Four years ago, while visiting the Brooklyn studio of Jason Miller, something about his set-up struck me as being peculiar and unique within a design office. He had reels of bubble wrap, an inventory of cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes, and stacks of shipping labels from ups and FedEx; it was a full-blown shipping and receiving area.
Packaging materials hold so much potential, in their ability to transport something — anything — in a neatly wrapped parcel to someone else, and Jason was using them to ship his products directly to customers who had contacted him for orders.
Since then shopping baskets have started to appear on industrial designers' websites, and in great numbers. An online shop exists anywhere there is the Internet, electronic currency is the newest and most global coinage, and the infrastructure of couriers founded over the last century, UPS, FedEx and DHL, enables timely, reliable delivery. While some designers like Jasper Morrison and Sam Hecht have opened online shops selling products that were designed for brands, a younger generation of designers is foregoing the typical designer-producer relationship, and manufacturing and selling their own products via the Web.
The industrial design practice that emerged in the 20th century, and is still prominent today, was a business-to-business or designer-to-business service. The designer provided design to a manufacturer who dealt with production and sales. The form of design practice that is emerging now is a business-to-consumer or designer-to-consumer (D2C) model. Here, via online sales or relationships with traditional distributors, designers have become their own manufacturers, or created something analogous to the independent record label in the music industry. A look into the studios of some of the designers taking this approach — Very Good & Proper (VG&P, Rich Brilliant Willing (RBW), Object Design League Company (ODLCO) and Field — reveals that this model demands a whole new set of skills from the designer and largely reshapes the organisation of the design studio itself.
![Top: Jonah Takagi, who played
as a bass guitarist in indie
rock bands, draws analogies
between the way that the
music and design industries
have been redrawn by the
Web. When his childhood
friend Daniel Thomas
approached him about
starting a new brand, he
agreed. Since 2012, Takagi’s
home-office in Washington,
DC, has served as Field’s
headquarters, where the
basement doubles as a
warehouse. When an order
is placed on Field’s website,
Jonah Takagi receives an
email and he packages
the product, prints a UPS
label with a thermal printer,
and ships it off. Field relies
on Jonah’s community
of designers and local
factories. Photo by Yoo Jean Han. Above: Chicago-based Object
Design League grew
organically out of a series
of exhibitions and design
events organised by
Caroline Linder and Lisa
Smith with young designers
in the Chicago area
beginning in 2009. Wanting
to give a longer life to the
projects conceived in their
shows, the pair decided
to explore manufacturing
some of the ideas that came
out of the exhibit platform.
Their first products were
designed by Chicagobased
designers such as
Morgan Carter and Gabriel
Hargrove. In 2011 they
decided to form their own
brand—ODLCO—and sell
directly to customers via
the Web. Their website
was built from scratch
by Smith, who first tried
the ecommerce platform
Shopify, but later decided
that a custom platform
would better balance
ODLCO’s blog and shop. Photo by Michelle Litvin Top: Jonah Takagi, who played
as a bass guitarist in indie
rock bands, draws analogies
between the way that the
music and design industries
have been redrawn by the
Web. When his childhood
friend Daniel Thomas
approached him about
starting a new brand, he
agreed. Since 2012, Takagi’s
home-office in Washington,
DC, has served as Field’s
headquarters, where the
basement doubles as a
warehouse. When an order
is placed on Field’s website,
Jonah Takagi receives an
email and he packages
the product, prints a UPS
label with a thermal printer,
and ships it off. Field relies
on Jonah’s community
of designers and local
factories. Photo by Yoo Jean Han. Above: Chicago-based Object
Design League grew
organically out of a series
of exhibitions and design
events organised by
Caroline Linder and Lisa
Smith with young designers
in the Chicago area
beginning in 2009. Wanting
to give a longer life to the
projects conceived in their
shows, the pair decided
to explore manufacturing
some of the ideas that came
out of the exhibit platform.
Their first products were
designed by Chicagobased
designers such as
Morgan Carter and Gabriel
Hargrove. In 2011 they
decided to form their own
brand—ODLCO—and sell
directly to customers via
the Web. Their website
was built from scratch
by Smith, who first tried
the ecommerce platform
Shopify, but later decided
that a custom platform
would better balance
ODLCO’s blog and shop. Photo by Michelle Litvin](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_6404_02_Michelle-Litvin_ODLCO-00231.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Object Design League's studio in Chicago. Photo by Michelle Litvin Object Design League's studio in Chicago. Photo by Michelle Litvin](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_1016_03_Michelle-Litvin_ODLCO-99901.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
The D2C studios, more than the large manufacturers, tend to celebrate the production of their goods
![Rich Brilliant Willing was founded in 2007
by three graduates from
the Rhode Island School of
Design — Theo Richardson,
Charles Brill and Alex
Williams — as a lighting and
furniture manufacturer that
would sell products of the
group’s design. Inspired
by the book <em>Business
Model Generation</em>, RBW
has taken to selling their
products through their
own online store as well as
via traditional distribution
models. While their first
products were assembled
with the most basic materials
and techniques, their latest
products have taken a more
complex turn, finding ways
to be inventive without
enormous tooling costs. Photo by Yoo Jean Han Rich Brilliant Willing was founded in 2007
by three graduates from
the Rhode Island School of
Design — Theo Richardson,
Charles Brill and Alex
Williams — as a lighting and
furniture manufacturer that
would sell products of the
group’s design. Inspired
by the book <em>Business
Model Generation</em>, RBW
has taken to selling their
products through their
own online store as well as
via traditional distribution
models. While their first
products were assembled
with the most basic materials
and techniques, their latest
products have taken a more
complex turn, finding ways
to be inventive without
enormous tooling costs. Photo by Yoo Jean Han](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_6492_04_RBW-101.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
The D2C design studio also shares aspects of pre-industrial production, where the designer and maker were often the same person, and the consumer (though they weren't called that back then) bought directly from the maker. Though the D2C model sells internationally, it relies on local factories, small and medium-sized outfits that are in many instances family owned. Lana Swartz, a researcher at the University of Southern California who studies money as a socio-technical practice, has called this "trans-local", where "you buy from someone else's local". This production approach has been welcomed by a wide body of consumers who have grown weary of large manufacturers with veiled factories and practices, and who instead support locally and transparently made products.
