Formabilio is a business start-up with ethical concepts, this is Formabilio, born to make participatory design and Made in Italy a brand that can be exported to the world, thanks to the web and all the players who are involved.
Formabilio pinpoints designers through contests to identify the best innovative, ecofriendly and appealing furniture projects, which are submitted to the assessment and comments of a community of design enthusiasts, and are then made thanks to the expertise of small Italian manufacturing companies. These products, which all tell a story of hard work, passion, quality, traditions, beauty – Made in Italy – will then be marketed online from the formabilio.com platform.
I want it and I want it NOW! I want it, I want it now, I can no longer be without it! This is the theme for the first contest which has been launched today during the online introduction of the beta version of formabilio.com. The contest is open to all design enthusiasts as long as they are adults. The challenge is to propose an irresistible furniture or accessory project, inspired by eco-design principles for international consumers, who are increasingly informed about environmental factors and very keen on ecommerce. The projects can be presented until 18th February 2013 directly in formabilio.com and promoted on the Social Networks to find approvers. In fact, the Formabilio Community will vote the competing projects and choose the 10 finalists, who will receive the following awards: 1st place a new iPad, a mini iPad for the 2nd, 3rd places and an iPod shuffle for the 4th to 10th places.
Formabilio and the partner manufacturers will choose up to 5 products to prototype and market in the site from among the finalists. The winning designers will receive a 7% fee of the entire product sales to the end user.
“The idea of Formabilio came from my personal need to be able to breathe again – Maria Grazia Andali, Chairman of Formabilio, says – Leaving a chaotic city like Milan, which we still love however, to go to a small village of two thousand inhabitants on the Valdobbiadene hills, has had a positive effect on our lifestyle and concept of work. We have stopped running so as to look down on things with a more inclusive vision. We are now able to understand how relationships are important, the respect for the work of all our colleagues, suppliers and customers, care for the environment and being free to find time for ourselves”.
“Everyone’s a winner in our project – Andrea Carbone, CEO, states – thanks to the short designer-manufacturer-customer chain the players involved with Formabilio will all receive their just reward, and in the medium term the advantages will be passed onto the public in terms of producing wealth and employment.
With the logic of contests and crowdsourcing, Formabilio will access the best research and innovation knowhow in the furniture field, which is given by the human dimension of the designers. Interaction with potential customers enables testing the proposed products and adjusting them to the consumers’ tastes and trends. Downstream from this, there will be no more barriers against the entrance to new international markets thanks to the web and the ecommerce social channels.
This approach – Carbone continues – has won the consent of private investors, the support of Veneto companies who have become our partners and the CNA, with all the enthusiasm of our young team who not only share our vision but also our love for this beautiful land”.
“The first three manufacturers we have chosen as partners – Andali explains – have a similar story to ours: a family history that means they work with passion and commitment, a knowhow that has been handed down from generation to generation, attention paid to quality, people and the environment, pride of achievement despite the sacrifices caused by the recession, but without anyone having lost their job.
Formabilio is a choral project – Andali concludes – where each player is able to do his or her job well and we hope that the result will be a brand that will take a Made in Italy partnership abroad through social commerce”.
Formabilio is a start-up that promotes idea contests through the web for designers and aspiring designers, aimed at identifying the best furnishing products in terms of innovation, ecofriendliness and appeal, by involving the Formabilio Community of registered users. These products will then be made by small Italian manufacturers and marketed online on the formabilio.com platform.
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