Global launch of Kickstarter campaign from Dublin furniture design company behind the BU desk. €35,000 funding needed for first production run of the BU desk.
On 24th November 2014, Dublin furniture designers and manufacturers, the BU desk team, launch their global crowd funding campaign through Kickstarter Ireland to finance their first production run of the BU desk. The team is looking for supporters to help it reach its start-up production fund target of €35,000 in sales and donations.
The three driving forces behind the BU desk are Johanna Varghese, Simon Keogh and Gerard Eagers. With respective career backgrounds in Urban Planning, Design, Technology and Architecture, the team’s core design philosophy is rooted in sustainability and user engagement. They combine locally sourced materials from partnering companies such as Coillte, Ireland’s state forestry agency, with cutting edge multifunctional, adaptable design concepts. Their goal is to make a global impact through design, without leaving a global imprint.
Speaking at the campaign launch, Gerard Eagers, co-founder and technologist of the BU desk: “We believe that creativity is one of the most valuable resources in the world. We view it as the lifeblood of society. As valuable as oxygen. With the BU desk we acknowledge that with all that this design has to offer, it is the creative act that comes from the user while engaging the BU desk that brings true functionality and value. With this Kickstarter Campaign we want to remove as many of the traditional barriers to sharing good design so that anyone, wherever they are in the world, can bring this Dublin designed BU desk into their home or office.”
Their first production-ready design, the BU desk, was developed, tested and perfected over three years. The BU desk available NOW to Kickstarter Backers through a variety of “Rewards” (or versions of the desk) starting from €65 for a digital version to €800 for a version fully finished in any colour of your choice. This desk exemplifies the founders’ core philosophy of engaging individual creativity through multi-functional furniture design. As designers, inspired by their motto ‘Be Creative, BU’, they have refined the concept of the desk to provide superior functionality, adaptability, space value usage and dynamic interaction from a single sheet of premium grade Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF).
With the advent of 3D printing, laser cutting, open source CNC machines and FabLabs, products can be made locally. The BU desk has been refined so that it can be made from a single standard sheet of 8 feet x 4 ft (244 cm x 122 cm) material using a basic CNC machine, or even a hand held jigsaw and drill. This offers economical ways to make the BU desk anywhere in the world. Kickstarter is giving us a platform to basic fixings by mail and a digital copy of the BU desk (under commons license), offering anyone, anywhere in the world, the possibility to invest sustainably in the making of the BU desk for only €65.
Kickstarter Backers from across the globe have 30 days to support a Limited Edition production run made from sustainably sourced Irish wood. They can pledge their support by choosing the BU desk in one of five different Reward categories:
1. Custom – The fully finished BU Desk in any colour of your choice which is ready to install for a pledge of €800.
2. Finished – The fully finished BU Desk in a choice of 3 colours which is ready to install for a pledge of €550
3. Primed – The primed version where the user can personalise the finish; preassembled straight out of a box; 15 minutes installation (excluding time to paint!) for a pledge of €325.
4. Basic DIY Kit – The kit version where piloted bare wood panel components and basic fixings are supplied for the user to screw together and finish for a pledge of €165.
5. Superhacker – Basic fixings are supplied by post and the user can download our digital drawings (under common licence) to have a wood panel cut either by a local maker, at a community FabLab or using domestic hand tools for a pledge of €65.
Simon Keogh, co-founder and designer, at the BU desk concluded; “We are extremely happy to have reached the point where we can share our philosophy and encourage people to use the BU desk creatively. The campaign starts on 24th November and will run for 30 days. By offering supporters the BU desk in the number of versions we want to appeal to a variety of different users from the DIY enthusiast to the person who wants it delivered finished in any colour of their choice. The BU desk is the first product in a suite of multifunctional, adaptable and space saving furniture. We hope that the global community can embrace our local idea and help us get the BU desk out to as many people as possible. We aim to get the funding complete by Christmas 2014 and start shipping the BU desks from spring 2015 onwards.”
The campaign launched on 24th November 2014 and runs for 30 days to 24th December 2014 with regular releases and updates being posted on their Kickstarter page, as well as our website and social media channels.
