Domus: Why furniture with lights? Might this not be an overly complicated design theme for a competition?

Massimiliano Messina: You are right, it is a difficult theme, just as it is difficult to do new things, but I believe that it is extremely stimulating for a designer. We threw ourselves into Natevo with a primary focus on eco-friendly themes. It is a new way of conceiving products because it also brings with it a new way of considering all the lighting in the home. The University of Genoa, for example, has deemed it a far more economical approach than traditional ones because fewer materials are required and it features a very simple electrical system. On average, a product with a light in it costs less than a piece of furniture and a lamp. You can also think about the effects of the light illuminating the room and how the light maximises the product. The combination of all these is truly exciting. We are working on the design of a “model apartment” with not even one lamp. All the light sources are inside the furniture. Natevo originated by combining different skills and partners.

Domus: Why did you choose crowdfunding?

Massimiliano Messina: Because, to gain access to the best ideas, you have to broaden the field to people who are not yet in contact with the company. We want to source the best ideas from the broadest possible spectrum.

Domus: Would a simple competition not have sufficed?

Massimiliano Messina: A competition is an event that attracts attention and widens the field but it has a beginning and an end, whereas the best ideas may not emerge within a set timeframe. Ours is a permanent call and we hope for constant growth.

Domus: Another advantage of crowdfunding is that you have an immediate response from users and can know whether a design will work or not.

Massimiliano Messina: That comes later. The decision not to put the designs straight into production but include them in what call “sponsorships” is strongly driven by eco-friendly motivations. There is no point producing things that will be thrown away. We are a well-known company, our retailers and interlocutors often put their trust in what we offer and buy it. When it arrives on the market, however, the public decides whether a product is of interest to them or not. The sponsorship process enables us to offer more products because then the market itself decides whether it needs them. If it doesn’t want something, we will simply give the prototype to the designer.

Domus: What happens if the crowdfunding fails?

Massimiliano Messina: People provide a credit-card number and a promise of payment. No money is collected until the two-month sponsorship period comes to an end. If the set target is reached, the money is collected in exchange for the chosen benefit. It starts with a minimal emotional sponsorship, purchasing pens or T-shirts and goes up to what (so far) seems to be the successful formula: the purchase of a pre-series. The prototype produced at that point is already an industrial one.

Domus: What is your initial analysis, a few months after the competition was launched in April?

Massimiliano Messina: The sponsorship system is working. Seven products out of 11 have passed the threshold, following a natural selection. Unlike Kickstarter, our sponsorship often comes from outside the Internet. People have had a chance to see the actual product (e.g. at the Furniture Fair and in the Natevo Lab display spaces in the finest furnishing shops). As a result, we have just a few large-sum sponsorships. It seems that the opportunity to visit the shop is important. Then, in June, the panel of judges met for the first time and we are working on two projects that will be launched in September and October.