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September 24, 2008

Turn hand drawings into real life things with Ponoko's Photomake

San Francisco, CA - World leader in product individualization Ponoko has today launched another world first. It's a service called Photomake. You can use it to turn digital photos of hand drawings into real products simply by uploading them to the Ponoko website.

Ponoko has established itself as a place where you can shop online for one-of-a-kind goods direct from popular and upcoming designers, or design and make them yourself. The company is on a mission to make it super simple for anyone to make anything that is on their mind, at low cost.

Previously at Techcrunch40, Ponoko launched Designmake for designers to make things on demand – over 10,000 have signed up. Earlier this year, they also launched Ponoko ID for shoppers to request goods to be made just for them by these designers. Now with Photomake they're inviting creative people who don't know how to use design software to participate simply by sketching what they want on a piece of paper and uploading a photo of it to get it made.

Chief Strategy Officer, Derek Elley says Photomake is child's play. "It's great for crafters, makers and artists," he says. "One of the cool things about Photomake is the quality of the result – it's truly hand drawn. Because digital making is so very precise every tiny bump in the hand drawn creation is picked up and made for real. This gives a very natural and human feel to the things you make."

All you need to get started with Photomake is a felt tip pen and piece of paper. Just draw what you want to make, take a photograph of it, upload this digital photo to the Ponoko website (no login required), get an instant online price to turn your drawing into the real thing, then click to make. Your product will be delivered to your door in days.

CEO Dave ten Have says Photomake is made possible by some very clever file conversion technology that is more accurate than anything that has come before it. "It is designed so that what you draw is what is made, without any touching up required in a design software program," he says. "It is also 100% online, so you don't need to own a design software program to use it."

And for those who know how to use Microsoft Paint and popular photo editing software like Photoshop and GIMP, Photomake is the perfect tool to turn creations designed in these programs into real things too. This is because Photomake accepts common jpg, gif and png files.

Elley says that, as with Ponoko's original Designmake service, designers can use the new service to make cash as well as make things for themselves. "When you make something with Photomake, you can keep it for yourself, give it as a gift or sell it online from your own free Ponoko e-commerce storefront. You can also sell or give away for free your design file templates too."

So if you're worried about the cost of Christmas shopping this season, Photomake may be the easiest and most affordable way to give the most personal of gifts – hand drawn and made by you.

For more information contact:

Derek Elley
Chief Strategy Officer
USA +1 415 690 3364
NZ +64 21 88 66 81

 

Ponoko

Ponoko (www.ponoko.com) is the first online shop for individualized goods – things designed and made on demand for individual shoppers. Consumers can shop the marketplace for designer crafted goods or request a designer to make something especially for them. Designers can make and sell their product ideas using our web commerce and digital make-on-demand services. Ponoko is the new sustainable way to design, make and deliver products – we cut the waste from oversupply by making products on-demand and we’re also working to cut carbon emissions by sourcing local materials and making products as close to the point of consumption as possible.

Ponoko Marketplace – online shopping for green designer crafted goods

An online shop of the world’s most unique designer crafted goods from popular and up-coming designers, made on-demand for green shoppers.

Ponoko ID – custom shopping request service

An online shopping request service that matches buyers with designers. Shoppers post requests for custom-made individualized goods and designers bid to design and make the items.

Designmake – design, make and sell your product ideas

An online service for designers to turn their ideas into real things – and sell them to the world. Designers submit product designs using graphics software like Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw or Inkscape, then choose materials to get an instant online price to make and deliver their goods worldwide.

Photomake – turn photos of your designs into real life things

An online service for creative people to turn their ideas into real things – and sell them to the world. Crafters, makers and artists submit photos of hand drawings or designs using graphics software like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Paint or GIMP, then choose materials to get an instant online price to make and deliver their goods worldwide.

Find out more at www.ponoko.com

September 3, 2008

Ponoko ID makes custom designed goods accessible - and affordable

San Francisco, CA - Now shoppers can have their goods designed and made just for them at the lowest price possible. Ponoko ID is the world's first shopping request and match making service for manufactured goods. It's the latest offering from Ponoko, the unique online marketplace that brings together consumers and designers of individualized goods.

Shoppers use the new service to post requests for custom-made individualized goods. Requests are sent to a selection of Ponoko's pool of more than 10,000 designers who then have the chance to put forward a bid to make the item.

Ponoko Chief Strategy Officer Derek Elley says Ponoko ID is a way for shoppers and designers to collaborate to create something unique and special. "What's exciting is that Ponoko ID makes getting something made just for you as easy as sending an email," he says. "Shoppers no longer have to accept 'one size fits all' mass produced goods but can now save a bunch of money to get their ideas turned into reality by expert designers worldwide."

