With so much happening at the end of the year,
we forgot to share the BIG news that Big Kahuna not only made it into the Top 50 of Anthill Magazine’s Coolest Companies but also had the honour of being a Finalist for the X Factor Award!
The X-Factor Award is awarded to a company that demonstrates extraordinary levels of innovative, entrepreneurial and creative flair. The winner of this particularly subjective award is assessed against the vision, strategy and execution of its exceptionally cool business product and/or service.
Congratulations to the winner, Starlettos, and our fellow finalists Nanotek, Doin Time and LX Design House as well as the other Cool Companies.
Here’s what the lovely people at Anthill had to say about Big Kahuna Imagineering…
“You would think that a company that models and fabricates giant shoes, soda bottles and coffee cups would be slam-dunk cool. End of discussion, right?
Ah, but Will Colhoun, the founder and principal wizard of Big Kahuna Imagineering, has no intention of stopping there. “We are a full-service provider often involved in projects from conception to installation/delivery and beyond,” he says. Clients get what they need, not what we feel comfortable supplying. We’re rarely in a comfort zone. Therefore, our clients are rewarded with powerfully original marketing tools.”
Colhoun, who worked as a model maker and prop designer on several big-budget films for Fox Studios, created Big Kahuna in 2000. Out of its shop in Rozelle, NSW, Calhoun and his small-but-flexible team create three-dimensional displays, signs, animatronic TV/video characters, puppets, device prototypes and art installations.
Some familiar client campaigns are the Sensodyne Chill Test and Bankwest’s sunshiney “Happy Banking” characters. Visit the company’s website to see images of some uber-cool projects: a Land-of-Oz-like robot costume for a Korean music video, an acrylic “ice army” for State Opera of South Australia’s presentation of the Ring Cycle, a Titanic-size propeller for Cascade brewery.
In a world where protection of intellectual property is a nearly manic pursuit, BKI doesn’t shield its ideas, aside from watermarks on drawings and designs. Why? Colhoun would rather focus on making the next thing more awesome than the last. And though he’s a businessman, he has the soul of an artist. “An artist looks to create bigger and better things and has to live comfortably with that being their collateral,” he says.
“We don’t emulate anyone,” Colhoun says. “We shoot from the hip. We never have to re-hash and re-do old projects. Our staff love coming to work and we’re a family sensitive business. We respect experience, skill and enthusiasm without prejudice.”
Big Kahuna employs social media to spread the word about their work, but the majority of their projects come from the reputation they’ve built over a decade. And when a major project has been put to bed, BKI enjoys treating staff and partners to a slap-up meal.
“I’m not only operating commercially. We have artistic passion that runs through the veins of our business,” Colhoun says. “Often I ask someone to do a thing we don’t need to do because it will make for a better product. Looking at us as individuals, would any one of us say we’re cool? No, we’re actually quite nerdy. But, we know cool sh#t and we have the courage to do what many of our competitors are afraid to.”