Online design brand MADE.COM has last week announced the five finalists for its annual Emerging Talent Competition.
Now in its third year, the competition seeks out undiscovered talent and the winning design – as voted for by the public – is put into production and sold on MADE.COM.
Previous winners have included Josie Banks’ ‘Range’ collection which has gone on to become a best-seller for the brand. Last year’s winner was Ying Chang whose Grid System Desk received almost 30,000 votes. It will be sold on the site this September.
This year MADE partnered with Desall, an open innovation platform that connects brands to a global community of designers. MADE created a brief to ‘develop a product every home must have’ inviting designers to upload their designs to Desall. Over 1,000 designs were submitted and Ruth Wassermann, MADE’s heads of design, selected her favourite 22 products before putting them to the public vote.
Voting has now opened for the top five to determine the winner. This year’s finalists are:
1. Tattoo Pendant Lights – by Baschera Alessio, Brigolin Fabio and Matteo Mocchi aka BBMDS
Italian interior architects BBMDS created this blown glass pendent family after being inspired by ancient Venetian glass blown within a cage. They’ve focussed on the lead technology hidden inside the lamp holder – thus creating simple, but eye catching shapes.
2. Portobello Storage – by Alvaro Alvarez and Maria Lopez
This Spanish design duo have tapped into the trend for lean-to storage whilst maintaining an elegant, contemporary aesthetic, which is as pleasing on the eye as it is sturdy. The design can be hanging or free-standing and includes a touch of teal to compliment the light wood.
3. Volcano Rug – by Cornelius Comanns
Up-and-coming German designer Cornelius Comanns used his RCA training and pattern skills to develop the ‘Volcano’ rug which he believes will add character to any room. Lights were shone onto a three dimensional polygon surface to create the pattern.
4. Hook Bookshelf – by Valeria Milan and Stefano Tolomio
This Italian design duo met whilst studying industrial design at the University of Venice. They call their innovative shelves a ‘dynamic library’ which can be easily adapted in various ways simply by moving the metallic elements.
5. Overlap Storage – by Ivana Mannavola and Nicola Lattanz
This collection consists of a sideboard, nightstand, drawer and buffet with the doors partly lacquered in full and partly lacquered in open-pore, creating an interesting overlap between layers. The Italian duo believe function is vital in design and always want to ‘exclude the superfluous’.
—————–
Ruth Wassermann, Head of Design, MADE.COM, said: “This industry is notoriously hard to get into and it’s an important part of our brand ethos to provide an opportunity for new talent. This year we widened our search to include European entries to represent the markets we operate within.
“The success of previous winners shows how seriously our customers take this competition too; they want to be involved in the design process and they prove it by buying what they vote for. It’s inspiring.”
Jacopo Zanon, Community Manager, Desall, said: “Our two brands share the same vision, to make design accessible and we’re passionate about involving the final user in the product development process. It’s about opening design to new perspectives; once design becomes open, it will only become more versatile and innovative.”
The public can vote at www.made.com/vote until 21st September. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 22nd September at MADE’s LDF party at its Soho showroom, 100 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HG.
About MADE.COM
MADE.COM is a UK-based online retailer of designer furniture and home accessories founded in 2010. Its mission is to make great design accessible to everybody and so they do things slightly differently to other retailers; they cut out the expensive middle men including agents and importers and produce original design at an affordable price.
MADE’s vertically integrated business model means that they control production and distribution, which not only means they can pass on cost savings to consumers, but they are much more agile and responsive to trends than traditional retailers. They typically release two collections per year, whilst MADE releases two per week.
For more information contact Amy Grimshaw, European PR Manager, MADE.COM:
