Emily Fischer's Soft-Maps (quilted blankets patterned after city maps) was our double whammy, overall winner in two categories for 2009
Designs Posted: 38 of 38
(consider this the number of designers with booths set up)
Designs Received: 114
(consider this the number that would like to have a booth)
Pageviews: 282,418
(consider this the number of eyeballs passing by the booths so far)
Judges' Choice Winner:
>> Go To All Judges Selections & Testimonials
Reader's Choice Winner:
1. Soft-Maps by Emily Fischer - 256
2. Redeploy Rug by Rebekah Rauser - 150
3. Good Books Shelf by Jason Neufeld - 127
Semi-Finals:
Tuesday Matchup
1. Redeploy Rug by Rebekah Rauser - 166
2. Double Cantilevered Case by Scott Wilson - 113
Wednesday Matchup
1. Soft-Maps by Emily Fischer - 355
2. Hello Block Shelving by Kenn Archibald - 191
Thursday Matchup
1. Good Books Shelf by Jason Neufeld - 124
2. NOMAD Floor Lamp by Steve Worden - 109
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The Top Six Finalists:
1. Good Books Shelf by Jason Neufeld (1,328)
2. Soft-Maps by Emily Fischer (1,133)
3. Redeploy Rug by Rebekah Rauser (912)
4. Hello Block Shelving by Kenn Archibald (868)
5. NOMAD Floor Lamp by Steve Worden (797)
6. Double Cantilevered Case by Scott Wilson (746)
----------------- Cutoff: -----------------
7. Drip Plate by Cat Merrick (744)
8. Translucent Room Divider System by Dan Forlenza (732)
9. Nature Planter by Dominic D'Andrea & Tram Pham (698)
10. Lamp Sweater by Lise Lefebvre (685)
11. My Little Piece of Heaven by Franziska Neumann & David Wharram (643)
12. Constellation Chandelier by Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn (636)
13. Oh Lloyd! Lampshade Pendant by Hemal Patel (632)
14. Re/Assemble Dining Table by Amy Kircher & Alejandro Iriarte (591)
15. Brix Console by Julie Morringello (590)
16. Le Petit Dej by Peter White (555)
17. Strata Cabinet for the hall by Nicole Runde (549)
18. Table Accessories by nettydesigns (486)
19. Haven Bespoke Quilts by Cassandra Ellis (483)
20. Planted Bench by Jessica Carter (448)
21. As the Crow Flies Mobile by Contexture Design (443)
22. Karin Bench by Norman Lee (438)
23. Wobble Bowls by Jessica Phillips (434)
24. Bird Bottle by Julie Rooney (429)
25. Random Geometry Wallpaper by Karen Combs (421)
26. Super-FUNctional Playtable by Jennifer Mujat-Kearns (415)
27. S t r e t c h Shelf by Pete Oyler (399)
28. Undefined by Brock Brockington (322)
29. Reveal Ottoman by Keith Kaminski (319)
30. Laboratory Lamp by Andie Olive (317)
31. "Dipped" Chair by Elisa Werbler (312)
32. Bocce Lamp by Emily Robin (294)
33. FUSAO Lamp by Ryan Barnacastle & Erin Gregg (294)
34. Panic Table by Joseph & Andee Hess (293)
35. Music Studio, Storage, Work Space, Sleeping Quarters, Home Theater 5 In 1 by Ilin Chung (268)
36. Shaded Wall Light by Martin Konrad Gloeckle (246)
37. STEEL Series by Nathan Goldsworthy (175)
38. Astrojet by Michael Hovey (166)
THE JUDGES
All their info is here: Sandy Chilewich, Drew Sanocki & Tina Roth Eisenberg.
THE BACK STORY
Thank you so much for all your feedback to our survey post last month. This month we’re putting out the call for great, new designs by independent and student designers that promise to make our homes more beautiful and inspiring places to live.
We’ll post the best submissions, allow the readers to vote and then give six finalists an unprecedented chance to feature their design and themselves by building their own original post on our site during prime time in September. Interested? Keep going...
Two winners will then be chosen (1 judge favorite and 1 crowd favorite) and awarded an even bigger opportunity with $20k worth of ad placements during the fall season on our sites and in our daily email, which they can use to get themselves and their designs in front of our audience of over three million monthly readers.