Another development at Ponoko is the appointment of entrepreneur Fred Durham to its advisory board. Mr Durham is a founder and the CEO of Cafepress.com, the world's largest product personalization service with an average of 11 million unique monthly visits. "His vision and commercial experience in this space are unparalleled," says Ponoko CEO David ten Have. "It's a privilege to have him on board."

Mr Durham's experience and counsel will be invaluable as Ponoko works to make it simpler than ever for anyone to get almost anything they want. Ponoko ID offers an easy and affordable way for shoppers to request custom-made holiday gifts perfect for those hard to buy for people who seem to have everything. "Our shopping request service makes buying unique gifts for yourself or family and friends just a mouse click away,"says Mr ten Have. "Ponoko ID makes gift shopping extraordinary, not just ordinary."

"Consumers have grown accustomed to shopping at retail stores where mass produced items may fail to satisfy their needs," says Mr ten Have. "Ponoko ID is the world's first online service for getting unique products custom designed just for you, without the costs and hassles involved in finding a designer, manufacturer and materials."

Ponoko invites shoppers to try Ponoko ID today for the opportunity to get exactly what they want: It's a whole new way to shop online.

For more information contact:

Derek Elley
Chief Strategy Officer
USA +1 415 690 3364
NZ +64 21 88 66 81

 

Ponoko

Ponoko (www.ponoko.com) is the first online shop for individualized goods - things designed and made on demand for individual shoppers. Consumers can shop the marketplace for designer crafted goods or request a designer to make something especially for them. Designers can make and sell their product ideas using our web commerce and digital make-on-demand services. Ponoko is the new sustainable way to design, make and deliver products - we cut the waste from oversupply by making products on-demand and we're also working to cut carbon emissions by sourcing local materials and making products as close to the point of consumption as possible.

Fred Durham

Fred Durham is a founder and CEO of Cafepress (www.cafepress.com), the world's largest product personalization company. Cafepress.com has a community of over 6.5 million members, averaging 11 million unique visits each month and adding roughly 45,000 new, unique products each day. Before starting CafePress, Fred and business partner Maheesh Jain launched a series of companies - most failed. In 1999, taking the best elements from two of their failures, they launched CafePress. Since then, Fred has steered the growth of CafePress from two people in a dusty garage to being the recognized leader in user generated commerce with over 400 employees in two locations.

April 29, 2008

Ponoko gets greener with U.S. global head office

Launched at the prestigious TechCrunch40 conference in September 2007, Ponoko today announced the establishment of a new global head office and manufacturing facilities in San Francisco as the website gains traction among U.S. users.

The milestones mean that Ponoko will begin to realise the environmental benefits of distributed manufacturing for sustainable design, and come as the company's business model is endorsed by the appointment of web entrepreneur Graham Hill to its board of advisors. Mr Hill is the founder of treehugger.com, a leading international website dedicated to driving sustainability into the mainstream, with over 2.6 million visitors each month¹.

"Being able to make products on-demand, close to where people live, reduces waste and cuts down on the carbon emissions associated with transporting products to consumers. Our facilities in San Francisco mean that we're starting to see this become a reality in the United States, and the appointment of Graham to our board of advisors is a huge endorsement of Ponoko's vision for a more sustainable approach to the way goods are created, made and delivered," says Ponoko co-founder and CEO David ten Have.

Ponoko is the world's largest marketplace for product plans. The website works by connecting designers with consumers to share, buy, sell and make these designs into individualized goods, on demand.

Since launching, Ponoko.com has attracted a wide range of product plans for items ranging from household items and accessories to jewellery and wearable art. Today Ponoko also launches a new website that showcases these designs, and enables consumers to purchase products and plans directly from designers and makers by credit card or PayPal.

"The new website features make it even easier for people to buy and sell truly unique products using Ponoko," says Ponoko co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Derek Elley, "and continues the growth of a new class of business people using the Internet to design, sell and make digital product plans into real goods, on demand."

"Consumers no longer have to accept what they find on the shelf—instead they can have something that's designed and made especially for them, something 'individualized' from scratch—and not just personalizing a t-shirt or coffee cup. For designers, the ability to easily share and have their creations made to order means that anyone can take their designs to the world, without the traditional costs of setup and inventory."

Mr. Elley says that it made sense for Ponoko to return to San Francisco to launch the next phase of its business.

