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Design Glut's in-house product design studio is known for our line of intelligent, socially-relevant products. We also provide innovative design solutions to outside clients. Learn more.
LATEST NEWS
November 19, 2008
NEW PRODUCTS
Check out the online store for new products by Design Glut! We've launched the World Links necklace, which has the continents of the world connected by links of chain around your neck. And our new Cubic Switchplates play tricks with your eyes. They're only 3mm deep, but it looks like they're protruding inches off the wall.
October 14, 2008
NEW ONLINE STORE AND PRESS
We just redid our online store to make it easier for our customers. The new layout is simpler to browse and has some additional functionality. Fancy Schmancy! We also have new press to report: Elle Decoration, Max, and 5 Au Clock.
September 21, 2008
NEW PRESS AND STORES
The October issue of Metropolitan Home covers the Slow Food Tray as part of a group of products using words as decoration. We also have three new stores: Spring and Stewart and Stand here in NY, and Composition in Colorado.
September 2, 2008
NEW PRESS: SURFACE
The new edition of Surface reports of the trend of designers "using oil as fuel for thought." Crude Black is included.
August 22, 2008
NEW PRESS: DFUN
The Crude Jewelry was just featured as the cover story in the current issue of DFUN, a Taiwanese fashion and design magazine.
July 15, 2008
NEW PRESS: WALLPAPER
The August '08 issue of Wallpaper is hitting newsstands right now. Check out the interviews with "NYC's new design wave": Todd Bracher, Design Glut, Takeshi Miyakawa, and Test Collective.
July 10, 2008
NEW PRESS: WATCH
The Smoking Gun was just featured in the latest edition of Watch.
July 9, 2008
ABOUT DESIGN GLUT
We’ve expanded the About Us area - check it out to get a better feel for who we are and what we do.
June 30, 2008
NEW PRESS: MAX
The fashion magazine Max just published a great-looking piece on Crude Black. We can't actually read it, but we're hoping they said nice things.
June 23, 2008
SMOKING GUN NECKLACE
The Smoking Gun is now available on a chain! It makes one pimped out necklace.
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WHAT'S YOUR STORY?
Are you a creative entrepreneur? Tell us your story. If it's a good fit for the site, we'd love to interview you.
ALL INTERVIEWS
(Alphabetical)
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• Brooklyn Salsa Company
• byAMT
• Cake
• Character
• Citizen:Citizen
• Curatorium
• Diaroogle.com
• Domestic Aesthetic
• Exit9
• FuckOffSarahPalin.com
• Harry Allen
• Mint
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• NOTCOT.com
• Pomp&Clout
• redstr/collective
• Reiko Kaneko
• Robert Langhorn
• Skinny Vinny
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• Todd Bracher
• TZ Design
MONTHLY ARCHIVE
• July 2008
• August 2008
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• October 2008
• November 2008
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ALL INTERVIEWS
(Alphabetical)
• Brad Ascalon
• Brooklyn Salsa Company
• byAMT
• Cake
• Character
• Citizen:Citizen
• Curatorium
• Diaroogle.com
• Domestic Aesthetic
• Exit9
• FuckOffSarahPalin.com
• Harry Allen
• Mint
• Nooka
• NOTCOT.com
• Pomp&Clout
• redstr/collective
• Reiko Kaneko
• Robert Langhorn
• Skinny Vinny
• Sonic Design
• Supermarket
• Swiss Miss (upcoming)
• Todd Bracher
• TZ Design
MONTHLY ARCHIVE
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
August 13, 2008
Vincent Lai of Skinny Vinny
Vincent Lai is a native Brooklynite who recently launched an amazing bag collection. With a product designer's eye and love of function, the minimal bags serve your every need. I couldn't resist buying the Rimu, after hearing his story and seeing the pieces in person.
Skinny Vinny
www.skinny-vinny.com
I know you were involved with overseas manufacturing - why did you make the decision to go that route, and how did you find a factory?
Growing up, my mom worked in a garment factory. To save money, rather than going to day care, I spent a lot of time in the factory. I would help out and I learned pattern-making. So when I started Skinny Vinny, I planned on using her factory. It turned out that they didn't have the right machines, though, to go through all the thick layers of fabric. I couldn't find factories here. But my mom has childhood friends back in China, and I got hooked up with a factory through a friend of a friend of a friend... It was really small; they don't work for overseas clients.
I ended up going to China for a month or two to figure the factory thing out. I speak Cantonese, but all the workers spoke Mandarin. It was horrendous. I had to completely rethink my way of communicating. In school, I was taught how to do technical drawings, but I found that the factories didn't read those well. I had to get them a real prototype to get the best results. I sourced fabric in the markets, and almost got pickpocketed. And they didn't do deadlines well.
I finally got to the point where the samples looked good, and came home. I'd told them to make a second set of samples for their reference. They didn't, to cut costs, and they "forgot how to make them," so I ended up having to send the samples back. Then they skimped on materials. I started working with a second factory in China, which was much better but they had huge minimums I would have had to order, and I couldn't do it. So I ended up buying a machine and doing the production run here.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your company?
A percentage of every sale goes to the National Resource Defense Council. I wanted to create everything out of eco-friendly materials, but as a small business, I just can't afford them. It's so expensive, about ten times more.
What led you to become a designer?
I went to public high school in Brooklyn, where we had one art class. I knew I wanted to do art but I didn't know what exactly. When I started thinking about college, I was planning on staying in New York. I applied to all New York schools as a fine arts major, with one exception: I also applied to the design program at Carnegie Mellon University [in Pittsburgh]. When I interviewed there, I fell in love with the facilities. And so I ended up in design school.
