nanoblock™ Australia / Pat Coppel

Newsletters, magpies and a nanoblock™ giveaway!

This week we sent out our inaugural newsletter, fell in love with a new fan-made nanoblock™ model and started a competition with the ever-cool Everguide.

Featuring Pat Coppel of Make Designed Objects, we talked about his store, design icon and favourite product. We also show-cased the new nanoblock™ models in 2013 ranging from our little lion to the Great Pyramid of Giza available to peruse on our website. We also ran a pretty-great competition that had its three winners in the first fifteen minutes of mailout! Don't want to miss out again? Head to our homepage to sign up.

This week, one of our Facebook fans, Christine, designed a new nanoblock™ bird - the magpie! We love it very much. Have you ever made your own? Share it with us on our wall.

And lastly, but far from least, the ever-cool Everguide is featuring and giving away some most excellent nanoblock™ loot. You need to answer just one question to go in the running to win one of three nanoblock™ prize packs. If you missed out on our newsletter competition, you should definitely try your luck here.

Have a fabulous weekend, all!

Posted on May 10, 2013

TJ Lefebvre

Interview with Pat Coppel of Make Designed Objects

Make Designed Objects is a gorgeous store that has been in Carlton for 10 years. With an aesthetic eye for well-designed products, Pat Coppel has garnered a lot of respect in the community for design. The store is beautifully adorned with rooms that could shame feng-shui. If you get a spare moment in Melbourne, you should totally go and check it out.

Here's a few things Pat had to share.

When did you open the store? 10 years ago this past Friday. 3rd of May, 2003.

How did you come up with the idea for Make Designed Objects? I had a very long relationship with retail and design, so I decided to put the two together. In retrospect it’s surprising that it took me as long as it did.

What's your aesthetic? Good design. There are a number of variants, a product might be environmentally friendly, humorous... I suppose I look for design intelligence.

Do you have a design icon? Japanese Architect Todao Ando. When it comes to the language of buildings he can say in one word what most people try to say in ten thousand.

Favourite product? The Fink water jug by Robert Foster. Generally there are only 6 kinds available, however we have collaborated with F!nk Design resulting in 19 different customised variations available only through Make Designed Objects. We talk with Rob and Gretel at Fink about new product possibilities on a regular basis. The four seasons vases are also the result of those discussions.

Posted on April 30, 2013

TJ Lefebvre