In this movie produced by Dezeen for Made.com, Elitsa Boneva explains how her design for a flexible desk lamp was shortlisted for TalentLab, the brand's platform for emerging designers.
"TalentLab is a platform for designers to submit their ideas and potentially see their design produced," says Boneva, a recent design graduate working at Lee Broom's studio.
Aspiring designers like Boneva are invited to submit their product designs to the TalentLab. Made.com selects a shortlist of the best entries to present on the TalentLab website.
Customers visiting the site can then vote for their favourite designs by pledging a refundable deposit. The most popular designs are put into production, and will be made available for purchase as part of Made.com's range of products.
The designers will be paid royalties in line with the percentage that Made.com pays all of its existing professional designers.
The product that Boneva submitted to the site is a desk lamp called the Ellieday light. "It's a flexible desk light which provides the user total versatility of movement, and allows you to perform better within your workspace," she claims.
"I wanted to combine traditional techniques and materials in a contemporary product," she continues. The light is designed to be manufactured using a lathe, and is constructed from traditional materials including steel and brass.
According to Boneva, the design is based on principles of ease of use and flexibility. "All the components have been designed to be easily adjusted," she said.
The adjustable components include a base that can be rotated to change the direction of the light, as well as a fixture attached to a vertical stem that allows users to alter the height and angle of the shade.
"It's really easy to move it around so it doesn't interrupt your work," she continued.
Elitsa discovered that her design was shortlisted for the TalentLab when Made.com contacted her via email. "I was very excited to hear that somebody wants to produce my idea," she says in the video.
"I'm just starting my design career. It's a very rare opportunity to be able to see your product manufactured in real life, especially so soon after graduating."
TalentLab replaces Made.com's Emerging Talent Award – an initiative launched in 2013, which gave a small selection of designers the chance to realise their proposed products. The new format opens the contest up to a greater number of designers.
Made.com was founded in 2010 by Ning Li, Julien Callede and Chloe Macintosh.