PREMISE

LUCE was not the project I expected to work on this year. However, I believe I have had a greater outcome with this project than if I had continued with my original plan and I am incredibly proud of the resulting product.

PLAN A

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to create a limited edition travel collection of products (e.g. sunglasses, bags, wallets, watches, etc.) in collaboration with a few Scottish lifestyle companies. I had an advantage on this front as I could have used the large online audience of my online magazine 5 STYLE as a strategic asset to strike a deal with them. I am particularly obsessed with Limited Edition marketing strategies because they carry a sense of immediacy and exclusivity due to the small availability over a short time period. Moreover, I loved the idea of creating a unique product, with an exclusive design. However, it was just not the right time to do this.

WHY PLAN A FAILED

I am a dreamer; I think big. That is why I managed to launch two startups during my studies in Dundee. Because of my passion, enthusiasm and drive, I always set up high goals for myself and I like to work on very ambitious projects. This year I started with an idea, it was something I wanted to do for a long time, and I felt like this Honours project was the perfect way to give it a go while being supported by my tutor, Chris. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out, mainly for two reasons.

– I did not try hard enough: I limited the number of companies I contacted, therefore reducing the chances for me to find someone who believed in my concept. I could have tried to send more proposals of collaborations to brands in other countries, rather than focusing just on young Scottish designers. I did contact brands abroad, but not as many as I could have.

– I called myself a Product Design student instead of pitching my idea as the founder & CEO of my company. The fact I was still a student made people think I could not afford to finance such a big travel collection, especially as I wanted to bring this to the market just after I graduated. That is why when I deal with business people in the ‘real world’ through my two startups, I never mention I am still studying. Usually, people associate students to young individuals who currently have other priorities in their lives before work and don’t have enough money to do all they wish they could do. I never liked to consider myself as just a student; I like to be seen as a professional at all times.

FROM A TO B

When I first decided to move on from the idea of plan A and think about something entirely different, I wanted to work on a lighting project again as last year I really enjoyed creating lamps. However, initially, I kept thinking about glass blowing and nothing else at all… I could not stop working on new ideas around the same design of lamp I previously made. That did not help me in developing new innovative concepts. That was when I realised I needed to inject other passions of mine into this year’s project. It all came together when I realised I could have created something for luxury hotels as I am very familiar with them. I am lucky enough to have had the chance of experiencing their comforts and VIP amenities during my travels with my luxury online magazine, 5 STYLE. I then started my research and interviewed the managers of some of my favourite hotels. This was a crucial step for my project as I finally decided what I wanted to work on this year.

THE OUTCOME

Although at this point I knew what the concept was all about, it took me quite a lot of weeks to come up with the final design of my components. I kept creating 3D printed prototypes and changing their shape week after week. At the time I felt like I was not progressing very much, but that was all part of the design process. I had to go through those bad prototypes to come up with the real products I have now. I found the technology side of the project the most challenging one because it required lots of skills I didn’t have within Arduino. Overall I am extremely proud and satisfied of LUCE, and I’m happy I decided to develop something much more ambitious than just creating a new base for the lamp made last year (that was the plan I had in January). Its aesthetics and function positively reflect the high-end market I wanted to target, and I consider this a solid addition to my portfolio.

MY FUTURE

I do enjoy creating physical products, but Product Design is not going be my primary focus for the next years. I am a digital entrepreneur, and I really want to keep building on the entrepreneurial side of myself, that is why in September I want to start a Masters in Luxury Brand Management at Domus Academy in Milan. This project helped me understanding my target market better and how people perceive lighting systems in expensive hotel rooms. The fact I focused LUCE on luxury hotels worked very well regarding preparing the ground for the Masters I want to do too.  This could not have happened if I ended up working on my plan A. I consider product design an essential skill to have nowadays because you can apply that to any products, it does not need to be restricted to physical objects. With that in mind, I conclude the year with an incredible project I am very proud of and will help me move to the next stage of my life.