Curation of the fourth collection of TalentLAB, a made.com initiative that put the entire production facility of the company at the disposal of anyone with a great idea. All previous collections had been edited in-house, this was the first time the brand handed over the curating reins.
The complete made.com TalentLAB4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin
The concept
TalentLAB was a crowdfunded platform that brought to life the work of emerging designers. It also provided the canny consumer with a chance to back a Future Classic. Basically, whether you were formally trained or not, if you had an idea for something that you felt deserved to be designed, you uploaded a drawing to the TalentLAB site, and the best concepts were selected to be prototyped. “It’s an opportunity for designers to have access to our massive network of suppliers. Also to our pre-existing community of design-oriented customers. Both things they wouldn’t have access to otherwise” said made.com Design Director Ruth Wassermann.
For the consumer, a pledge in the form of a small deposit could be made on a favourite design, with the most popular designs being put into production. Best of all, if you were one of the early pledgers and you backed a winning design, you got to buy your piece at a discounted design-lovers price. And to know that you contributed directly to the launch of a new designer’s career. Win/win. However if not enough people agreed with you, the life of that design ends there. But you did get your deposit back.
Portrait of Michelle Ogundehin with products from the made.com TalentLAB4 collection including the Funen stool in dark-stained oak by Christian Hansen, a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and the Ox chair in navy, designed by Jon Christie, a graduate of the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee
Playing with my favourite products at home. From top left: Enso flower holder; Bias teapot, Vases Mes Petits planter in brass; Schema Marble Effect mirror (centre and bottom left); and Knotto cushion.
The curation
What was I looking for? An overall sense of consideration in the designs. Pieces with an intrinsic sense of truth, honesty and authenticity. I’m often inspired by the work of Japanese designers precisely for this reason, and I believe you can see a similar sort of elegant simplicity in the pieces I chose to prototype.
Some pieces required a little subtle tweaking. Others just needed a switch up of colours or materials to better engender a sense of timelessness, albeit with a top note of fashionability. Think a foundation of wood and brass, and colourways of inky blue or dusty pink for the majority of the pieces.
As a result, I felt this collection was composed of pieces that captured the attention for being subtly different, while also being great forever buys that work now, tomorrow and onwards.
Enso vase designed in mango wood and brass by Corinna Gohlich, a trainee carpenter at the Akademie für Gestaltung der Handwerkskammer Münster.
The ‘Vases Mes Petities’ by by Thomas Glorian, a product designer at Studio LWCP, France in solid brass from MO x made.com
The ‘Blush’ chair by by Frederick Eksteen, a self-employed designer trained in South Africa from the made.com TalentLAB 4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin
‘Slump’ armchair by designed by Liam Sholicar, a CAD technician at The Wood Works in Letchworth Garden City (left) and ‘Schema’ mirror designed by Loukas & Vasso, design directors of Studio Lav; and ‘Stak’ ombre pots, on steps, by by Natasha Duda, an alumnus of Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. All from the made.com TalentLAB 4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin
‘Up Up’ wall lamp (top left) by by Florian Brillet, a director of Brillet Ltd from the made.com TalentLAB 4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin
The made.com TalentLAB 4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin
The made.com TalentLAB 4 collection, as edited by Michelle Ogundehin