As winners, the lucky two will also know that they have been highly regarded not only by our readers, but by our judges, who we will be announcing on Friday, August 14th.
If ever there was an amazing opportunity to give your elevator pitch, this is it!
Note: Voting for each submission is open for 36 hours
Who Can Enter?
• Independent & student designers from all over the world
• Design couples and teams are welcome
We're looking for folks who need exposure and a big push to get them to the next level. Already designing for a big company? That's okay, but send us stuff you're doing on the side. We want to help you, not the big company.
What Designs Are Eligible?
• One original design that has reached prototype stage or beyond
• No designs are eligible that have been purchased or licensed to commercial manufacturers or distributors. If you've been able to manufacture it yourself, that's fine.
• Designs can be for home furnishings, accessories, lighting, appliances or textiles
If it goes into the home, we're open to it. It can be decor, furnishing or materials related, just don't send us a car design.
What To Submit?
• Your name and contact info
• Short description with materials and potential price
• Image of design drawing
• Three photographs of prototype or finished product (This is important. You must have taken it at least to prototype stage.)
• One photograph of yourself (Feel free to look like as important as you feel).
Give us your best pitch, and your clearest product shots. Remember that first impressions are the most important.
Dates & Deadlines?
• Submissions accepted until August 24th
• Submissions posted from August 12th-September 2nd
• Finalists notified on September 8th
• Finalists posted from September 14th-18th
The early birds will get the worm. We won't be able to post everyone, and are currently reserving 20 37 slots in August and September. We'll notify you if we post you or if we don't, and reserve the right to decide editorially whether or not a submission is strong enough to share with the crowd.
Note on Voting
Though you are allowed to ask your friends and family to vote, only one vote is allowed per person. If we find that any voting has been hacked and that one person has voted numerous times, we reserve the right to either throw out the votes we can identify or discount the submission entirely.
Got a great design? Let us help you make it big.
Submission Form is now closed
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Hi there
I'd love to enter my product, but it won't allow non-US addresses. Can you let me know the best way around this please.
Thanks so much
Cassandra
I'd also love to submit for this, but like Cassandra I fall into the "designers from all over the world" category.
If there is a way to submit that's not limited to US addresses, please let us know.
Thanks!
You can use the address form and just squeeze your address into it, but I've also changed the settings so it should be fine now.
sorry about that!
I'm assuming there is a rule prohibiting an occasional AT DIY tutorial writer from entering her design?
Want to let you know that the 2 most recently posted products (astrojet and as the crow flies mobile) aren't listed above under the 'open submissions' which makes it a bit harder to find the submissions unless users are scrolling through the main or ny site posts....
Hello - I'm having a wee bit of trouble using the address form too. It will not allow me to enter my UK address because I can't fulfil the 'state' entry. The form does not seem to 'switch' to an international format when I select 'United Kingdom'. Obviously itching to get my submission in on time. Great competition. Thank you.
Is it possible to submit more than one design/item by same team under separate submissions?
Who are the judges???
It doesn't seem to let me upload images, it says "(File uploads have been disabled for this form.)" for everything. I really want to enter though!
I'm having the same problem with completing my form...."File uploads have been disabled for this form." The deadline is almost here; what can we do?!!
Yeah, same problem here. I checked the form yesterday and it was still open.
the entry should still be open though! please fix this so we can all enter!!!
I'd like to post an entry as well but no uploading of photos.
Help!
same as above- why cant we upload.....
I have also been trying to upload, but the website will not allow me to do so. Please advise me as to how to enter this content. Thank you.
I would really like to submit as well. Given that the deadline is monday, I hope that they extend it, or at least notify us that it's back up in time to submit...
I have the same problem as some of the other designers above! Would really love to enter but the deadline is looming and I cant enter my address or upload images of my work. Please help cause I would love to enter!!!
Have same problem!! Please help!
Same problem as everyone else. I would love to submit, but I can't upload images. Please let me know what I need to do to enter.
Thanks!
Eliz
Hi, we're really hoping to enter but are unable to submit... I think it still has something to do with the UK address, no state entry... Thanks guys!
