Before you talk to anybody, you need to have them fill out an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). That way, when they steal your idea (and they will if it's any good), then you can sue them when their product hits the market.

Once you 'go public' with a product, you have 6 months to file a patent application, otherwise your idea becomes public domain, able to be used by others for monetary gain. So it's essential that others sign an NDA.

What else.... well, you can approach it two ways: Go to a company that buys designs (like you mentioned, Ikea, Target, Umbra, etc) OR you can go directly to manufacturers, as some of them will also do marketing and sales.

Since I don't know what you're designing, it's hard to answer the question more specifically... is it a one-off, handcrafted design? Industrially manufactured? These are important considerations.

Oh, and of course there are lawyers who specialize in intellectual property law, so take what I'm giving out with a grain of salt.

Also, contrary to popular belief, it's typically in-house designers who do most of the designing of furniture, lighting, etc. Yes, some people can and do sell their designs, but this usually happens after the designer has some experience actually working for a while.

I would think you would be looking at is a patent. There is a process where you can secure a conditional patent for a year. Which gives you time to put your ducks in a row.

I have a friend who is an industrial designer and he knows alot about the process. His wife actually takes care of most of the patent searches to determine if what he is working on is not already a patented item. It is a confusing array of legal gargon which comes into play, so once he is pretty sure he has a go...or his wife gives him a go. Then it is off to the patent attorney's office. Which doesn't always mean you will hit a home run. He has been involved in some nasty law suits where it has taken years for him to win the case (always against the coporate world), where someone has knowingly
taken his idea and brought it into production.

Lots of luck.

It's a shame that there aren't more Fablab's in the states, because then you could make just about anything with any material. Apparently the government thinks the machines may fall into the wrong hands and use it against us.

Yeah. I had always thought it would be cool to have a place where you could go and work for a fee, just like a school's woodshop. Some of us don't have the space or money to devote to wood working tools. Sometimes you just need to cut down some wood, plane something etc. Luckily, I have a friend that buys far more equipment than he needs to complete a project. So he has a table saw, compound miter saw, and a bunch of other overkill (I saw overkill because he uses it maybe once. I.e. he bought the miter saw to do crown molding, which he never did.) We built a table once. I did the cutting at his place, then built and finished it at my place.

core77.com

check it out...all ID ish

Paid and co-op workshops are popping up in the US, but I'm not in the US and I can't remember any names.

Coincidentally, this is exactly my program for studio this year. I really think people would use these places.

i'd echo core77 - as good a place as any to start (although, be forewarned not a ton of people on there know much more about your question than you might find here).

my wife has been doing exactly what you're describing for the past four years. she's developed things, gotten patents, made pitches, gotten to advanced development and prototyping with different companies... and still no real cash to show for it. it's a long and grueling process for products unless you have the proverbial mousetrap and have already paid to do the advanced production and prototyping.

patents are hard to come by - you can get a design patent on lots of things, but they aren't worth much in terms of actual protection. getting a utility patent is much more time consuming and rigorous, but you get more protection over the idea itself (as opposed to a design patent, which just protects a unique design solution). copyrights are automatic upon creation - you want to file for them mostly to document when you created it and to have it on the 'official' record. i'd do that before showing anything to anyone. proving who invented what first after the fact.... not good. rarely ends well. also, be aware that the total patent process will take 18 months on a fast track, closer to 30 months on a normal track. you can file provisionals (something alluded to above) which would allow you to show the item around, but if you're selling the use on the patent, you'll have to have it in hand, approved with all the important claims intact, to seal the deal and get the cash. otherwise, lots of people are willing to talk, almost no one is willing to act. finally, remember what a patent is ultimately good for: it's to provide a legal backstop from someone copying your design and selling it in the marketplace. outside that, there's not much value to them.

if you have something as generic as a better chair or something interesting from a non-technical, style dominated standpoint... good luck. you'll really need to know/trust someone or have some other 'in' at one of the companies you're interested in. otherwise, anyone that big will either ignore you (they don't want to see what you have a lot of times - just so they can avoid potential litigation down the road if they end up developing a product with any potential similarities). places like ikea, mitchell gold, crate and barrel - i don't know of any way to break into them without previously developing a relationship.

finally, one hard lesson learned - really study up on manufacturing processes. unless you get lucky and land a deal with someone like alessi, etc., most of these companies aren't going to have the time or patience to teach you what kinds of manufacturing processes are available or how to take advantage of them. if you go in with a concept only, be prepared to either make a lot of compromises (and with a patented design, that's a really sticky legal situation - how are you going to split credit for any improvements, for example?) or be prepared to be ripped off.

just don't do this thinking you'll make a quick hit of cash - that road is very long and very hard if you don't own the means of production or can at least control that aspect.

Like I said, get a position in-house and you won't really have to worry about any of what outed described so well.

I'd really echo what outed also said about knowing manufacturing processes. Without that knowledge, it's an uphill climb all the way.

Yeah. I'm not trying to make this my career. Like I said, I'm working out some projects for my own personal needs, but they could be useful to others. So I'm just toying with the ideas of "what if this turns out really cool?" I appreciate the advice though. Great stuff.

I'm guessing you're not in london but the IP business centre at the British library would be a good place to go. Check them out online, they might resources that you can tap into. I've known of people who have used the facilities there, and they have free information that would normallly cost you in the thousands.

I'm guessing you're not in london but the IP business centre at the British library would be a good place to go. Check them out online, they might resources that you can tap into. I've known of people who have used the facilities there, and they have free information that would normallly cost you in the thousands.