Fall Market Review: The Do's and Don'ts of Designing Your Own Line

D&D Building Fall Market Review
The Do's and Don'ts of Designing Your Own Line

The Lewis Mattman showroom hosted an amazing panel of designers explaining the complexity and detail that goes into creating your own line of furniture or fabrics. Marshall Watson and Jamie Drake were two of the designers on the panel

Designing your own line of furniture or fabric is certainly a difficult task. Marshall Watson says, "your designs can look beautiful on paper, but can be hell to sit on." The key is turning a design into an actual working piece of furniture that both looks good and sits good as well. While a stylish piece if furniture is very important, it all must be a comfortable place for the user to sit and relax. It is a necessity to get hands on with an actual prototype to really get the feel right. Try out a few different models, sizes, shapes, tweaking details slightly until it is perfect.

Launching a collection is a long term investment that requires lots of time and money. Designers shouldn't just venture into creating their own line without first developing a good relationship with the manufacturer .  Marshall Watson described creating a collection "Narrow down the pieces that work together. The pieces should be unified." A very important part of desgining your own line is really making it a collection rather than just odds and ends pieces. Be complete and don't spare any details.

Jamie said that it is common to run into extremes, but it is impossible to appeal to everyone. Making a piece that pushes the edge might have a small following but will not necessarily reach the mass markets.

Create a line that fills a void. Think about your everyday life. What is missing from it in terms of furniture? Think about the times you said to yourself "wow I wish I had ____ right now." Designing a line takes time. Jamie Drake already has begun planning for a line that will be launched in Winter 2013 with Lewis Mittman. Create a plan of attack first and set some realistic goals.

How to sell your line:
Having a solid sales force is key to your line being successful. The designer should be included on every aspect of the sales process including training the sales force, creating marketing materials, and servicing the product. Explain to your sales force how you get the idea for that lines, tell them every little detail about the piece until they feel as if they created it themselves. Promotional materials should be consistent with the feel and look of the line. If you are going for an edgy, hip line then make your brochures modern and relatable to that audience.

I would recommend you start with a marketing/business plan. First write an introduction about what your line is going to be and where you are going to get the inspiration to make a new and exciting collection that is not already on the market. Layout the methods you are going to use to promote the product (Social media, brochures, catalogs, online etc.) making sure everything is consistent. Make a list of some companies who might be interest in carrying your line and talk to them about the process.

Designing your own line of furniture is not an easy task. It takes years of practice and exploration to find a void that you are going to fill. If successful however it will be extremely rewarding and a big career boost.