"Over half of the U.S. visitors to Ponoko.com are from California, and San Francisco is well known for having a community of creative people who think outside the square: the type of person who immediately recognises the business appeal, and environmental benefits of Ponoko-made goods," he says.

Ponoko will now focus on expanding the range of materials it can offer people to make their personalised designs from and introducing different manufacturing technologies as it continues to grow its on-demand making network.

"The new website and our facilities in San Francisco mean that we have a strong base from which to build our capabilities as we seek to connect designers direct with consumers. This will enable designers to be increasingly creative, and provide more choice for people who want to turn an idea for an individualized product into a reality," said Mr. ten Have.

¹ Figures for March 2008 from www.treehugger.com

For more information contact:

Derek Elley
Chief Strategy Officer
USA +1 415 690 3364
NZ +64 21 88 66 81

 

Ponoko

Ponoko (www.ponoko.com) is the world's largest marketplace for product plans. Creators and consumers use these plans to share, buy, sell and make individualized goods. Armed with nothing more than an idea, professional and hobbyist designers, crafters, makers, hackers and artists can turn their ideas into real products—and new revenue streams—using Ponoko's web commerce and digital make-on-demand services. Ponoko cuts the waste from oversupply by making products on-demand, and cuts carbon emissions by sourcing local materials and making products as close to the point of consumption as possible; introducing a new sustainable era in the way products are designed, made and delivered.

Graham Hill

Graham Hill is the founder of Treehugger.com, a leading source of news, solutions and product information dedicated to driving sustainability into the mainstream. Past businesses include forays into fashion, web-development, viral email and plant-based air filters. In 1995, with his cousin, he started and grew the web-developer, SiteWerks, to 60 people doing work for large companies such as Microsoft and sold it to a New York company in 1998. Additionally, he owns a product business that sells a New York souvenir he designed a few years ago into 150 stores including MOMA. Graham has a Bachelor of Architecture with distinction from Carleton University in Ottawa and did advanced studies in Industrial Design at E.C.I.A.D, Vancouver.

September 17, 2007

Ponoko launches among world's hottest technology start-ups.

New Zealand company Ponoko will establish itself as one of the world's hottest new technology businesses today when it launches as one of only 40 participants at the prestigious TechCrunch40 conference in San Francisco. Ponoko has been chosen from more than 700 start-up companies from 26 countries that applied to present at the event.

Ponoko is the world's first personal manufacturing platform. Using the www.ponoko.com website, people can invent and design new products, then have them made to order, or sell their designs to others.

"Ponoko enables anyone to turn an idea for a product into a reality, by connecting designers and consumers with an international network of digital manufacturing hardware that can be controlled direct from any PC. It also acts as a global marketplace for original ideas and new inventions, by allowing people to buy, sell and share designs," says Ponoko co-founder and CEO David ten Have.

The benefits of Ponoko include making it easier and cheaper for designers to bring their ideas to market. It also makes it easier and cheaper for consumers to buy products that aren't mass produced.

"Products can be made anywhere in the world. Because they can be made close to where a buyer lives, they don't have to be shipped over great distances or stored in bulk in warehouses. This keeps costs down and is kinder on the environment," says Mr ten Have.

Ponoko's presentation at TechCrunch40 will be discussed by an expert panel of technology investors, commentators and representatives from some of the world's largest technology companies. The event will be attended by leading technology media, and by over 900 people at locations around the globe.

"Being selected to present at TechCrunch40 will give us tremendous exposure to an influential community with a strong interest in new ideas and innovative business models. The conference is a fantastic opportunity for Ponoko to establish itself on the world stage," says Ponoko co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Derek Elley.

Mr. ten Have and Mr. Elley are no strangers to successful technology start ups. Mr ten Have co-founded and was CTO of web development firm, Provoke, helping to build a multi-million dollar company within five years. Mr Elley co-founded and was CEO of Internet marketing agency, First Rate, which is now New Zealand's only Google AdWords Qualified Company, tracking over $750 million in customer revenues and managing more than 1 million ad clicks monthly.

Ponoko currently has a digital manufacturing bureau in Wellington and plans to open bureaus in the United States over the next few months. Independent bureaus will also be invited to become accredited to the service.

"Ultimately, our aim is to establish a community of digital manufacturing hardware operators around the world. This will include established owners of digital manufacturing equipment, but has the potential to be hugely diverse, including offices, homes or schools. Today's presentation at TechCrunch40 will play an important role in helping to make people aware of Ponoko's huge potential," says Mr. Elley.

For more information contact:

Derek Elley
Chief Strategy Officer
USA +1 415 690 3364
NZ +64 21 88 66 81