Just a thought about pricing -- it seems that designers are using different guidelines for their price points, and it may sway people in favor or against the designs. Mostly, the pricing seems really high [or, the respondents think so and criticize it]. However, it may be realistic given the situation of someone making the product in a very limited run. If the design were picked up by a manufacturer, the pricing would go way down [so might the quality, of course]. It almost seems unfair to include that information.
I'm thinking, for instance, of today's Nature planter. As a handmade, limited-edition product, the price seems reasonable, though probably out of reach of many. If this were sold at a Target, the manufacture would be different, and the price would be much lower. Are we critiquing the design itself, or the entire product as it currently stands?
Sorry about the difficulty over the weekend. Our submission form storage capacity filled up. I've made room for more and it should work now.
Also, I've included the scoring on each entry so you can see exactly what the standings are. We are using a very simple formula, whereby three stars = 5 points, two stars = 3 points and one star = 1 point.
While nothing is perfect, it seemed most fair to reward submissions for the degree to which they earn the highest approval from our readers, but still give them a point for even a one star vote.
Your information regarding the contest includes "Last post of this round: Friday, September 4th"
Does this mean there are going to be multiple rounds and that the submissions that were not chose of the total 95 entered will be posted for voting in subsequent rounds?
Just slightly confused to how some aspects of this are laid out.
Thanks!
IMO, the scoring seems slightly unfair. The more popular designs (based on the consensus in the comments) tend to have a lot of 3 star reviews and few 1 or 2 star reviews. However, the current point system seems to reward designs with a majority of 3 stars, but also a lot of 2 and 1 star reviews. Maybe it all balances out in the end (factoring in people who abstain from voting as a way of giving 0 stars, etc) but I would rather see the winning designs be those which have the highest percentage of 3 star reviews and not just a lot of total votes.
Nomad floor lamp very innovative. Simple lines.
I too am a bit confused by the contest dates and dealines and languague "last post of this round".
Also - I submitted a design but it seemed to only allow me to enter in one name in the form. I did note in the long description both creators' names. I just want to make sure that if we do get our design posted, that both myself and my partner are listed as co-creators.
Lastly - I think readbeard's comments regarding pricing on Rebekah Rauser's comment board should be posted here for all to read - they're very on point.
Thanks!
@ Darley... I think "last post of this round" just means the public voting round. Once the 6 finalists are picked, I assume there will be another round of posts (which will include 1-minute videos) and the judges voting round.
@ Gary, thanks! That make sense.
This piece would look fabulous in my home, and I would gladly pay $600 for it. Mr. Brockington, I am familiar with your work and I must say that I am always blown away!
Goodluck!
Gabrielle Aguilar
@ madmaven
I definitely thought the same thing, but if that were true then the last six posted designs would be more likely to be the top six designs, whereas only one of them is in line to move into the finals. Quite a few of the current finalists were early posts, and have held onto their rankings quite well.
In future versions of this competition, and even future rounds of this one, it would probably be better to keep the final vote tallies hidden to avoid any uncouth voting practices.
While the current situation doesn't seem to have generated a particularly noticable amount of voter fraud, the potential to exploit the system is definitely there.
I felt it was swayed toward Brooklyn/NY designers due to their placement during the high traffic times, and placement toward the end of the competition. Still an excellent competition! Not fair, but who said life was.
We submitted website that we recently launched called designinabag.com and I understand that it was touch and go that our submission would be posted at all since it's not a product design per se. However, everything posted was a product design even though the parameters of contest say "just don't submit a car design". I'm a bit suprised that AT didn't see the potential in our 'design as product' rather than product design... (I say that tongue in cheek) I completely agree with MadMaven above that all designs should have been posted at once and for the same amount of time. I also think it would have been great to hear a little more back-story on each designer. Where they work on their designs, if they produce them or have them manufactured by another source, how long they've been going at it and where they'd like to see their product being represented, that sort of thing. Good luck to the finalists!
We noticed some of the top designers selected were only single person teams. Although after checking on each everyone's website we noticed that silent partner's exist.
Might be interesting to see a future design contest dedicated to collaborative teams. Look in the past for great design team combinations- Ray & Charles, The Campana Brothers... JEHS LAUB.. Can't be to many cooks in the kitchen. Keeps the ego in check.