From design school project to acoustic panels in three Auckland offices

Josh Tenari made his first panel in a garage in Glen Innes with felted strong wool and a plywood frame, because the foam panels his studio could afford looked cheap and off-gassed in a closed room.

Architects started asking where to buy them. Rongo Acoustics now runs a small production line with a felting partner in Hamilton and sells through three commercial fitout firms.

Josh's point to other young makers is unglamorous: wool has a design story that sells itself, but you still have to pass the specification tests, and that is where most good ideas quietly stop.