How did you transition from design school into into the world of manufacturing and selling objects?
Like everyone, I found that looking for a job after school was hell. A connection through a friend led me to an internship at Pollen. After 3 months they asked me to stay. I was there for almost a year total. It was design boot camp: school doesn't teach you a lot! My time there really increased my skills and boosted my confidence. After a while, though, I started to feel that the soft goods industry would be a better fit for me. I wanted to combine industrial design with my pattern-making experience. So I left Pollen and started looking for something new.
I planned on eventually starting something, though definitely not this soon. But when I couldn't find the kind of job I was looking for, I decided to just go for it. I figured it's easiest to stumble when you're young. My bags are all designed from a ID point of view. I see them as products, not fashion. They're functionally driven rather than decorative.
How has the internet helped you as an indie designer?
The bags recently got posted on NOTCOT, which sparked a lot of interest. From that, other blogs picked them up - Refinery29, Coolhunting... And that led to little boutiques emailing with orders.
What advice would you give to young designers looking to start manufacturing and selling their products?
If you're manufacturing in China, abandon your Western ideas of doing business. You're going to get your feelings hurt. It may be shocking, but the way of getting them to do things is bribery. All they see are dollar signs. It's very different.
When it comes to the design, be very, very specific about everything you submit. They take everything very literally. I once corrected a sample where a seam had been put in the wrong place by drawing a red line where the seam needed to go. The next sample came back with all red seams!
You also have to stand very firm when dealing with the manufacturers. They make a lot of excuses and try to do it the easier or cheaper way. For example, I got them to use really nice hardware on the samples, but when it came to production they said they "couldn't find" that hardware anymore, and used something much cheaper. I told them to find it, and stood my ground, and they did.
Skinny Vinny
www.skinny-vinny.com
I know you were involved with overseas manufacturing - why did you make the decision to go that route, and how did you find a factory?
Growing up, my mom worked in a garment factory. To save money, rather than going to day care, I spent a lot of time in the factory. I would help out and I learned pattern-making. So when I started Skinny Vinny, I planned on using her factory. It turned out that they didn't have the right machines, though, to go through all the thick layers of fabric. I couldn't find factories here. But my mom has childhood friends back in China, and I got hooked up with a factory through a friend of a friend of a friend... It was really small; they don't work for overseas clients.
I ended up going to China for a month or two to figure the factory thing out. I speak Cantonese, but all the workers spoke Mandarin. It was horrendous. I had to completely rethink my way of communicating. In school, I was taught how to do technical drawings, but I found that the factories didn't read those well. I had to get them a real prototype to get the best results. I sourced fabric in the markets, and almost got pickpocketed. And they didn't do deadlines well.
I finally got to the point where the samples looked good, and came home. I'd told them to make a second set of samples for their reference. They didn't, to cut costs, and they "forgot how to make them," so I ended up having to send the samples back. Then they skimped on materials. I started working with a second factory in China, which was much better but they had huge minimums I would have had to order, and I couldn't do it. So I ended up buying a machine and doing the production run here.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your company?
A percentage of every sale goes to the National Resource Defense Council. I wanted to create everything out of eco-friendly materials, but as a small business, I just can't afford them. It's so expensive, about ten times more.
What led you to become a designer?
I went to public high school in Brooklyn, where we had one art class. I knew I wanted to do art but I didn't know what exactly. When I started thinking about college, I was planning on staying in New York. I applied to all New York schools as a fine arts major, with one exception: I also applied to the design program at Carnegie Mellon University [in Pittsburgh]. When I interviewed there, I fell in love with the facilities. And so I ended up in design school.
How did you transition from design school into into the world of manufacturing and selling objects?
Like everyone, I found that looking for a job after school was hell. A connection through a friend led me to an internship at Pollen. After 3 months they asked me to stay. I was there for almost a year total. It was design boot camp: school doesn't teach you a lot! My time there really increased my skills and boosted my confidence. After a while, though, I started to feel that the soft goods industry would be a better fit for me. I wanted to combine industrial design with my pattern-making experience. So I left Pollen and started looking for something new.
I planned on eventually starting something, though definitely not this soon. But when I couldn't find the kind of job I was looking for, I decided to just go for it. I figured it's easiest to stumble when you're young. My bags are all designed from a ID point of view. I see them as products, not fashion. They're functionally driven rather than decorative.
How has the internet helped you as an indie designer?
The bags recently got posted on NOTCOT, which sparked a lot of interest. From that, other blogs picked them up - Refinery29, Coolhunting... And that led to little boutiques emailing with orders.
What advice would you give to young designers looking to start manufacturing and selling their products?
If you're manufacturing in China, abandon your Western ideas of doing business. You're going to get your feelings hurt. It may be shocking, but the way of getting them to do things is bribery. All they see are dollar signs. It's very different.
When it comes to the design, be very, very specific about everything you submit. They take everything very literally. I once corrected a sample where a seam had been put in the wrong place by drawing a red line where the seam needed to go. The next sample came back with all red seams!
You also have to stand very firm when dealing with the manufacturers. They make a lot of excuses and try to do it the easier or cheaper way. For example, I got them to use really nice hardware on the samples, but when it came to production they said they "couldn't find" that hardware anymore, and used something much cheaper. I told them to find it, and stood my ground, and they did.
