In this movie produced by Dezeen for Made.com, Simone Alberto Gerbino explains how his design for a hat-inspired lamp was shortlisted for TalentLab, the brand's platform for emerging designers.
The product Gerbino submitted to the TalentLab is a lamp called Chapeau. It is comprised of two elements – a support made of oak, and a shade fabricated from powder-coated steel that the light's power cable is attached to.
"Normally in a table lamp, the cable is attached to the support," states Gerbino. "In this case, the cable is directly connected to the shade."
The lamp has been designed to be flexible, with the support's spherical top allowing users to tilt and rotate the shade around the base, adjusting the direction of the light.
"I think we need much more flexible products, because people move around much more than they used to do," said Gerbino.
Regardless of experience, training or location, TalentLab invites burgeoning designers to submit their products to its online platform. Made.com then selects a shortlist from the entries to present on the TalentLab website.
"TalentLab is an online platform where anyone can upload their product ideas" explains Gerbino, a trained architect aiming to break into product design.
Customers visiting the site vote for the designs they'd like to see produced by pledging a refundable deposit. Made.com then puts the designs that receive the most pledges into production, and make them available for purchase as part of their range of products.
The designers will receive royalties in line with the percentage that Made.com pays all of its existing professional designers.
Now that Gerbino's design has been shortlisted, Made.com will produce a prototype to photograph and display on the TalentLab platform. "I'm very excited to produce a prototype and see my product," he said. "I think TalentLab is a great opportunity for designers to show their talent, and also it's definitely a new approach to the design market."
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.