As the ONE Design Competition enters its final week, Maitland-Smith announced that it is celebrating the early success of its 30th anniversary promotion. More than 800 entries have been submitted so far, with the bulk of those coming from individuals who are not existing customers.
“One of our goals with this contest was to make Maitland Smith better known among designers and retailers who have not worked with us before,” said Glenn Yelvington,design director for Maitland-Smith.
“The other goal was to get people to try our ONE Customization tool so they could get a feel for how easy it is to create custom pieces for clients. If early results are any indication, we have succeeded in both Participants in the contest are encouraged to choose from one of the more than 700 silhouettes available at www.maitland-smith.com (ranging from decorative accessories to lighting to furniture) and customize it with finishes, inlays, hand tooled accents, etc. to create their own masterpiece.
Designs submitted to date range from a $270 candlestick lamp to a $50,000 bar.
“We’ve received some really interesting entries,” said Yelvington. “Of course designers and our customers know first-hand how intricate our work can be, so they’ve submitted pieces that require a lot of detail. But there is definitely an overall trend toward the more dramatic – we’re seeing a wide use of black and gold, as well as animal prints such as zebra and leopard, which puts a real modern twist on our more classic forms.”
The entries will be reviewed and culled down by a panel of judges that includes designer Barclay Butera, Maitland-Smith historian Howard Shattuck, president of the American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD), Steve Hodges, ASID national board member Tim Schelfe, and Interior Design magazinesenior editor Mark McMenamin.
Three winners will ultimately be chosen, one in each of the following categories: “Best Designer Submission”, “Best Retailer Submission” and “Best Consumer Submission.” A fourth winner will be named the popular favorite – that’s the design that receives the most votes via anonline public poll that takes place at www.maitland-smith.com January 4-13, 2010.
Individuals have until midnight December 16th to submit a design. The winning pieces will be hand-crafted by Maitland-Smith’s artisans, displayed at the company’s showroom during High Point Market in April 2010, and given to each of the winners.