KNIGHT VISION

His outspoken views have won him both fans and enemies. But business pioneer Sir Ian Taylor isn't planning to pull his punches any time soon.

- PAUL GORMAN

Influence and ideas: Sir lan Taylor.

He may be one of New Zealand's most-travelled entrepreneurs but nobody could accuse Sir Ian Taylor of having itchy feet. Although Covid-19 has well and truly clipped his wings, the managing director of Dunedin-based Animation Research Ltd (ARL) is the first to admit they needed trimming.

The thriving business he oversees, providing millions of viewers around the world with compelling sports graphics for sailing, golf, cricket, motorsport and baseball, is, he says, better for it. "Our carbon footprint was horrendous. And I did between half a million and a million miles a year. But that technology was always here. This wasn't an issue of technology, it was an issue of attitude. Now it's done from upstairs."

For a man with such global outreach, it's ironic he has been content to stay close to home in Ōtepoti-Dunedin during the pandemic.

Taylor and his wife, Liz Grieve, whom he met while they were both studying at the University of Otago, still live in the first house they bought about 40 years ago in the leafy ridge-top suburb of Roslyn.

Work is close by, inside the heritage-listed Garrison Hall on Dowling St, which was built in 1879. He recorded there on his first visit to Dunedin in 1969, while lead singer for pop-rock band Kal-Q-Lated Risk. In the 1970s, he was a presenter for Play School and Spot On at TVNZ's Dunedin Studio, based at Garrison Hall. Later, he founded Taylormade Media and ARL there.

When the Listener visits, it's Taylor who answers the doorbell of the stone-clad, fortress-like building. He is fizzing over the news the next America's Cup regatta will be held in Spain, not Auckland.