Inspired by the success of the LovePop collaboration, TPZ’s development team cultivated a relationship with DMC threads, an international manufacturer of embroidery floss. DMC wanted to appeal to a younger demographic of women, ages 20-40, and imagined a cause-marketing campaign in which our students would design and produce wooden, stitchable home goods. I created and taught a dedicated 30-hour curriculum to support this work, and I organized a focus group of volunteers in DMC’s target demographic for students to interview (pictured below). 15 students pitched product prototypes of their own design to DMC and the following term students and alums manufactured the finalist designs in-house to be distributed through DMC’s website (pictured below). As a point person for the collaboration I negotiated financial sponsorship for the class on top of payment for goods sold. DMC ran a successful cause-marketing campaign, and students were paid as they learned how to become professional product designers.
