Dear Design Lovers and Sharers,

You’ve probably realised that something is missing. We’ve had to say goodbye to an old friend - our Studio page, which reached the end of its working life and went into retirement in March 2017. This was an emotional moment for us and not a decision we took lightly. We now want to take a moment to explain the reasoning behind this.

Our Studio page started with a big idea. We wanted to create a space where creative minds could share their inspiring designs. With a public voting system, we hoped it would be possible to shortlist the most popular ideas and develop them into saleable products. Unfortunately, it’s been almost impossible for us to make this process work. We simply haven’t had the resources to bring our big idea to life. We’ve stepped back, and realised there are some things we can and can’t do. Ultimately, the Studio page is something we can no longer manage.

The Studio page has also led to confusion. Customers thought they could buy shared design ideas, and designers often waited for months, without a response from us. The promise that we would onboard the most popular design ideas was impossible for us to keep, our team working round the clock on countless other projects. We would like to apologise to all of those who have published a personal creation or design inspiration on the Studio page.

On a lighter note, all manner of exciting project are currently happening in our busy London studio. We’re getting closer to realising our distributed manufacturing dream. Soon, we hope everyone will be able to get a piece of locally produced furniture made by an independent maker in their neighbourhood. To make this possible, we’re focussing on the essentials. We’ll be sharing more on this here throughout 2017.

Best regards,
The Opendesk Team