Submission Deadline

Friday, September 22, 2023 by 11:59pm ET

Prototype Exhibition

‘Lucid Ideas’

Going into its ninth year, ‘Lucid Ideas’ is the latest edition of the annual prototype exhibition organized by DesignTO in partnership with Umbra. A dozen new prototypes by Canadian designers are shown each year at the Umbra Store during the DesignTO Festival. This year, ‘Lucid Ideas’ invites designers anywhere to submit to this open call for submissions.

About the exhibition

‘Lucid Ideas’ is a group exhibition exploring translucency through concept, material, and form.

‘Lucid Ideas’ will run January 19 – February 16, 2024, overlapping with the annual city-wide DesignTO Festival, happening January 19-28, 2024. All selected prototypes will also be considered for addition to Umbra’s growing roster of quality products, to be manufactured, distributed, and sold through the Umbra brand, with royalty. For example, The Bolo Planter by Simone Ferkul has been in the Umbra collection since 2018, and the Cono Lamp by Allstudio is being produced by Umbra and will soon be available for purchase globally.

Call for submissions

As a concept, translucency offers ambiguity, a sense of illusion and complexity. As a material, it allows light to pass through, while scattering or reflecting it, to blur or obscure. Through material and form we can use translucent properties to create unique visual outcomes that conceal, diffuse, or reveal. In doing so, we can engage with dimension and space. From glass and resin to paper and plastic, every material can be manipulated in some way to design what is seen and how it’s perceived.

The exhibition invites designers to consider how the material quality of translucency could be considered in homeware design. To what extent can the process of obscuring light be transformative? Alongside providing functionality, how can an object be created to accommodate multiple meanings, allowing them to be understood as many things at the same time? Where does design intent and user perception meet? We invite designers to think about the whole environment that we live and work in, and welcome creative responses to the theme.

Design considerations

• An understanding of Umbra’s core values: modern, original, casual, functional, and affordable
• Anticipate or integrate technological developments
• A product that can be used in multiple contexts
• A product with a long lifeline
• A product that you want, and that you can afford
• Aesthetics, functionality, manufacturability

Global appeal

Submissions of new work are preferred and strongly encouraged; however, we will consider submissions of work that have been publicly displayed before. Applicants can submit more than one entry using one submission per form.

All submissions must include the following:

• A description of the product (max. 150 words) — please be sure to include the following details: title, function, materials, dimensions;
• A short bio on you and/or your creative practice (max. 150 words);
• 2-3 images of the prototype, such as a digital rendering, drawing, or sketch (max. 2MB per image);
• Your contact info (name, email, phone number, mailing address), and website URL and social media handles (if available);
• Signed copy of Umbra’s Design Submission Agreement (in PDF format).

Deadlines

All submissions are due Friday, September 22, 2023 by 11:59pm ET.

Please visit https://designto.org/prototype-call/ to submit your prototype.