Young, local designers Jack Flanagan and Gwilym Faulkner have had their workbench set up in the Venn Shop window since 7am this morning (Friday 17 May 2013). They’ve set themselves the task of designing a product from scratch to prototype in 24 hours for the 1440 Design project; a product that they will then manufacture to retail right here in the Venn Shop (read more about the challenge here).

We checked in with Jack and Gwilym at the eight-hour mark on Friday afternoon; and got the low-down on the live design project’s progress so far. “Things kicked off at 7am with Gwilym and myself researching products in the Venn Shop, to give us an idea of what product categories the Shop’s products are dividied into, and then later we went into conversation with Venn Shop Manager Lauren Rowland and discussed what type of products sold the best,” explains Jack.

“We realised most of Venn is divided into office products versus homewares, so the two of us spent the next few hours sketching and brainstorming concepts individually, for a new product that might work within these areas.” The duo then compared their project ideas with each other; suggesting enhancements for each others’ ideas, before deciding which idea to follow through with – the decision being a three-part vessel capable of storage or purely aesthetic, that would ideally sit atop a table or bench.

By about 2pm, Jack and Gwilym had moved to the drawing stage, and over the next few hours, until midnight tonight, they hope to come up with a set of technical drawings; with the aim of getting materials early tomorrow morning before they return to the Venn window at 9am, at which point they will begin work on the model.

The boys are hoping to use cork as one of the materials in the final design – they’re drawn to its qualities as a material, including the fact its sustainable and has minimum wastage as a material – excess cork can be re-mixed to form new cork.

They’re also hoping to have some metal pieces laser-cut for inclusion into the final product, however as the 24 hour time deadline won’t allow to outsource laser cutting, they will temporarily use cardboard instead.

The Venn Shop 24 Hour Live Product Design challenge continues until midnight tonight, Friday May 17, before picking up again tomorrow morning at 9am. The event concludes at 5pm tomorrow, Saturday May 18 - at which point the boys will present their final protoype! Definitely pop by Venn Shop for a look if you're in the city this weekend, the boys will happily chat all things design with you!