WeFew online marketplace aims to showcase design talent

by Staff, Brand Republic 02-Jul-08, 14:25

LONDON - A new online design marketplace and community wefew.net is launching this month, with a promise to showcase high quality and innovative design through its peer-reviewed selection system.

WeFew is opening an online storefront for design lovers with a focus on new trends and unique purchases.

The store offers products from an international pool of designers within the fields of homewares and furnishings, product design, fashion, and jewellery and accessories.

The site is using a jury of high-profile, award-winning industry professionals and peers, called WeCurate, to review and rate designer applicants to ensure quality and to showcase designers producing original and innovative work.

WeFew also features e-newsletter, blogs and forums, enabling community members to interact with designers and other design enthusiasts, and keeping the site in touch with emerging trends and talent in the international design community.

WeFew is the brainchild of US entrepreneur Autumn Gehring, who is now based in Singapore. He said he had the idea for the site while living in London. "I discovered so many talented, independent designers, working hard to promote their work, yet as a design lover, it was difficult to consistently find quality, innovative products.

"After moving to Singapore I realised that emerging designers and design lovers here experience similar challenges, so I knew I had to bring designers and design enthusiasts from around the world together in one place."

Among the first designers to have made it through the WeFew jury vetting process are UK designers Jo Davies and James Lethbridge and Singapore's Casey Chen.