Designs on TV & behind glass
THE SHORT VERSION
Duncan runs a small design studio in Bristol, England. All his products aim to be functional and of excellent quality, but most importantly, to bring a smile to people's faces.
Alongside a small range of 'studio originals', he creates signature products for other brands, and with the help of studio assistant Nozomi, they run a little online shop, and sell a few items on Etsy too.
Thanks for your support!
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THE LONG VERSION
Duncan Shotton was born in Camden, London, but spent most of his remembered youth in a small, pretty town, near Bath (south west England), only to return to London in 2004 to join Brunel University.
Duncan spent the 3rd year of his course in industry, working for “j-me”, a small design studio, based then in Tottenham, North London. This was his first opportunity to take one of his ideas, “tape dispenser” (a sticky-tape dispenser in the form of a cassette tape) from concept, all the way through to production. Released in 2007, it quickly became the most successful product of the year and was awarded 'gift of the year 2008 - highly commended'. Since, it has been featured in Stuff magazine, the Guardian gift guide, and even on the set of TV soap Hollyoaks.
For his final year mechatronics project, Duncan produced a six-foot, mechanical clock named “Digimech”, that presented the time in 7-segment format, typical of digital displays. The numbers, printed in negative on vertical sliders, only make sense when shifted into perfect alignment with the main housing, which shows the current time.
The project allowed him to combine his creative thinking with knowledge of mechanics, electronics, programming and prototyping that he’d learnt at Brunel. Digimech received international press, has been watched more than 50, 000 times on YouTube and was exhibited behind glass at the 2008 Paris motor show on the MINI stand.
In 2008, Duncan graduated from Brunel with a first class honours in BA Industrial Design and Technology.
At the Made in Brunel final exhibition, Duncan met design director of Bristol-based design consultancy Kinneir Dufort, and was quickly snapped up as their newest recruit.
As a designer at “KD” for almost 4 years, Duncan worked on a huge variety of projects from the packaging of artificial knee implants, to golden mars-bars.
Most notably though, was the user-interface for the REVIVE concept smartphone, that used character to establish an emotional connection with users, in an effort to extend the life-span of consumer-electronics.
In 2011, Duncan joined 40 international young designers from around the globe at Designboom Mart, during Stockholm Furniture and Lighting fair, Sweden. There, he launched his first own-brand product, “Cloud Keyholder”. He hand-cast 150 of the wall-mounted clouds, that use hidden magnets underneath to store your keys like rain. After the limited edition 150 quickly sold out, he licensed the cloud design, which is now mass-manufactured.
Following the Mart, Duncan returned to the Made in Brunel show, to present his cloud project to an audience of students and visitors in “pecha kucha” style (20 slides, strictly 20 seconds each).
In July 2012, Duncan quit his stable job in Bristol and moved to Japan to establish his own design studio.
He joined Designboom Mart for a second time in October of the same year, during Tokyo Designers Week, launching a new product “Real Boy”...
The Pinocchio-inspired push pins were injection-molded (in white) in the UK, then hand painted to exquisite detail by Duncan in his Tokyo studio. Duncan only produced 1000 Limited Edition, individually numbered packs of two, which have now completely sold out.
Over the last few years, Duncan has designed signature products for a number of Japanese brands. Products such as UFO Soap Pump, Colour O'Clock, SHOEperhero and plate-plate.
In 2012, after 2 years of development with a specialist manufacturer in Korea, Duncan launched Rainbow Pencils on Kickstarter. The project was a huge success, raising nearly £50k in 30 days. The product range started with the 'super' 5-packs, in Black or White, then a year later, a 'basic' 3-pack joined the family. The project continues to bring happiness to rainbow and stationary lovers alike, and has been described on Fast Company as "A Masterclass In Interaction Design".
In 2013, Duncan launched his second line of "studio originals", Sticky Page Markers on Kickstarter. These were also a massive success and joined the shop as a permanent fixture in early 2014.
In 2018, Duncan & Nozomi relocated to the UK.
The studio sells Duncan's designs at design markets and through the website, and now on etsy too!
