Deadgood designers get flash of genius and funding

Nov 5 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

Another idea, another step forward. Alastair Gilmour talks to a design company on the upward track

WHEN great ideas come up they flash with the spark of genius. Less bright ones flicker and glow before they eventually disappear, but for one Newcastle design company, a light bulb has literally gone on.

Elliot Brook and Dan Ziglam, who together form Deadgood, have developed a new range of domestic lighting that they hope will confirm their status as front-runners among the country’s young creative talent. Officially launched last week at The Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art, the Wire Light takes the shape of a conventional table lamp which, with a few twists and turns of 5mm wire, moves the everyday object on by several evolutionary leaps. However, to get to the stage where prototype becomes showroom essential requires support and resources – and most of all, money. Now, after three years in business, Deadgood has built up such a fine reputation that the company has been able to secure funding from the Design & Creative Fund managed by North East Finance (formerly NStar).

“We had gone as far as we could and achieved all we had planned to do in three years, all without investment,” says Elliot Brook. “We needed to focus on a new development plan.

“We’ve done three annual Launch events in Newcastle – one of the region’s leading design promotions with products from more than 50 North East designers and creative businesses – and have worked with Barker & Stonehouse on a range of furniture and with Northumbria University and Robert Muckle, but we needed to take the Deadgood business forward. We’ve always had the ideas, but didn’t have the money to develop them properly or the capital behind us to move our ideas on.”

Deadgood, based in railway arches near Central Station – an area becoming something of a “creative cluster” – specialises in high quality, niche furniture and interior accessories. Set up in 2004 by the two Northumbria University graduates, it quickly achieved commercial success with several products critically acclaimed at major international design festivals, while commissions have even come from the British Council in Khartoum.

An online shop – www.deadgoodshop.com – offers a range of sleek products including innovative bookshelves, stools, hangers and mirrors, designed in-house and by other emerging designers. The duo will use the £150,000 Design and Creative Fund investment to commercialise new collections, which include seating, tables and lighting, and to develop Deadgood into a leading British design brand.

The Design and Creative Fund is a pilot scheme set up with money from One North East to help businesses across the fast-growing design and creative sector achieve commercial success. Fund manager Mark Fenwick says: “The fund was set up specifically to help aspirational businesses like Deadgood. Dan and Elliot are talented guys and highly regarded in the industry for their imaginative and innovative work. The funding will help them implement their plans for scaling the business, attracting new talent, and creating new products.”

Whilst Dan and Elliot are excited at having a substantial amount of money available to propel the business forward they are adamant that it will be used wisely. Years of budgeting have developed a heightened sense of prudence.

Dan says: “We discussed how much equity we wanted to give away in 18 months time or even to pay it all off; it’s a very flexible scheme and we’re one of the first companies to be involved. We’ll put all our energy into the next five or six years free from constraints rather than sit back and run a lifestyle business. We’re young, we have vision and courage.

“We’ve done research into how businesses are successful, everything from Disney to Ford and how they have a clear structure and vision.

“It was a challenging time to be looking for money, but we thought that 10% of a big pot was better than 100% of nothing. Venture capitalists want to make money at the end of the day.”

“British design has a reputation throughout Europe,” says Elliot. “People want to buy into it and we feared we may have to go abroad for manufacture. In design we try to do the opposite; we want to mix English tradition with a quirky modern twist. If square sofas are the thing, we do round, and if something has slick graphics but no personality we do something different, something alternative.”

Something like a table lamp that flashes with genius.

It was a challenging time to be looking for money, but we thought that 10% of a big pot was better than 100% of nothing