Hatch Live is a competition for product designers to showcase their talent

In order to enter you must be a resident of New York, New Jersey or Connecticut and be over 18 years old.

WHERE DO THE MATCHES TAKE PLACE?
All the matches happen at the WeWork Lounge, 154 Grand Street, in the Soho neighborhood of NYC.

THIS ALL FEELS LIKE A LOT OF EFFORT. IS IT WORTH IT?
By entering, you will get a lot of exposure and the chance to win some great prizes. Designers only need to win 3 matches to claim the grand prize of $4000. That is less than 4.5 hours of match time which corresponds to over $850 / hr for your time. Even with match preparation and travel that is still a great payoff for your time. Plus you get to be featured in Core77 along the way and have your portfolio reviewed with Dan Rubinstein. Plus everyone who is a semi-finalist has the chance to be a MAD museum ‘Designer in residence’ – something we think is very cool.

THAT’S GREAT BUT WHAT IF I DON’T WIN. DO I GET ANY EXPOSURE OR BENEFIT?
After each match we’ll feature you and your designs on hatchlive.com. We’ll also do a post match interview with you which will be featured on hatchlive.com. All the designs created by you during the competition will be promoted on social media and we’ll be creating a video throughout the competition which will be featured by core77. So there are lots of ways this competition will help you promote yourself. Plus the Shapeways MAD Museum “Designer in Residence” prize doesn’t have to be winner. So just by making the semi-finals you get a chance to have your work displayed at the MAD museum.

WHAT TIME ON SATURDAY DO THE MATCHES HAPPEN?
Matches take place at 10am and 1pm each day. For the final, there is only one match at 1pm. See the Schedule & Results page for full details on the timing.

HOW MUCH NOTICE WILL I GET ABOUT COMPETING?
The tournament schedule will be announced October 7th. If you are selected you will be told on October 7th when your first match will be. Your first matches will either happen on October 19th or November 2nd depending on the draw.

WHAT PLUG-INS WILL BE INSTALLED?
Both computers will be installed with Grasshopper and T-splines. You are free to use them if you wish but if you prefer just to work with Rhino that is fine as well.

CAN I BRING MY OWN COMPUTER OR A FILE I’VE ALREADY STARTED ON?
Windows-based computers with Rhino 5 will be provided so you do not need to bring your own computer. You can practice in advance and create the designs you want to use on your own computer. Product category details are already available (see Schedule & Results page) so we encourage you to think through the shapes and designs you want to use before the competition starts. However on match day you must recreate those elements from scratch and start with a new file.

I DON’T LIKE THE IDEA THAT MY COMPETITOR CAN DESTROY MY DESIGNS IN ROUND 2 AND 4
During rounds 2 and 4, designers can not delete each other’s work. You can make suggestions and create new elements but you can not delete elements. It is up to each designer to choose whether to include these new elements into their designs or not. We encourage you to include some elements from your opponent into your designs but that is at your discretion.

CAN I INVITE MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS ALSONG TO WATCH?
Yes, you can! We’ll have monitors set up so that guests can watch the whole event live. We ask that you RSVP for your guests so we can accomodate everyone.

HOW MANY MATCHES DO I NEED TO COMPETE IN TO WIN?
All designers only need to win3 matches to claim first prize.

CAN I WORK WITH HATCH HUB TO GET MY PRODUCT DESIGNS PRODUCED?
We expect that this competition will uncover great talent. Although the designs created within each match may be wonderful, after 80 minutes and 2 designers, we expect they will need more refining before they are ready for production. We encourage you to submit your favorite designs to Hatch Hub for the opportunity to have your work licensed and produced.

CAN I DESIGN A TRANSFORMABLE PRODUCT?
Yes, products can be designed to be transformable as long as they fit within the given dimensions when in their closed form.

WHO ARE THE JUDGES?

Meg Gleason – Vice President of Design of Hatch Hub, Creative Director, Furniture Designer

Simon Enever – Head industrial designer at New York based consultancy, ECCO design

Dan Rubinstein – Former Editor-in-Chief of Surface magazine, design writer and thinker

Matthew Sargeant – Former product engineer

DO I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MATERIAL AND PRODUCT STRENGTH?
Given the short timeframe of the competition matches we don’t expect anyone to worry about material type and finish. Just concentrate on form and function! Although we won’t be doing FEA on the designs, we will expect them to conform to the physical laws of the universe.

HOW DOES THE VOTING WORK ON TWITTER?
Details will be announced on October 7th.