have been holding information together for over 150 years and they do it so simply and effectively; it is the essence of good design. We are also celebrating the iconic Kiwi tradition of ‘super-sizing’ everyday objects.”

CliP will be lit up with special LED lights and will be clearly visible and identifiable in the dark. “At night is when they will really take on their true sculptural form.”

Members of the community are invited to tell their stories for use on future CliP storyboards. They can do so by going to www.facebook.com/taupoclip CliP’s official Facebook page. “The bottom story-boards are interchangeable and we intend to update them several times a year. We want CliP to be a community project, so we need local stories to do that.”

A bright red, 4.1m prototype of CliP was installed in Spa Thermal Park in July without any story boards or information. “This first sculpture was really a prelude to the full CliP project, but it also celebrates the artistic design element that has gone into CliP. It also got people talking about it.”

In total, there are planned 20 CliP sculptures to go in and around the Taupō township. Construction of the remaining CliPs will be done locally, including the fabrication of the steel, installation and the creation of the story-boards.