Arnya Karaitiana’s LIA Diary #2: “The best work often lives where two threads meet: people and place, together”

Arnya Karaitiana, Creative Director & Kaiārahi Māori at Special Aotearoa is representing New Zealand on the LIA Non-Traditional jury. Karaitiana, along with many other New Zealand and Australian jurors, reports exclusively for CB.

Las Vegas is a place that doesn’t believe in silence. Slot machines humming, endless carpets, neon fighting for your attention even in broad daylight. It’s a surreal backdrop for judging creativity — perhaps the perfect place for “Non-Traditional.”

Layers upon layers. Texture on texture. Everything here is trying to make a statement, to be bigger, brighter, louder than the thing next to it. And in a way, the work we’re judging feels like that too. Every idea pushing to stand out and to be remembered.

But today, as a jury, we started to narrow our view. To look past the noise. To ask: which ideas don’t just dress themselves up as “different,” but genuinely shift the way we see, feel, act — and carry purpose beyond the surface?

A theme emerged. Many of the ideas wrestled with the environment — climate change, sustainability, the relationship between people and planet. Brands looking to nature for inspiration, and for redemption. Some of these attempts felt like clichés, tired patterns in shiny new wrapping. But others carried real weight. Genuine connection. Human brilliance meeting natural wisdom.

From my perspective, these are the ideas that strike a deeper chord. In Te Ao Māori, we are never separate from the land, from the environment. Our stories, our survival, our future — they all flow from this relationship. So when I see work that moves beyond and genuinely respects that interconnection, it feels more than creative. It feels necessary. And it’s not just about our bond with place — it’s about our responsibilities to each other as people. Care, reciprocity, whanaungatanga. The best work often lives where those two threads meet: people and place, together.

Today we started to find those threads, beginning the debates and weighing the bold against the beautiful, the strategic against the soulful. Day Two was about— finding the texture, the nuance, and the rare ideas that truly step outside the box, not just decorate it. Tomorrow, the decisions get sharper, and the shine gets handed out.