![Very Good & Proper
emerged in 2008 from
a partnership between
Patrick Clayton-Malone,
the co-founder of the
Canteen restaurant
group in London, and the
designers André Klauser
and Ed Carpenter. VG&P
produces pieces of
furniture for the Canteen
restaurant interiors which
are then sold as products.
The firm uses traditional
distribution channels and
reaches its audience via
social media and publishing
its products on design blogs. Photo by Richard Nicholson Very Good & Proper
emerged in 2008 from
a partnership between
Patrick Clayton-Malone,
the co-founder of the
Canteen restaurant
group in London, and the
designers André Klauser
and Ed Carpenter. VG&P
produces pieces of
furniture for the Canteen
restaurant interiors which
are then sold as products.
The firm uses traditional
distribution channels and
reaches its audience via
social media and publishing
its products on design blogs. Photo by Richard Nicholson](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_9421_05_very_good_and_proper_high_res_DSC_17301.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Since 2012, Takagi’s
home-office in Washington,
DC, has served as Field’s headquarters, where the
basement doubles as a
warehouse. Photo by Yoo Jean Han Since 2012, Takagi’s
home-office in Washington,
DC, has served as Field’s headquarters, where the
basement doubles as a
warehouse. Photo by Yoo Jean Han](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_9180_06_FIELD-301.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![In addition to the
pieces made directly by
ODLCO, items by other
manufacturers or found
objects considered
interesting are also sold
on the studio’s website. Photo by Michelle Litvin In addition to the
pieces made directly by
ODLCO, items by other
manufacturers or found
objects considered
interesting are also sold
on the studio’s website. Photo by Michelle Litvin](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_7127_07_Michelle-Litvin_ODLCO-00151.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Theo Richardson, Charles
Brill and Alex Williams
of RBW design
and make their products in
their Manhattan studio. Photo by Yoo Jean Han Theo Richardson, Charles
Brill and Alex Williams
of RBW design
and make their products in
their Manhattan studio. Photo by Yoo Jean Han](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_1925_08_RBW-231.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Following a recent agreement,
500 Canteen Chairs by VG&P
are now in the central offices of
Facebook at Menlo Park. The
chair can also be found at the
BBC headquarters and in the
premises of the Swedish MoMA. Photo Richard Nicholson Following a recent agreement,
500 Canteen Chairs by VG&P
are now in the central offices of
Facebook at Menlo Park. The
chair can also be found at the
BBC headquarters and in the
premises of the Swedish MoMA. Photo Richard Nicholson](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_7372_09_very_good_and_proper_high_res_DSC_18201.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![The wholesale and
distribution cycle of Field’s
products—designed by
Oscar Diaz, Daniel/Emma,
Jonathan Hale Nesci and
Takagi—has been conducted
from the home-office of
Jonah Takagi in Washington,
DC, since 2012. Photo by Yoo Jean Han The wholesale and
distribution cycle of Field’s
products—designed by
Oscar Diaz, Daniel/Emma,
Jonathan Hale Nesci and
Takagi—has been conducted
from the home-office of
Jonah Takagi in Washington,
DC, since 2012. Photo by Yoo Jean Han](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_1254_10_FIELD-351.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![The three partners of VG&P
began producing practical,
well-built and affordable
furniture for the Canteen
group in London. Photo by Richard Nicholson The three partners of VG&P
began producing practical,
well-built and affordable
furniture for the Canteen
group in London. Photo by Richard Nicholson](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2012/12/17/d2c-generation/big_402513_1711_12_very_good_and_proper_high_res_DSC_16701.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
While the D2C model is new, and it demands a new set of skills from the designer, the products emerging from it remain somewhat conservative. Though some D2Cers have found inventive ways around constrained development budgets, the D2C products launched thus far assume many typological norms established by existing design brands. We have yet to see if the D2C model will venture into products that are as novel as the distribution model itself. After all, those packaging materials in the D2C studios have enormous potential. They could ship… anything. Jonathan Olivares, designer and writer