Hasta La Ideas

When the disappointment of unfulfilled pledgers set in on Kickstarter, the notion was that something had to be done. I thought the solution would have been to better educate backers on the potential fallibilities of the design process, but I realize that’s unrealistic, given how long it takes us ID’ers to learn what we know: Two to four years of school, the internships, the first few floundering projects executed as a freshly-minted designer.

Kickstarter famously went with a rendering ban instead. Time will tell whether that step produces the intended result—projects with a tighter handle on production realities—but that doesn’t mean the competition is waiting. Last week saw the launch of Christie Street, a new crowdfunding site that will focus exclusively on objects.

In addition to being a natural platform for industrial designers, the thing that will set Christie Street apart from Kickstarter is their careful vetting process:

Focusing on product concepts that are original and feasible, Christie Street addresses the problems typically involved with crowdfunding products, namely: the way capital is currently generated, the concept vetting process and the lack of support to both inventors and backers from the platforms.

“Our feeling is that the customer that’s buying doesn’t have the sophistication to make the right decision [about whether a design’s production targets are reliable],” founder Jamie Siminoff told Wired. “The only way is create a place where you can trust to buy.”

(more…)