Champions
Turning a product concept into commercial success is a real challenge, but despite the many obstacles young designers continue to successfully market their ideas. If you’re in need of inspiration then look no further than the ProductDesignStudent.com champions. This group of experienced entrepreneurs have commercialised their products the hard way - learning firsthand how to develop ideas, secure investment and hook deals with commercial partners. Some have even set up offshore production and manage worldwide distribution.
Franziska - QuickPitch
Successful graduate, Franziska Conrad studied BA Product Design at Bournemouth University. For her major project she developed a unique pop-up tent with improved features over other products on the market. Her hard work during the final-year really paid off - after finishing the course she teamed up with the university's commercialisation department to protect and market her innovative product. She secured a license deal with Gelert Limited, one of the UK's leading leisure brands, and had the satisfaction of seeing her product enter mass production. The 'QuickPitch' tent is now manufactured in China and sold throughout Europe, with ambitious expansion plans in place for distribution to other territories around the world. The QuickPitch was recently showcased on Channel 5 television in the UK and voted Best Festival Tent by The Guardian newspaper. With royalty fees rolling in, Franziska is now busy designing a range of new tents and has recently completed an MSc in Sustainable Design at Bournemouth. And as if these achievements weren't praiseworthy enough, she's even successfully enforced her intellectual property by taking legal action against companies that copied her design!
Get inspired! Check out: www.franziskaconrad.co.uk
Simon - Floodstop
Another pioneer from Bournemouth University, this time a graduate of the BSc Computer Aided Product Design course. Entrepreneur Simon Phelps started his own company Fluvial Innovations Limited to commercialise an innovative flood barrier design known as the Floodstop. With a manufacturing deal in place he continues to go from strength to strength, having racked up sizeable orders from government agencies and regional authorities. Simon became a regional Shell LiveWire Young Entrepreneur of the Year, a finalist in the Dorset Innovation Awards, he won a Harvard University business pitching competition in the United States, was awarded a National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) Global Entrepreneur Fellowship and made the finals of the HSBC StartUp Stars competition. Pretty good going that...not to mention his ability to secure coverage in the national press and on television. And to round it off he even visited Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister at his home in Downing Street, London to discuss the impact of the 2008 economic downturn on small businesses in the UK.
Get inspired! Check out: www.fluvial-innovations.co.uk
Sam & Jude - Suck UK
Arguably Britain's most triumphant young product design entrepreneurs, Sam Hurt and Jude Biddulph are both BA Product Design graduates from Central Saint Martins in London. Over the past 8 years their business SuckUK has grown from humble beginnings in the kitchen of a London bed-sit to a truly international, award-winning organisation. They work with specialist manufacturers in the United Kingdom and China, and distribute their innovative products to over 40 countries worldwide, with representation in big-name department stores and high-profile vendors including The Design Museum, Tate Modern and The Conran Shop. They have won countless awards for their work including the esteemed Best in Show at MODE and the Prince's Trust Award for Innovation...not to mention a long string of Product of the Year accolades. Sam and Jude now employ a team of designers at their headquarters in East London, and showcase their products at large exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia and the United States.
Get inspired! Check out: www.suck.uk.com
Philip - Biologic PostPump
BSc Product Design graduate Philip Robinson developed a new type of bicycle pump for his final-year major project at Bournemouth University. At the annual Festival of Design & Innovation he was offered £50 for the prototype by a member of the public. Instead of taking the money he naively decided to commercialise his idea, thinking that he would be enjoying the high life within a few weeks. His patented Biologic PostPump eventually made it to market some four years later after exchanging contracts for exclusive production and distribution with the world’s largest manufacturer of folding bikes, Dahon Inc. The pump is built into Dahon bicycles as original equipment and available as a retrofit accessory in over 30 countries. It has been featured in the Thomas Heatherwick & Sir Terence Conran Foundation Collection at the Design Museum in London and received a Department of Trade & Industry SMART innovation award. Philip is an ambassador for the Make-Your-Mark engineering enterprise campaign and recently became a finalist in the Daily Mail / Lloyds TSB Enterprising Young Brits competition.
Get inspired! Check out: www.zorinpump.com
Ben - Benjamin Hubert Studio
Talented designer Benjamin Hubert is an award-winning graduate of the BA Industrial Design & Technology course at Loughborough University. His emerging portfolio of contemporary ceramic and lighting products has generated considerable interest from the UK and international media, and won several awards including the New Designers Corus Award, an LATI Innovation Award and winner of the 2007 EPS Design Competition. Benjamin was himself a regional winner and national finalist in the 2002 Audi Young Designer of the Year competition. His route-to-market strategy involves building close working relationships with established commercial organisations such as Innermost and Welmade. More recently Benjamin has turned his attention to innovating with expanded polypropylene…for the benefit of style-conscious birds and house-plants everywhere!
Get inspired! Check out: www.benjaminhubert.co.uk
Roger - Rotamate
The Rotamate was designed by Roger Hind, who at the time was a 17-year old design technology student in north-west England. Being told off by his mother for forgeting to bring the washing in before it started to rain was the motivation to create a distinctive rotary clothes airer with shower protection. After developing and testing several prototypes, Roger took the confident decision to set-up a company to market and manufacture the product himself. With retail orders secured he jetted off to China to identify a suitable manufacturing partner and avoid paying the higher production costs in the UK...and then he left college! Rotamate won national recognition at the 2006 Enterprising Young Brits competition in London and was featured on Sky television later that year. You might recognise Roger from an appearance on the BBC Dragon’s Den programme where he successfully pitched his business to the panel, winning an offer of investment from high-profile entrepreneurs, Deborah Meaden and Richard Farleigh. Roger is now expanding his business with the introduction of new products and plans to extend distribution outside the UK.
Get inspired! Check out: www.rotamate.co.uk
Tom - WakeYoo, BubbleScope & Firewinder
Superstar Bournemouth University graduate Tom Lawton is best known for the commercialisation of his final-year degree project, the WakeYoo recordable alarm clock. He secured a licensee to manage production and distribution, and promptly sold over 200,000 units worldwide. Sales in the UK alone surpassed 40,000 units in the first eight weeks, selling out in shops such as Harrods, Dixons, Argos and John Lewis. He later designed a second-generation alarm clock, 'Nobby' which featured interactive, voice recognition technology. This sold more than 60,000 units in the UK and United States. And the success doesn't stop there...Tom's developed two more groundbreaking products in the form of a one-shot 360° digital camera which he calls BubbleScope, and a wind-powered outdoor lighting device known as the Firewinder. Proving himself a serial entrepreneur, he's set up and now runs three companies, pitched for and secured financial investment to support the development of his ideas, generated massive publicity in the national and international press and manages the production and distribution of his products in China. Tom recently won first prize with Firewinder in the international Green Dot Awards held in Los Angeles. These recognise forward thinking businesses and products that practise environmental excellence.
Get inspired! Check out: www.firewinder.com
Get inspired! Check out: www.bubblescope.com
